Candidates, on your marks, get set ... WA filing starts Monday
A dozen courthouse positions up for election in 2026.
EPHRATA — A weeklong filing period opens Monday, May 4 in Grant County and other election departments across the state for candidates in the 2026 elections.
Within Grant County, 12 elective courthouse offices will be on the ballot later this year. Those positions – and their current incumbents – include county assessor (Melissa McKnight), auditor (Michele Jaderlund), clerk (Kimberly Allen), District 3 commissioner (Cindy Carter), coroner (Craig Morrison), prosecutor (Brandon Guernsey), sheriff (Joey Kriete), treasurer (Darryl Pheasant); all three district court judicial posts (Brian Barlow, Brian Gwinn, and Nick Wallace); and one superior court judgeship (Jennifer Richardson).
To date, Jaderlund, Carter, and Pheasant have indicated they do not intend to seek reelection. Currently, three candidates have announced their campaigns for sheriff — Kriete and challengers Darrik Gregg and Josh Sainsbury.
The courthouse positions have four-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2027 except the superior court post currently held by Richardson, which carries a two-year unexpired term. She was appointed to the bench in January by Gov. Bob Ferguson, who named her predecessor, Judge Tyson Hill, to a state appellate court seat last fall.
Two Grant County PUD commission seats, which are nonpartisan, will be up for election: District 3 represented by Larry Schaapman of Quincy carries a six-year term; the District B/at-large seat held by Nelson Cox of Warden has a four-year term.
In addition to those offices, local voters will have a say in selecting a new congressional representative in central Washington’s 4th District with the pending retirement of U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside. Also, five state legislative positions which include portions of Grant County within the 13th and 16th districts will be on the ballot.
So will Judge Tyson Hill’s two-year unexpired seat on eastern Washington’s Division III appellate court, and five seats on the Washington State Supreme Court. All judicial seats are nonpartisan.
The various positions carry filing fees of 1% of their respective annual salaries.
There are also dozens of partisan precinct committee officer positions carrying two-year terms open across the county. There is no filing fee for those.
The last day to file for office is May 8 at 5 p.m., with a May 11 deadline for candidate withdrawal. May 19 is the final day to submit candidate statements and photos for the state Voters Pamphlet. There are also respective deadlines of July 16 and Oct. 15 to file as write-in candidates for the August primary and November general elections.
Additional information — including online filing, political advertising, financial regulations and public disclosure requirements — is available at the Grant County Elections Department in Ephrata and the Washington Secretary of State’s Office.
