Tri-Cities school boards, city councils. Candidate filing opens soon for Aug. 1 primary
There are several Tri-Cities races to watch as candidates begin filing for 60 positions in the August primary starting on Monday.
Some of the hottest races are likely to involve continuing debates over a school board recall effort in Richland and cannabis sales and a downtown association in Pasco.
Ballots are sent out for the Aug. 1 primary race by July 14, with a variety of municipal races on the slate.
Every city in the bicounty area will have races on the ballot, as well as the ports, hospital districts, fire districts and water districts.
The top two vote-getters in each race will advance to the November general election, regardless of party affiliation. All the current races are nonpartisan positions.
If a race does not draw a challenger, the candidate will appear alone on the Nov. 7 ballot and be tallied against any write-ins. Filing opens Monday, May 15, and closes Friday, May 19.
To see a full list of the scheduled races by county visit bit.ly/AugustElection.
Here are some of the races to watch:
School boards
Some school boards in the Tri-Cities are locked in a series of ideological battles.
▪ In Richland, two of the three school board members who are facing a recall effort will have their seats subject to reelection. It’s unclear if Kari Williams, Position 4, and Misipati “Semi” Bird, Position 3, will file to retain their seats this year.
There’s a campaign to recall Williams, Bird and Audra Byrd over a vote they took last year to go “mask optional” in Richland schools, which led to the superintendent shutting down school for two days and put the school district at legal and financial risk.
The Benton County Elections Department starts May 11 with the process of verifying signatures submitted by the recall campaign to put the issue on the Aug. 1 ballot.
A decision on whether the recall can move forward is expected in the coming days.
While Bird already announced a run in 2024 for governor as a Republican, it’s unclear whether he’ll file to keep his nonpartisan seat on the school board.
The third incumbent up for reelection this year is Jill Oldson, who represents Position 5.
▪ In Kennewick, three school board members could face challengers after a year that included CRT bans, book controversies and flag restriction attempts that mostly fizzled.
Those culture war issues were spearheaded by the board’s two new conservative members, Micah Valentine and Gabe Galbraith. While neither are up for reelection this year, challengers could file against the board’s three other members: Ron Mabry, Position 3; Dian Sundvik, Position 5; and Michael Connors, Position 4.
Every school district in Benton and Franklin counties has seats up for election, including Pasco, Finley, Prosser, Kiona-Benton City, Grandview and North Franklin.
City councils
▪ In Kennewick, Chuck Torelli, Brad Beauchamp and Jim Millbauer are up for reelection to the city council.
Millbauer already has announced his intent to run again.
The council has been split 5-2 on some key issues since the last election, including whether to hold public prayer at council meetings and whether to ease restrictions to allow a proposed boutique hotel and restaurant to be built on top of Thompson Hill.
Millbauer and Torelli have been on the losing side of those votes.
▪ In Richland, Jhoanna Jones, Theresa Richardson, D. Shayne VanDyke, Terry Christensen and Ryan Whitten are up for reelection to the council.
Richardson, who is the current mayor pro tem, has recently faced backlash for her opposition to local drag shows, which some believe have fueled threats made against local businesses, after she encouraged constituents to “send a polite note” to the businesses.
On Easter Sunday, longtime Richland business the Emerald of Siam was vandalized ahead of an all-ages drag brunch. The popular restaurant has been hosting the shows for more than six years. That lead to protests and a march to city hall.
▪ In Pasco, the council is torn over what areas of town to allow retail cannabis sales and over the future of the Downtown Pasco Development Authority.
Zahra Roach, Joseph Campos, Irving Brown Sr. and David Milne are up for reelection.
Leo Perales, a local civics leader, has announced he’s taking aim at Brown’s seat representing District 3, calling for the downtown authority to be immediately dissolved, and for a new organization to start to take its place. He has run unsuccessfully in the past for the council and has applied previously to fill vacant seats.
Brown is running for the last two years of the term he was appointed to fill last summer after Nikki Torres successfully ran for a seat in the Washington state Senate.
Charles Grimm, a longtime Franklin County grocer, plans to challenge Campos for his seat representing District 2.
Perales, Grimm and Milne have earned the early endorsement of the Franklin County Republican Party.
Peter Harpster announced Thursday he would run for Roach’s seat in the at-large district, according to social media posts. Harpster is a project manager with Aqtera Engineering, which is developing communities in some of Pasco’s primary growth areas, and is a lifelong resident, according to his announcement on LinkedIn.
▪ Three West Richland council incumbents are up for reelection this fall. The incumbents are David Fetto, Position 5; Fred Brink, Position 6; and Kate Moran, Position 7.
Superior Court
Benton Franklin Superior Court Judge Diana Ruff will be running to keep her seat for the remainder of the term she was appointed to fill last year.
Ruff was appointed after election filing ended last summer, meaning this year she’s on the ballot to keep the seat on the bench until the term’s 2024 expiration. She would need to run for her first full-term next summer.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee appointed her to fill the position after Judge Alex Ekstrom was elevated to a position as a federal magistrate judge for U.S. District Court in Eastern Washington.
This story was originally published May 11, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
