Incumbent Thurston County Commissioner Emily Clouse held a lead of about 5,000 votes over challenger Nicolas Martinez-Dunning in the District 5 race after the first batch of ballots was counted on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Clouse, a Democrat, received 31,898 votes, or 53.34%. Martinez-Dunning, who filed as a self-described "moderate Democrat," received 26,909 votes, or 44.99%. The unofficial tallies came from the Thurston County Auditor's Office, as The Olympian reported.
The results did not include any ballots collected on Election Day. Voter turnout stood at about 31% of 214,940 registered voters, with many ballots still to be counted, The JOLT News Organization reported.
As we reported Nov. 4, Clouse led after the initial count. Thurston County will post updated results daily until the county certifies them on Nov. 24. The Washington Secretary of State will then certify results by Dec. 3.
What's at stake
The winner will represent District 5 on the five-person Board of County Commissioners, which oversees a county with a $1 billion biennial budget. The district covers an area south of Lacey and extends north between Olympia and Lacey toward Johnson Point. All Thurston County voters can vote on the seat, according to The Olympian.
The next commissioner will face a tight fiscal picture. County officials have wrestled with a $22.3 million general fund deficit. To address it, officials plan to spread cost-cutting measures over three years and draw $1 million annually from the county's $4 million rainy day fund, according to county documents cited by The Olympian.
The candidates
Clouse, an Army veteran who served as a military intelligence analyst, was first elected commissioner in 2022, according to Nisqually Valley News. She campaigned on protecting the environment, building affordable housing and increasing government transparency, according to her campaign website.
Her first term included friction with fellow commissioners. In 2024, the board censured Clouse following a third-party investigation into her relationship with an executive aide. The county paid the aide $300,000 in a settlement, The Olympian previously reported. A state Supreme Court recall petition against Clouse stemming from that investigation was dismissed early in 2026.
At a September forum covered by Nisqually Valley News, Clouse addressed the matter directly. She said she accepted responsibility and called it "an ongoing process."
Martinez-Dunning, a U.S. Marine Corps and Washington National Guard veteran, owns West Coast Fitness in Lacey. He was elected to the Lacey City Council in November 2023 and resigned in August to focus on the commissioner race. His term had been set to run through 2027.
He ran on a platform of "common sense" and "people over politics," pitching himself as someone who could work across party lines on homelessness, rising costs and public safety, according to his voter pamphlet statement cited by The Olympian.
Primary and general
Martinez-Dunning topped the August primary in a three-person race decided only by District 5 voters. He received 5,662 votes, or 38.4%. Clouse finished second with 5,119 votes, or 34.7%. Michelle Gipson, also a Democrat, was eliminated with 3,722 votes, or 25.22%.
Clouse reversed that order in the general election, where all county voters could participate.
The Olympian reported that Clouse called the early results "amazing" on election night. Martinez-Dunning texted The Olympian that he was waiting to see how remaining ballots came in.
