Unopposed Elections in Pierce County, WA

01

By kind of office

Not evenly distributed. The seats with the highest rates are mostly the ones with the lowest profile — park, cemetery, water and fire districts, where a filing fee and a handful of signatures is the whole barrier.

Uncontested rate by office type
Office type	Races	Unopposed	Rate
Water/Sewer district	5	5	100%
Judicial	1	1	100%
Fire district	19	15	78.9%
City	93	53	57%
School district	34	18	52.9%
Park/Cemetery/Library	9	3	33.3%
County	22	1	4.5%
Port district	3	0	0%

Source WA Secretary of State official general election results · as of 2026-08-07 · 8 office types

02

The seats that went unopposed

Every one of these was decided by a single person filing. The full list is here rather than a sample, so a specific office can be looked up instead of inferred from a rate.

Seats elected unopposed in Pierce County, November 2025
Seat	Type	Elected unopposed	Votes
City Of Bonney Lake Council – Position No. 1	City	Gwendolyn Fullerton	2,919
City Of Bonney Lake Council – Position No. 6	City	Aaron Davis	2,947
City Of Bonney Lake Council – Position No. 7	City	Brittany Rock	2,903
City Of Bonney Lake Mayor	City	Terry Carter	2,989
City Of Buckley Council – Position No. 1	City	Ron Smith	900
City Of Buckley Council – Position No. 2	City	Robert Wohlfeil	887
City Of Buckley Council – Position No. 3	City	Kenny Arsanto	889
City Of Buckley Mayor	City	Carolyn Robertson Harding	774
City Of Dupont Council – Position No. 1	City	Jugal Thakor	1,403
City Of Dupont Council – Position No. 2	City	Mike Winkler	1,434
City Of Dupont Council – Position No. 3	City	Beth Elliott	1,432
City Of Edgewood Council – Position No. 3	City	Christi Keith	2,190
City Of Edgewood Council – Position No. 4	City	Mark Creley	2,279
City Of Edgewood Council – Position No. 5	City	Jason Rasmus	2,217
City Of Edgewood Council – Position No. 6	City	Corbin Edwards	1,974
City Of Fife Council – Position No. 3	City	Douglas Andrew Fagundes	763
City Of Fife Council – Position No. 6	City	Sean &Quot;Joey&Quot; Murphy	786
City Of Fife Council – Position No. 7	City	Marianne Dominique	805
City Of Fircrest Council – Position No. 1	City	David M. Viafore	1,778
City Of Fircrest Council – Position No. 6	City	Nikki Bufford	1,816
City Of Gig Harbor Council – Position No. 1	City	Loreto Tessicini	3,294
City Of Gig Harbor Council – Position No. 7	City	Reid Ekberg	3,836
City Of Lakewood Council – Position No. 5	City	Patti Belle	7,295
City Of Orting Council – Position No. 3	City	Don Tracy	1,796
City Of Orting Council – Position No. 7	City	Dale Reed	1,793
City Of Roy Council – Position No. 1	City	Edmund Dunn	110
City Of Roy Council – Position No. 4	City	Alexandria Hall	83
City Of Ruston Council – Position No. 1	City	Jennifer Jensen	364
City Of Ruston Council – Position No. 2	City	John W. Holland	347
City Of Ruston Mayor	City	Bruce Hopkins	343
City Of Sumner Council – Position No. 1	City	Greg Reinke	1,779
City Of Sumner Council – Position No. 5	City	Michael Hochstatter	1,855
City Of Tacoma Civil Service – Position No. 1	City	Eric Hansen	31,406
City Of University Place Council – Position No. 1	City	Javier Hugo Figueroa	6,360
City Of University Place Council – Position No. 4	City	Edward A. Wood	6,338
City Of University Place Council – Position No. 5	City	Denise Mccluskey	6,352
City Of Pacific Council Position No. 2	City	Kerry Garberding	1
City Of Pacific Council Position No. 4	City	Ray Helms	2
City Of Pacific Council Position No. 5	City	Lawrence C Boles	1
City Of Pacific Council Position No. 6	City	Stacey D Jackson	1
City Of Pacific Council Position No. 7	City	Eric Petersen	2
Town Of Carbonado Council – Position No. 1	City	Courtney Hanson	129
Town Of Carbonado Council – Position No. 2	City	Jessie Gamble	129
Town Of Eatonville Council – Position No. 1	City	Kyle Litzenberger	442
Town Of Eatonville Council – Position No. 2	City	Peter Paul	462
Town Of Eatonville Mayor	City	Emily Mcfadden	516
Town Of South Prairie Mayor	City	Carolyn Norris	68
Town Of Steilacoom Council – Position No. 1	City	Pete Franklin	2,030
Town Of Steilacoom Council – Position No. 3	City	Roger Neal	2,004
Town Of Wilkeson Council Pos. 1	City	Travis Waldher	116
Town Of Wilkeson Council Pos. 2	City	Heather Holznagel	117
Town Of Wilkeson Council Pos. 5	City	Kassie Harris	113
Town Of Wilkeson Mayor	City	Jayme Peloli	122
County Council District No. 3 Charter Review Dist. 3 Pos. 2	County	Caleb Heimlich	14,673
Central Pierce Fire & Rescue Commissioner – Position No. 1	Fire district	Steve Stringfellow	29,905
Central Pierce Fire & Rescue Commissioner – Position No. 4	Fire district	Matthew Holm	28,624
Fire Protection District No. 13 Commissioner – Position No. 1	Fire district	Jim Zuluaga	567
Fire Protection District No. 14 Commissioner – Position No. 2	Fire district	Gerald Sandberg	259
Fire Protection District No. 18 Commissioner – Position No. 1	Fire district	Joe Palombi	3,393
Fire Protection District No. 18 Commissioner – Position No. 5	Fire district	Margaret Buttz	3,294
Fire Protection District No. 23 Commissioner – Position No. 1	Fire district	Claudia Frey	250
Fire Protection District No. 23 Commissioner – Position No. 2	Fire district	Joe Koehler	222
Fire Protection District No. 3 Commissioner – Position No. 1	Fire district	Alan Billingsley	14,286
Fire Protection District No. 3 Commissioner – Position No. 5	Fire district	Marshall Dellinger	14,045
Fire Protection District No. 5 Commissioner – Position No. 3	Fire district	Joe Urvina	16,088
Graham Fire & Rescue Commissioner – Position No. 2	Fire district	Robert Homan	8,605
Graham Fire & Rescue Commissioner – Position No. 5	Fire district	Christine (Chris) Mcafee	8,207
South Pierce Fire & Rescue Commissioner – Position No. 1	Fire district	John M. Linboe	3,826
South Pierce Fire & Rescue Commissioner – Position No. 5	Fire district	Judson Willis	3,850
City Of Puyallup Municipal Court Judge	Judicial	Andrea L. Beall	7,059
Anderson Island Park And Recreation Dist Commissioner – Position No. 3	Park/Cemetery/Library	Jonathan Darrigo	511
Anderson Island Park And Recreation Dist Commissioner – Position No. 4	Park/Cemetery/Library	Hayley Young	552
Peninsula Metropolitan Park District Commissioner – Position No. 1	Park/Cemetery/Library	Kurt Grimmer	12,274
Auburn School District No. 408 Director District No. 5	School district	Shelly Combs	1,278
Carbonado Historical School Dist. No. 19 Director – Position No. 1	School district	Dameon Marlow	176
Carbonado Historical School Dist. No. 19 Director – Position No. 2	School district	Danielle Brooks	173
Carbonado Historical School Dist. No. 19 Director – Position No. 3	School district	James Van Eddy	171
Clover Park School District No. 400 Director – District No. 3	School district	Dana Kelleher	7,395
Clover Park School District No. 400 Director – District No. 4	School district	Darrin Lowry	6,946
Dieringer School District No. 343 Director – District No. 1	School district	Devin Craig	1,523
Dieringer School District No. 343 Director – District No. 3	School district	Nicole Kent	1,521
Dieringer School District No. 343 Director – District No. 4	School district	Scott Reisnouer	1,524
Franklin Pierce School District No. 402 Director – District No. 2	School district	Angenette Pickett Call	5,955
Steilacoom Historical School Dist. No. 1 Director – Position No. 3	School district	Melanie Tinsley	4,916
Sumner-bonney Lake School District No. 320 Director – District No. 2	School district	Tom Watson	7,907
Sumner-bonney Lake School District No. 320 Director – District No. 5	School district	Erin Markquart	8,107
University Place School District No. 83 Director – Position No. 1	School district	Ethelda Burke	5,795
University Place School District No. 83 Director – Position No. 2	School district	Marisa Peloquin	5,752
White River School District No. 416 Director – District No. 1	School district	Denise Vogel	3,780
White River School District No. 416 Director – District No. 3	School district	James Johnson	3,758
White River School District No. 416 Director – District No. 4	School district	Cassie Pearson	3,549
Clear Lake Water District Commissioner – Position No. 3	Water/Sewer district	Gary Pessemier	63
Crystal Mountain Sewer District Commissioner – Position No. 3	Water/Sewer district	Douglas Blanchard	2
Lakewood Water District Commissioner – Position No. 1	Water/Sewer district	Gregory J. Rediske	8,146
Mckenna Water District Commissioner – Position No. 2	Water/Sewer district	Mike Meridth	27
Valley Water District Commissioner – Position No. 3	Water/Sewer district	Christine Johnson	1,013

Source WA Secretary of State official general election results, November 2025 · as of 2026-08-07 · winner named for 96 of 96 seats

03

What this page will not compute

Each of these is a number a reader might reasonably expect. None of them follow from the records we hold, so we do not publish them.

Whether a seat was winnable: We know one candidate filed. We do not know whether anyone considered running and decided against it, so we cannot say a seat was conceded rather than simply uncontested.
Why a seat went unopposed: The result export records the outcome, not the reason. Incumbency, obscurity, an unpaid role and a genuinely satisfied electorate all produce the same row.
A trend from one cycle to the next: Washington runs local elections in odd years and state elections in even ones, so consecutive cycles are not comparable. The by-election table above is grouped for that reason and should be read down the odd years only.
Anything about the reader’s own ballot: This page has no location. County pages cover a whole county, which contains many overlapping districts, and we do not know which of them you vote in.

04

Definitions

What was counted, so the figure can be checked rather than taken.

Uncontested: Exactly one candidate appeared on the general election ballot for that seat. Write-in lines are not counted as candidates.
Race: One seat on one ballot in one election. A three-seat board contributes three races.
Excluded: Ballot measures, recall questions and advisory votes. None of them have candidates.
Top-two primary: Washington narrows most races to two candidates before the general. A race can be genuinely contested in August and appear uncontested here only if a single person filed at all — not merely because one was eliminated.
Multi-county races: Excluded from county tables, because a race spanning several counties cannot be attributed to one. They are included in the statewide totals.

05

Reproduce this

The figures come from one table built from the Secretary of State result exports. This is the query behind them.

SELECT COUNT(*) races, SUM(is_uncontested) unopposed
FROM race_contests
WHERE election_type = 'general'
  AND election_date = '20251104'
  AND counties = 'Pierce';

Source: Washington Secretary of State official general election results, 2014–2025.
Uncontested flag: Set when exactly one candidate row exists for a seat on a general election ballot. Computed at import, not by hand.
Rebuilt: 2026-08-07. Figures change when the state publishes a corrected canvass.

Cite this report

This is public-records reporting. Use it, and say where it came from.

“Unopposed Elections in Pierce County, WA,” WashingtonIndependents.org, data as of 2026-08-07, accessed 2026-08-08. https://washingtonindependents.org/uncontested/pierce/