KPLU Local News
(2010-11-09)
Listen Now:
null
Rep. Rick Larsen has won a sixth term Congress. With most votes now counted in the 2nd District race, Larsen leads Republican challenger John Koster by more than 4,400 votes.
AP.
This has been the closest re-election race yet for the five-term Democrat. In the primary Larsen actually pulled 300 fewer votes than his Republican challenger John Koster and initial returns on election night had Larsen down by1,200 votes.
But as Washington's vote-by-mail process has ground on over the past week, Larsen took the lead and has steadily gained votes on Koster. As of last night, Larsen was nearly 5,500 votes ahead, giving him a 51 to 49 percent edge. With only 18,000 votes left to count, Koster would have to get more than 65 percent of the remaining votes. An analysis by the Seattle Times shows that to be virtually impossible.
Koster - a Snohomish County Councilmember with Tea Party backing - assailed Larsen during the campaign as a tool of a failed Democratic agenda. He promised to rein in federal spending and revive the economy. Larsen stressed his decade of work to boost Boeing and create jobs in the district, which stretches from the King County line to the Canadian border.
By retaining his seat, Larsen keeps Democrats in the majority in Washington's congressional delegation, 5 to 4.
© Copyright 2012, KPLU
