Democrat Dave Upthegrove of Des Moines has moved into second place for the nomination to be state commissioner of public lands in a close three-way race for the first two spots against two Republican candidates.

The two candidates with the most votes in the August 6 primary will advance to the general election on November 5.

After running in third place on primary night and the days following, Upthegrove moved into second place on Friday, August 9, according to Secretary of State results. Upthegrove is a member of the King County Council, whose District 5 includes part of Kent.

Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler leads with 21.93% (361,877 votes), followed by Upthegrove with 21.09% (347,968 votes) and Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson with 20.54% (338,962 votes).

Upthegrove was about 10,000 votes behind Kuehl Pederson in earlier counts and is now about 9,000 votes ahead of her.

Upthegrove, who has represented the 5th District on the King County Council since 2014, was one of seven candidates on the ballot.

Herrera Beutler, a former U.S. Representative, lost her 3rd District congressional seat in 2022. Kuehl Pederson lost to current Land Commissioner Hillary Franz in 2020.

The ballots will continue to be counted over the next few weeks until the Secretary of State certifies the results on August 23.

The land commissioner leads the state’s wildland firefighting force and manages nearly 6 million acres of public lands – from coastal waters and watersheds to working forests and farms to commercial developments and recreation areas.

Upthegrove ran unsuccessfully for county commissioner in 2016. He finished third in the primary behind Republican Steve McLaughlin and Franz. Franz won the general election.