Washington County Commissioners Nafisa Fai, left, and Pam Treece, in a race for Washington County chair. Initial returns show Treece leading.
Courtesy of the campaigns
One week after Election Day, the race for Washington County Commission Chair is still neck and neck.
Results released Nov. 10 show Commissioner Nafisa Fai has taken a slim lead over fellow Commissioner Pam Treece. The most recent results show Fai with 49.6% of the vote over Treece’s 49.45% — a lead of 363 votes. It is the first time results have shown Fai ahead.
Initial returns on Election Day had Treece leading with 51% of the vote to Fai’s 48%.
In the race for the commission’s District 4 seat, Hillsboro City Councilor Kipperlyn Sinclair is clinging to a slim lead over former Hillsboro Mayor Steve Callaway. The latest tally shows Sinclair with 50.7 % of the vote to Callaway’s 48.5%.
Washington County was not originally scheduled to drop new results Tuesday but opted to do so “[i]n recognition of the public interest surrounding several close races.”
The county cautioned that Tuesday’s count does not include thousands of ballots challenged due to signature issues. The process to verify and count those ballots can take several weeks.
County elections officials say the next update will be published at 4 p.m. Friday. The periodic updates to election results are unofficial — they’ll be certified and made official on Nov. 30.
Elsewhere in Washington County, last week’s election saw victories for a broad coalition of progressive candidates aligned with Fai, Sinclair and the Washington County Democratic Party. Members of this progressive block swept races for the Hillsboro City Council and snagged victories in Tigard, Forest Grove and Tualatin.
Campaigns for the progressives, including Sinclair and Fai, were fueled by opposition to data centers and the tax breaks tech companies have historically cashed in on to build them in Washington County.
