With four days left until results are sealed in the Washington state primaries, Luc Jasmin III, a Democrat, and Natalie Poulson, a Republican, remain in the top-two slots and appear likely to move forward to the general election in November in third legislative district in the state House.
Jasmin was in third place after the first ballot drop but soon moved into the second spot—trailing Poulson by 211 votes. He thanked voters and his opponents earlier this week and said that he had enough ballots to “confirm we are advancing to the general election.”
The Democrat, who is eastern Washington outreach representative to Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, who endorsed him, told JNS that he didn’t think that it was “fair” to label Hamas a terror group, because he’s not a member. Poulson, the Republican, called that statement “discrediting.”
Jasmin also responded to a JNS query to his father, who resigned from the Washington State Human Rights Commission in July after the state panel posted video footage of a prior meeting, which included antisemitic remarks that he made.
As of Friday evening, Poulson had 13,775 votes (32.9%), with Jasmin close behind with 13,564 (32.4%). Another Democrat, Pam Kohlmeier, trailed in third with 12,647 (30.2%).
As the only Republican in the race, Poulson, who is endorsed by Washingtonians for a Brighter Future, a pro-Jewish PAC, will have an uphill battle, as Jasmin works to consolidate Democratic voters in the district.
Jasmin was listed as a “preferred” candidate by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. On Thursday, CAIR congratulated Jasmin and 62 other candidates it endorsed in the state on advancing to the general election.
“Advancing 63 champions is a massive win, but the finish line is in November,” stated CAIR, which blamed Israel for being attacked shortly after Oct. 7, and which the Biden administration removed from involvement in the national strategy to combat Jew-hatred after initially including the group.
