As ballot counting wrapped up Tuesday night, Dave Upthegrove appeared to have edged out Sue Kuehl Pederson by just 51 votes – of 1.9 million cast – for second place in the Washington state lands commissioner primary.
It’s one of the closest results in a race for statewide office in Washington’s history.
If the outcome holds, it means Upthegrove, a Democrat, will scrape by into the general election and compete against Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler. But there are still more steps in the process. The slim margin will trigger a mandatory hand recount…