PORT ANGELES — Dan Gase conceded defeat Thursday in his effort to dislodge incumbent Rep. Kevin Van De Wege from his 24th District Position 1 seat in the state House.
Gase, a Port Angeles Republican, said that still-incomplete results from Tuesday’s general election indicated that Van De Wege, a Sequim Democrat, had an insurmountable lead.
“I left a message for Kevin this morning after seeing the results and congratulated him,” said Gase, 57, a real estate managing broker for Coldwell Banker Uptown Realty.
In the second count of ballots Wednesday, Van De Wege had 23,975 votes, or 55.3 percent, to Gase’s 19,397 votes, or 44.7 percent.
In the 24th District Position 2 state House race, Republican Jim McEntire, 60, one of the three Port of Port Angeles commissioners, said he was not ready to concede to Democrat Steve Tharinger, 61, one of the three Clallam County commissioners.
“There are too many ballots still out there to come to any conclusion,” McEntire said Thursday.
McEntire, of Sequim, was behind by 1,321 votes after Wednesday’s count of ballots.
Tharinger, also of Sequim, had 22,181 votes, or 51.5 percent, to McEntire’s 20,860 votes, or 48.5 percent.
At least 10,500 ballots are outstanding in Clallam County — which has more than half the voters in the district, which also covers Jefferson County and the northern part of Grays Harbor County.
Jefferson County has 3,600 uncounted ballots.
About 3,500 ballots remain uncounted in Grays Harbor County. It is not known how many contain 24th District votes.
‘An eye-opener’
Gase’s first try at winning public office “was an eye-opener,” Gase said, adding that he didn’t realize how much time would need to be spent campaigning in Grays Harbor and Jefferson counties.
“There just wasn’t sufficient time to meet as many people as I would have liked to get acquainted with,” he said. “I underestimated that part of it.”
Van De Wege, 36, a Clallam County Fire District 3 firefighter-paramedic, did not return a call for comment Thursday.
Larry Clark, his campaign manager, left a voice mail message saying Van De Wege was working.
All the outstanding ballots in Jefferson and Grays Harbor County are scheduled to be counted today.
In Clallam, 4,718 ballots will be counted today, Auditor Patty Rosand said.
More Clallam County counts are scheduled Monday and Tuesday.
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Senior Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
