District 2 council candidates respond to primary results

||| BY MINOR LILE, ORCASONIAN REPORTER |||

The San Juan County elections office has issued the final results for the August 4 primary election. As has been previously reported, the general election candidates for the District 2 seat on the County Council will be Cindy Wolf and Rick Hughes. According to the final tabulations, Wolf received 3,730 votes (44.1%), Hughes had 3,507 votes (41.4%) and Michael Durland came in third with 1,111 votes (13.1%). Write-in candidate Mindy Kayl, who declared her candidacy late in the process, received 117 votes (1.4%).

Each of the candidates was asked to share their thoughts on the primary vote and the following replies were received. No reply was received from Mindy Kayl.

Cindy Wolf: Thank you to the 58 percent of voters who said you want new leadership! And thank you to all my volunteers and supporters. 

San Juan County must be run in the public interest and it must be done fairly and openly. And every decision must be made with a close eye on the environment.

That means prioritizing:

• Affordable Housing– How do our teachers, elder-care givers, EMTs, farmers and workers, on whom we all depend, give their best efforts to our community unless they can find affordable homes?
• Rebuilding the Economy – We have an educated population, a need for trades people, a deadline to get off fossil fuels and many retirees aging in place.  We must diversify our economy.  We should welcome visitors thoughtfully but should ensure that the need for their dollars is not more important than the health of our people or our environment.
• Long Term Planning – We must address renewable energy and the county’s carbon footprint, mitigate the impacts of tourism, protect open space, and manage growth wisely. We can enjoy our time here and pass it to future generations without loving it to death.

Your ideas helped shape my platform. I am ready to serve but I need you with me.  Please vote Cindy Wolf in November. www.VoteCindyWolf.com

Rick Hughes: I would like to thank everyone for their support – both at the polls and throughout the islands through these past months. This pandemic is by far the most difficult challenge we’ve had to face as a county/state/country/global community and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve accomplished in the face of it all. Together, between the County Council, our County Health Officer, all of our small businesses, our strong network of nonprofits, and – most importantly – each one of you, our residents, we are over five months into this and still ZERO community transmission. 

The recent primary election results remind me that we are a community with many layers of needs and concerns. In addition to the core topics of economic diversity, living wage jobs, affordable housing and environmental stewardship, we face new questions like those of public health and safety, environmental issues and questions of equity, diversity and inclusion. I hear you. And, given the opportunity, I will continue to listen to the needs of our islands and chip away at them with the deliberate, pragmatic and non-partisan approach I know is required to obtain tangible results.

I am here because I love our islands and want to do everything I can to see us through our current challenges, so that we might continue to evolve and thrive together as a community going forward. If you want to get involved, or are simply interested in better understanding my policies, please visit my website at www.hughesforcouncil.com. Thank you for the opportunity and honor to serve San Juan County.  I ask for your vote in the general election. 

Michael Durland: I am extremely grateful for all the support I received during my campaign and I feel that we will vote in two outstanding new Council persons to lead San Juan County in the years ahead.

The final results for all of the August 4 primary races and ballot measures are available HERE.