Clark County incumbents have a great election
People complain about politicians and bemoan partisan bickering. But if this midterm election illustrated anything it’s that despite low approval ratings, incumbents are hard to beat.
Those already in the political game have name recognition, a record to run on and they often out fundraise political newcomers.
Take Clark County, for example – this election was great for local incumbents; most candidates easily won their bid for re-election by whopping margins.
There were some exceptions, of course, Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, was ousted by newcomer Lynda Wilson.
And it helped that most Clark County incumbents are Republican and it was a good election for the GOP.
Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, successfully defended his seat and received 61.39 percent of the votes to Democrat Richard McCluskey’s 38.26 percent.
Incumbent Rep. Brandon Vick, R-Felida garnered 62.86 percent of the vote to challenger Mike Briggs’s 36.81 percent, a vote difference of 11,667.
Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, was re-elected thanks to 58.9 percent of voters; her challenger Maureen Winningham garnered 40.65 percent.
Surely you’ve read about the historic low Congressional approval ratings?
Heard of the do-nothing Congress?
Perhaps you’ve also heard that despite a tendency to hate Congress people continue to love their Congressperson.
That certainly holds true in the 3rd Congressional District, where incumbent Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, was re-elected with 61.5 percent of the vote.
Lauren Dake
Lauren Dake covers politics for The Columbian. You can reach her at 360-735-4534 or lauren.dake@columbian.com. Follow her on Twitter .