PORT TOWNSEND — Craddock Verser easily beat Joan Best for Jefferson County Superior Court judge, earning 69 percent of the votes counted so far in Tuesday’s primary election.
The tally was 4,629 to Best’s 1,955.
Under state law in a judicial election, a candidate receiving more than 50 percent of the vote is elected in the primary.
Although there are 2,300 mail-in votes still to be counted, with more expected in the mail today, Best, a Port Ludlow attorney, conceded defeat after seeing Tuesday night’s results.
Verser, a Port Townsend defense attorney with a 24-year experience, was elected to a four-year term — but he has been on the bench since March.
He was appointed as the county’s only Superior Court judge by Gov. Gary Locke following the death of Thomas Majhan.
