Jaime Herrera Beutler (left) leads in the primary for Washington Lands Commissioner. Suehl Pederson (center) and Dave Upthegrove (right) are in a tight fight for second place. The top two finishers will advance to the general election in November. (Photos courtesy of campaign teams)

Democratic candidate for county commissioner Dave Upthegrove slowly moved into second place in the race Friday night, displacing Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson, who had held the post since election night.

Upthegrove was ahead of Pederson by 4,446 votes when the vote counted Friday night around 6 p.m. He received 20.9% of the vote, just three-tenths of a percent more than her. His share of the vote was higher than on Tuesday, when the first votes were counted, at around 19.9%.

Former Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler remained ahead with about 22% of the vote.

Upthegrove is the top candidate in populous King County, where he leads the county council, garnering nearly 35% of the vote compared to Herrera Beutler’s 14% and Pederson’s 11%.

In contrast, Pederson is doing well in southwest Washington’s Clark County, where Vancouver is located, where she received nearly 29% of the vote and Upthegrove received 12%.

By Friday evening, an estimated 1,500 ballots remained to be counted in Clark County and 41,000 in King County.

With those votes in King County, Upthegrove could solidify his lead over Pederson. If he fails and she comes out ahead of him again, that would mean two Republicans would advance to the general election. Four other Democrats competed in the race, splitting the party vote.

Vote counting is scheduled to resume next week, with August 23 the deadline for the Secretary of State to certify the results of this month’s primary election.

A mandatory recount would be required in this race if the difference between the second and third placed candidates is less than half a percent of the total votes cast for both candidates and at the same time less than 2,000 votes.