Hague Holds Lead over Mitchell in King County Council Race

In the early returns for what proved to be a bitter King County Council District 6 fight, incumbent Jane Hague leads with 54 percent approval over challenger Richard Mitchell, who had pulled in approximately 46 percent of the vote late Tuesday. 

Hague, a Bellevue Republican, has served on the council since 1994. Her district includes Bellevue, Mercer Island, Kirkland and portions of Redmond. Mitchell, a Mercer Island defense attorney, is a political newcomer.

Hague reportedly was shocked by the large lead. “Whoaaaaaa!” she said after the results were posted, according to the Seattle Times. “I would have been happy with 51 percent.”

The campaigns turned out to be contentious. Though neither Hague nor Mitchell have any official negative campaign accounting listed by the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission, both have lobbied official and unofficial complaints at each other regarding attack ads.

that made it appear that initiative author Tim Eyman encouraged Republicans to sit out the Hague-Mitchell race. Mitchell countered with a PDC complaint, saying that expenditures for an ad that attacked his record as an attorney was not reported to the PDC in a timely manner.

Mitchell's campaign tactics cost him an endorsement from The Seattle Times, which switched its endorsement to Jane Hague in the general election after supporting Richard Mitchell in the primary because his ads "were nasty to the point of being offensive."

Editor's note: This story contains figures from early election counts that remained virtually unchanged on Wednesday evening, when another batch of results were released. Hague still leads Mitchell 54 to 46 percent.