Incumbent Congressman Norm Dicks was leading the primary election race with more than half of votes counted Tuesday night, with Doug Cloud apparently to join him on the Nov. 2 ballot in the contest for the 6th Congressional District seat.
Dicks, a 69-year-old Democrat from Belfair, had 58,208 votes, or 57.83 percent, to Cloud’s 28,423, or 28.24 percent, and Jesse Young’s, 14,029 votes, or 13.94 percent, of the 100,660 ballots counted Tuesday in the 6th District.
Both Cloud, 53, and Young, 33, are Republicans from Gig Harbor. Both grew up in Tacoma.
In the top-two primary system, the two candidates with the highest number of votes, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the Nov. 2 general election.
More votes will be counted later this week in the all-mail election.
Dicks said he was pleased with the results, but wasn’t taking a victory in the general election for granted.
“We’re very pleased with the support we’ve received from the 6th District,” he said.
“We’re going to work very hard between now and the general election. . . We’re not taking anything for granted.”
Cloud, an attorney, said he was ready for the challenge.
“I’m happy, and we have 60 days before ballots go out for the general election,” he said.
“It will be a hard road for us and we have to get on it immediately . . . it is definitely doable to beat Norm Dicks.
“We feel that he outspent us 6 to 1, or maybe closer to 8 to 1, but we are gaining ground and he is losing. We can beat him.”
Young — who said he resigned from a business technology consultant post to campaign — was not available for coment on Tuesday night.
The 6th District position now held by Dicks, a 33-year incumbent, covers Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor, Mason and Kitsap counties and most of Tacoma in Pierce County.
Cloud, a lawyer, unsuccessfully ran against Dicks in 2006 and 2008 — losing 62 percent to 38 percent in the 2008 race.
This race is the first for Young, a software engineer.
The job pays $174,000 annually, with cost-of-living increases.
Dicks has emphasized his past record and experience in Congress and his positions such as the chairmanship of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
The congressman is in line to become chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, if reelected.
“We’re going to be working very hard on taking out the dams on the Elwha River and working with Rayonier and the local people who are trying to help on that project,” Dicks said.
“We have a lot of things to do.
“We want to get people back to work as well. We have a lot of work to do.”
Cloud criticized Dicks’ long tenure and the seniority system in Congress.
“Congress and Norm Dicks especially needs to be held accountable for the economic debacle that we are in,” Cloud said.
“Dicks takes credit for every morsel of economic activity that takes place, but he needs to take responsibility for the recession and near depression that we are in.”
Both Dicks and Cloud said they looked forward to debating before the general election.
Young has said he fought to succeed as the son of a single mother, grew up on the mean streets of
Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood, where he “was the minority in that demographic,” and graduated valedictorian of Woodrow Wilson High School before going on to college at Notre Dame and a successful career as a software engineer.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
