Election Results: Richland Airport rents fight leads to Benton port shakeup
Bill O’Neil, a Richland Airport tenant and aerospace industry veteran, has unseated a longtime commissioner for a seat on the Port of Benton commission.
Preliminary general election results updated on Wednesday show O’Neil with 4,300 votes to incumbent Roy Keck’s 4,000 votes, or 51% to 48%.
Results will be updated 4 p.m. Thursday, according to the Benton County Auditor.
Keck and O’Neil have much in common.
Both are Richland High School graduates will deep roots in the community and an interest in the Richland Airport, which is owned and operated by the port.
They differed on the port’s sometimes pained approach to modernizing its relationship with tenants. That included raising rents to market levels, which it said was a requirement to continue to qualify for the Federal Aviation Administration grants and funding that maintain the airport and underwrite capital updates.
The port district covers much of western Benton County, extending from Richland to Prosser and south to the Columbia River along the Washington/Oregon border.
It operates office, industrial and other developments in support of its economic development mission. The Richland Airport and a smaller sister in Prosser are sentimental favorites, gathering spots for pilots and an incubator for the small businesses that lease space and facilities around them.
The Benton County GOP endorsed O’Neil, saying he would “rebuild trust and respect in the Port with its tenants and the community.”
Keck retired from Energy Northwest in 2007, the same year he was first elected to the port board.
O’Neil has not previously held public office.
In his new role, he will play a leading role as the port pursues an ambitious economic development agenda centered in part on its efforts to recast Richland as a center for clean energy development.
The port has a $9 million deal to sell land to Atlas Agro North America for its proposed $1.5 billion low-carbon fertilizer plant. The port commission recently refused to grant Atlas Agro a 12-month extension to close the deal. Instead, it said it will give it an additional six months but wants Atlas Agro to update the commission on its status.
Atlas Agro officials have said they are pressing ahead with the project despite losing $157 million in funding from the Department of Energy. The company is pursuing a separate deal for land owned by the city of Richland to site a $500 million data center that city officials say will help support the cost to build the fertilizer plant.
He will join Scott Keller, the former port administrator who returned as an elected commissioner, and Lori Stevens, who represents a district that covers the Prosser area.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 9:28 PM.