PORT ANGELES — The second day of candidates filing for the Nov. 6 general election produced contested races for West End-area District Court 2, the state House of Representatives and Congress.
Shelton Republican Dr. Douglass Dightman, a family medicine practitioner, filed for the two-year term held by 6th Congressional District Democratic U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer.
Kilmer, a Port Angeles native, is serving his third term and filed Monday for re-election.
Dightman, a 48-year-old Tacoma native, said Tuesday he has no political experience and knows very little about Kilmer.
“I’m not really running about him, I’m running to give people a choice,” Dightman said.
Dightman said he wants to improve the health care system and “work on that for a couple of years on a much larger scale” for one term.
“I want to see what I can do to work on the problem and come back to practice again,” he said.
Dightman has been married for a year and has four stepchildren, he said.
Several candidates also filed for state legislative offices who had previously indicated their intention to run but filed Tuesday.
They included Republican Jim McEntire of Sequim, a former Clallam County commissioner and Port of Port Angeles commissioner, who is trying again to unseat four-term Democrat Steve Tharinger of Sequim, a 24th District Position 2 state representative who defeated McEntire in 2010 for the two-year position.
The 24th District covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and the northern half of Grays Harbor County.
Candidates who filed Tuesday also included Port Hadlock Republican Jodi Wilke, a licensed practical nurse who filed for freshman Port Angeles Democrat Mike Chapman’s 24th District Position 1 seat.
Clallam County
Also filing in Clallam County on Tuesday were incumbent Teresa Marchi, Port Angeles, treasurer; Superior Court Judge Erik Rohrer of Forks and lawyer John Black of Beaver, West End-area District Court 2; incumbent Ted Simpson of Port Angeles and challenger Jim Waddell of Port Angeles, Clallam County Public Utility District 1, District 3.
Jefferson County
Three people declared their candidacies for county offices on Tuesday in Jefferson County.
Daniel Toepper, 57, of Port Ludlow will run for Jefferson County Public Utility District Commissioner, Position 3, the seat currently held by Wayne King. The seat is non-partisan.
Jon Cooke, 59, of Quilcene has filed for the Position 3 seat on the Jefferson County commissioners now held by Kathleen Kler who is not seeking re-election. Cooke is the Jefferson County Republican Party chairman.
Joe Nole, 62, of Chimacum has filed to run for Jefferson County sheriff, a four-year term. He will vie for the seat now held by the current sheriff, David Stanko, who filed Monday.
Nole is currently a detective after he was made acting sheriff in 2014 and appointed under-sheriff by Stanko later in 2014. Stanko demoted him to detective and appointed Art Frank under-sheriff in 2017.
Monday recap
Filing for the election Monday in Clallam were incumbent Mary Ellen Winborn of Port Angeles and challenger Julie Gardiner of Port Angeles, department of community development director; Republican incumbent Bill Peach of Forks, West End District 3 county commissioner; incumbent Bill Benedict of Sequim, sheriff; Republican incumbent Mark Nichols of Port Angeles, prosecuting attorney; incumbent Shoona Riggs of Port Angeles, auditor; and incumbent Pamela Rushton of Port Angeles, assessor.
Lawyers Dave Neupert, Pam Lindquist and Suzanne Hayden, all of Port Angeles, also filed Monday for Port Angeles-area District Court 1.
Filing week ends Friday for this year’s elections. The primary will be Aug. 7. The general election will be Nov. 6.
The last day for candidates to withdraw their names from the ballot is May 21, or their names will appear on the ballot even if they have announced they are no longer candidates.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.