PORT TOWNSEND — Winemaker Kenneth Collins was well ahead of Tony De Leo in Tuesday election returns for the six-year District 2 seat on the Jefferson County Public Utility District commission.
Collins, 68, co-owner with his wife, Judith, of Marrowstone Vineyards, was defeating De Leo, 65, a Jefferson Healthcare hospital commissioner, with 6,145 votes, or 57 percent, to De Leo’s 4,675 votes, or 43 percent, in the countywide general election race for the nonpartisan seat.
Collins declared victory while De Leo conceded defeat after the results were announced.
“I think that getting out there and door-belling and running the kind of ads that I did in the paper, that gave a lot of information that explained what I was running on,” Collins said Tuesday night.
“That gave voters a choice.”
De Leo conceded in an interview that it will be his first electoral defeat after 40 years as a hospital commissioner.
“It’s been a long road and it’s over, and that’s the important thing,” De Leo said.
Collins outspent De Leo with $12,803 raised to the $2,405 that De Leo put into his own campaign.
“I congratulate Mr. Collins,” De Leo said.
“If he puts the time and effort into being a commissioner that he put into becoming a commissioner, he has a chance at success.”
Incumbent Ken McMillen failed to advance to the general election from the Aug. 5 primary.
The Jefferson County Auditor’s Office counted 13,402 ballots Tuesday out of 22,207 issued for a voter turnout of 58.64 percent.
Auditor Donna Eldridge expects about 2,000 more ballots to come in later this week.
The next count has been scheduled for about 2 p.m. Thursday unless staff can process all the ballots that come in on Wednesday in the all-mail election, Eldridge said.
In that case, a count will be done Wednesday.
The commissioner position pays $27,429 annually.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
