Deschutes commission races: Close but clear

It’s not official yet, but there are two clear front-runners in the two Deschutes County commissioner races, both Republicans.

Both races came down to the wire Tuesday night, but even with at least a few more votes to be counted, it’s not very likely much will change.

Currently, Republican incumbent Tony DeBone is about 2,500 ahead of Democratic challenger Amy Lowes, although the clerk’s office won’t make winners official until Nov. 26.

Could the numbers change between now and then?

There will be some ballots coming in from other counties and ballots with signatures that need to be resolved, to be sure they match. But county Clerk Nancy Blankenship said it’s highly unlikely the outcome will change.

“Typical history is, we’ll kind of continue down the same path we’re on now,” Blankenship said. “There could always be an anomaly. It’ll probably shift a little bit, but that’s saying anything but an anomaly. What history tells us, it’ll probably stay similar.”

Lowes posted on her campaign Facebook page thanking her team and congratulating DeBone on his win.

NewsChannel 21 spoke with her Wednesday. She said she’s spoken with Tony DeBone and they plan on getting together to debrief.

“How do we broach some of the subjects we broached during our debates and our conversations, and how do we move forward together with some of these issues?” Lowes said.

“I did step up and run just as an ordinary woman, ordinary citizen of Deschutes County. I hope I can inspire other women to stand up and do the same thing,” she said.

She said she’s proud that her campaign got as far as it did.

The other, even closer commissioner race was between Republican Patti Adair and DemocratJames Cook. Currently, Adair is winning by about 1,200 votes.

Cook also posted on Facebook, thanking supporters and wishing luck to Adair.

Adair, who had been serving as the chair of the Deschutes County Republicans ,is a first-time candidate who defeated incumbent Commissioner Tammy Baney in the May GOP primary.

She said she’ll be stepping down from the party role on Nov. 20.

Adair said even though the winner of the county commissioner’s race won’t be official until Nov. 26, she’s excited about how the results are looking.

She said she wants everyone, even those who didn’t vote for her, to know this:

“I’ll be fair, and I’ll listen to everybody,” Adair said. “That’s one of the reasons I believe I won, because I originally didn’t plan on running for office, but I tend to talk to everyone and I’m always listening to people; what their concerns are. And I feel like I’ll make a difference for the people. The people paying all the taxes.”