Wow! What interesting election results. And it’s only the primaries, too.

Northwest Asian Weekly doesn’t endorse any candidates in primary elections. This ended up being a good policy because there were so many strong candidates for King County Executive that we would have had a hard time choosing which one to endorse.

In the end, Dow Constantine is going into the general election with Susan Hutchison.

Though Hutchison emerged with the high percentage of the votes at 37.4 percent and Constantine at 22.4 percent, it’s very probable that the margin between the two percentages will narrow as voters from Hunter, Jarrett, and Phillips — all self-proclaimed Democrats — begin to choose between the two.

Constantine has also come out as a Democrat while Hutchison prefers to not align herself with a political party. Her critics have pointed out that she has donated money to Republican candidates in the past, including George W. Bush’s campaign. She has also been criticized for the suit she filed in 2003 against KIRO claiming age and race discrimination because an Asian American female anchor, Kristy Lee, was hired to replace her.

All of this puts Hutchison in an interesting position with the Asian communities of King County, a constituency that tends to vote for Democrats over Republicans. In addition, Constantine as King County Council Member has an established record of working for the Asian community.

Asians are the largest minority group in King County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a 2008 report states that Asians make up 13.4 percent of the population in King County. To put this in perspective, Asians only comprise of 6.7 percent of Washington state’s population. Asians have a lot of power in King County — this is a great thing and we should not forget this.

In order to garner votes from Asian Americans, Hutchison has her work cut out for her. We look forward to seeing what kind of outreach she will do for our community in the coming months. For now though, we’re in Constantine’s corner.

Wilson Chin and Betty Patu, candidates for Seattle School District No. 1 Director District No. 7, are both going onto the general election. Notably, this position has always been held by an Asian American and we are glad this trend is continuing. Many students in the district are minorities and would benefit from having someone lead the district who understands their needs. ♦