Update: Ferrell, Honda likely to advance, council primary race still close

Based on early primary election results, the top two candidates vying for the Federal Way mayor’s seat are likely set, while two candidates in the Federal Way City Council Position 4 race maintain their early leads, just slightly.

As of 4:30 p.m. Thursday, 9,561 ballots had been counted, or 20.12 percent of the 47,519 registered voters in Federal Way.

According to early results posted on the King County Elections website Thursday afternoon, Mayor Jim Ferrell and Councilwoman Susan Honda are likely to advance to the general election this fall. Ferrell continues to carry a strong lead in the mayoral race with 5,252 votes (56.73 percent), while Honda trails with 3,362 (36.31 percent). The third challenger, Mark Greene, is lagging far behind with 613 votes (6.62 percent).

Ferrell said Wednesday evening he is pleased to have received almost 57 percent of the votes tallied thus far.

“I’m really grateful for the support,” he said, adding the outcome in the general election is far from certain, however. “I’m going to continue these conversations and really talk to people about what they want Federal Way to be in the future.”

Honda, who is pleased to be advancing to the general election, said she has some hard work ahead of her to reach out to voters in the coming months.

Honda said she will do a lot more knocking on doors before the general election, listening to what voters want, as well as talking about the issues the city is facing.

“We have things going on in the city that need to be taken care of, and the public needs to know where we stand on these issues,” Honda said.

The council Position 4 race continues to be tight, however, with 907 votes separating the leader and the candidate in fourth place as of Wednesday.

If results continue to follow early tallies, Hoang Tran and Diana Noble-Gulliford will advance to the general election to determine who will fill Councilwoman Jeanne Burbidge’s seat, as she is retiring from the council. As of Thursday, Tran, considered a dark horse early on, maintained a slight lead over Noble-Gulliford with 2,528 votes (28.36 percent) to 2,479 votes (27.81 percent), respectively. Jack Stanford trails with 2,298 votes (25.78 percent), and Sharry Edwards brings up the rear with 1,575 votes (17.67 percent).

The top two candidates in each race will advance to the general election in November. King County will update its election results after 4 p.m. Friday. The final results will be certified Aug. 15.

To see the updated election results, visit www.kingcounty.gov/services/voting-elections.aspx.