Why Spokane County's suddenly voting on five county commissioner races this year

Even before the first candidates filed, the Spokane County commissioner race this year was set to be like nothing Spokane had seen before. For 183 years, Spokane County has been run by three county commissioners. Some years only one commissioner slot was up for election, and other years voters would have a chance to vote on two.

But this year? There will be five commissioners — and voters will get to select every single one of them.

Not only that, but in years past, the boundaries of the district only mattered in the primary: A Republican commissioner like Al French could seem vulnerable during the primary in his liberal district — which included Cheney and the left-leaning areas of the South Hill — only to saunter to an easy victory in the general election.

Today, the countywide commissioner election is a thing of the past: Voters will only get to vote for the commissioner in their own district.

French, meanwhile, fought like hell to stop these changes from happening. He points to 2015, when voters rejected a proposal that would have expanded the number of commissioners from three to five, though they still would have elected them countywide.

"It's not what the people here wanted," French says. "The citizens of Spokane County deserve the right to their form of government, just like any other county in the state."

But in 2018, Washington state Rep. Marcus Riccelli recruited a bipartisan team of legislators, including local Republicans like Rep. Mike Volz and then-Rep. Matt Shea, to expand the board of county commissioners.

"This will bring better representation," Riccelli says. "This isn't a 3-0 Republican county. There are voices that are left out and not being considered."

French didn't give up. First, he joined former Democratic County Commissioner John Roskelley and the Washington State Association of Counties to file a lawsuit challenging the law's constitutionality. And after that was swatted down unanimously by the state Supreme Court, French tried unsuccessfully to convince his fellow commissioners to support a ballot measure to kick off a lengthy and complicated process to rewrite the county's charter to override Riccelli's bill.

So last year, the battle lines shifted to the fight over the border lines: To split up Spokane County into five districts of equal populations, Democrats and Republicans each got to select two picks for the redistricting committee. Four disparate redistricting committee members — a gun store founder, a former acting police chief, an attorney and a Black Lives Matter activist, along with the Spokane City Council's director of government relations — were asked to hammer out a compromise that both sides could live with.

The result? Districts 1 and 2 — in the west and east of the city of Spokane — lean heavily blue, handing Democrats two surefire chances to win a county commissioner seat for the first time in 16 years. Two rural districts — District 3 to the northeast and District 4 to the southeast — are deep red.

Al French's District 5 in western Spokane County, that's the closest you'll get to a swing district. While Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee lost the district by over 8 points in 2020, President Joe Biden lost it by less than 3. In the right year with the right candidate riding a large enough blue wave, Democrats could actually control the county commission.

But 2022 doesn't look anything like a "blue wave" year — quite the opposite in fact. But Democrats will get another crack at the same district in 2024. To avoid future years where all five commissioner districts are up for election, Districts 1, 3 and 5 will initially be only two-year terms.

The chance for a Democratic seat hasn't resulted in a stampede of contenders for the most Democratic seat in District 1. The shorter term could be one reason.

"I think you could have asked any political person in the region, we all thought Marcus Riccelli was going to run," says current County Commissioner Josh Kerns. French, in particular, had repeatedly claimed — despite Riccelli's denials — that Riccelli had personally informed him of his plans to run. Instead, Riccelli stuck with the Legislature.

Today, Riccelli suggests part of the reason he didn't close the door on the rumor was to waste French's time.

"He spent a lot of time convincing other people I was running," he says. "I figured that it was time well spent away from doing things that were not moving our county forward."

But former City Council President Ben Stuckart did seriously consider running for the seat, Stuckart says, ultimately deciding that he had too many important projects concerning issues like housing and homelessness on his plate.

"When I decided not to [run], I think there was a scramble to find someone," Stuckart says. He says he tried to encourage former Spokane Regional Health District Officer Bob Lutz to run — and wasn't the only one.

Ultimately, the only Democrat to run for District 1 is Washington State Assistant Attorney General Chris Jordan.

As for French, he says he's taking nothing for granted — campaigning as hard as ever — as he doorbells to defend his seat in the newly created District 5. He sticks by his opposition to the new way of electing county commissioners and says some of the voters he talks with continue to be upset by it.

"People are mad that they can't vote for every commissioner that can increase their taxes," French says.

But some of French's constituents welcome the increase in representation.

"I don't believe two should make a decision that affects 500,000 people," says Don Harmon, a former Airway Heights mayor who is running against French as a Republican. But he doesn't believe that five is exactly the right number.

"I believe it should be nine," Harmon says. ♦