Johnson, Homola ahead in primary vote for District 2 commissioners

Incumbent Island County Commissioner Angie Homola and challenger Jill Johnson will move on to the General Election, based on the first count of primary votes Tuesday night.

Homola, a Democrat representing District 2, and Republican rival Johnson are neck and neck in the vote count, with Johnson ahead by 1,005 to Homola’s 969 votes. Challengers Jim Campbell and Phil Collier were knocked out of the race.

In District 1, incumbent Commissioner Helen Price Johnson, a Democrat, is far outpacing her four rivals, taking 57 percent of the vote. Republican challenger Jeff Lauderdale will go head to head with her in November.

The EMS levy passed easily with more than 70 percent of the votes. The measure to renew the property tax levy of 50 cents per $1,000 of value for six years needed 50 percent of the votes to pass.

Reached by phone, Jill Johnson said she did better than she had anticipated.

“I think that when more than 50 percent of the voters cast ballots for someone other than the incumbent — and in her home district — that’s a referendum on the last four years,” she said.

Homola received 33 percent of the votes to Johnson’s 34 percent in the district, which encompasses Oak Harbor. Campbell, a Republican, earned 678 votes, or 23 percent, and independent candidate Phil Collier garnered 317, about 11 percent.

Price Johnson did well with the South and Central Whidbey voters of her district. She received 3,286 votes, Lauderdale has 1,377 votes, no-party candidate Curt Gordon has 763, Republican Wayne Morrison got 253 and no-party candidate Ed Jenkins won 68 votes.

 

Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.

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