Incumbent Rude pulls ahead in race for 16th District state rep

Republican Skyler Rude was leading on Tuesday night, defending his 16th Legislative District Position 2 state representative seat for a second term over Democratic challenger Carly Coburn.

Though not all ballots were counted yet, Rude was ready to call the race on Tuesday, but Coburn was not.

The candidate with the most votes during the final count will represent residents in Walla Walla and Columbia counties, most of southern Benton County and the city of Pasco.

Rude stood at 27,473 votes, or 67.12%, while Coburn received 13,437 votes, or 32.83%.

So far, 40,931 votes were counted.

“I think it's safe enough that I feel confident I have won it,” Rude said. “As soon as I saw Walla Walla County, which is more than half of voters for the legislative district, I saw positive numbers there, than I knew that I was safe.”

Rude was in Lake Chelan with his legislative mentor during the announcement of his preliminary results.

“Our county party didn’t have any kind of election party, probably because of COVID this year, so I figured it was a good chance to get away,” he said.

Rude is finishing his first term in the state seat, focusing on K-12 education, pro-business policies and mental health. He is the assistant ranking minority member on the budget-focused House Appropriations Committee.

Rude noted some of his legislative accomplishments over the past year include having a 100% pass rate with all of his bills, though one had to be vetoed because of COVID-19 concerns.

He proud of the relationships he built with democrats and working effectively across the aisle to benefit the district, he said.

He plans to work this year on the vetoed bill, a study bill to identify barriers that exist in the Washington state death with dignity law.

He also hopes to be part of the conversation in creating more checks in the governor's emergency laws.

Rude is considered a moderate or right of center and fiscally conservative, while his opponent is a progressive.

Competing for the spot, Coburn, from Pasco, is heavily involved in her community.

She has held several local positions in the Tri-Cities, including treasurer and chair of the Tri-Cities Young Democrats, first vice-chair of the Franklin County Democrats, and member of various political organizations and campaigns. She is currently first vice-chair of the 16th Legislative District.

On the night of the election, she attended various election parties via Zoom and watched some of the federal and state elections.

“I haven’t fully committed to a feeling yet,” Coburn said. “When I saw them, I know that our state does write-ins and some people didn’t drop their ballot off until today, so the gap could close, so I am keeping that in mind when I am looking at the results.”

“We did better than in the primary, and I am just really proud of everything our campaign has done.”

In the primary election, Rude received 26,461, or 69.84%, of the votes to Coburn’s 11,359, or 29.98%.

Win or lose, she will continue to volunteer her time to the community in various forms, such as recently joining a tenant rights nonprofit board.

“I definitely will be continuing to advocate for disability rights because, Democrat or Republican, I don’t think that enough has been done for the disability community in Washington state,” Coburn said.

She advocated for improving access to healthcare, housing and making sure that disability rights are enforced and thinks her message was well received.

Rude said the friendly tone of the campaign was a model of what people could see more often.

He said he worked hard for the last two years and is hopeful the voters feel they are getting a good return on their investment.