5th District primary election results: Democrats Ramos, Callan lead

Incumbents Bill Ramos and Lisa Callan lead Republican challengers in primary election results.

With ballot boxes closing at 8 p.m. tonight, Aug. 2, King County has released initial election results for the 2022 primary.

Election results county-wide will not be official until 4 p.m. on Aug. 17, as the county continues to count ballots, however, results from tonight in most cases are unlikely to change.

Here’s a look at the results for the 5th Legislative District and what they mean for the upcoming general election in November.

Legislative District 5 – position 1:

  • Bill Ramos (D, incumbent): 59.2%
  • Landon Halverson (R): 11.08%
  • Ken Moninski (R): 28.78%
  • Austin Bryant (“Elven Way”): 0.82%

Bill Ramos, D-Issaquah, who has served the 5th District since 2019, leads the way in this primary and will advance to the general election. He’ll likely be joined by runner-up Ken Moninski, R-Maple Valley, who owns two aviation service companies, and is seeking his first elected office.

If Moninski advances to the primary alongside Ramos, it will mark the second election in a row that the candidates have faced-off. In 2020, Ramos defeated Moninski receiving 60% of the vote.

Ramos has spent over $47,000 in this campaign so far, according to state public disclosure records. He has well out spent his two Republican challengers, Moninski and Landon Halverson, who have each spent less than $10,000.

Legislative District 5 – position 2:

  • Lisa Callan (D, incumbent): 56.59%
  • Chad Magendanz (R): 43.25%

The primary results between Democratic incumbent Lisa Callan and Republican challenger Chad Magendanz carry little weight, as both will move on to the general election this fall. However it could provide insight into the final results.

Callan, a former engineer at Boeing, began her career in elected-office as a member of the Issaquah School Board. She was first elected to the state House in 2019, and much of her work there has focused on K-12 education and youth behavioral health.

Magendanz, a computer science teacher in the Bellevue School District, also served on the Issaquah School Board and was a 5th District representative between 2013 and 2017. He ran for the 5th District state Senate position in 2016, narrowly losing to current 5th District Sen. Mark Mullet, a Democrat.

A significant amount of money has already been put into this race so far. Callan spent over $83,000 compared to Magendanz’s nearly $38,000.

Third-party funding, which is made without the candidates approval or involvement, has contributed over $41,000 in support of Callan’s campaign. A majority of that funding comes from the New Direction Pac, which also contributed $58,000 against Magendanz.

The state Republican party has contributed just over $41,000 in third-party support of Magendanz.