Sims withstands challenge from Irons, wins third term

Overcoming months of Republican attacks on his management record, Democratic King County Executive Ron Sims won re-election Tuesday night, defeating challenger David Irons.

At a boisterous party at the Westin Hotel in Seattle, Sims was joined by Gov. Christine Gregoire. "I heard the line about how this was going to be a close election," Gregoire said. "It's a landslide."

Irons called Sims before midnight to concede.

"I'm a romantic realist. You need to know when to call the race. Mr. Sims' numbers slid dramatically from four years ago. We saw a lot of dissatisfaction. Mr. Sims has work to do to reassure the public," said Irons, a Republican King County councilman.

State Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance said he was disappointed, but contended that Sims' numbers were nothing to brag about. Republicans go into statewide races hoping to get 40 percent of the county's vote — which "obviously makes the King County executive's race very tough for us to win."

Despite King County's Democratic leanings, the GOP viewed this election as its best chance to recapture the county's top administrative post since 1993, when Democrat Gary Locke dashed Republican Executive Tim Hill's bid for a third term.

Sims, a former county councilman, was appointed to finish Locke's uncompleted term when Locke was elected governor in 1996. Sims was elected in 1997 and re-elected in 2001.

Tuesday's election, coming in the wake of the county's botched handling of the 2004 governor's election, was largely a referendum on Sims' nine years in the job.

Until the close governor's race revealed mismanagement in the county elections office, Sims was widely seen as a shoo-in for re-election. But his approval rating fell and Republicans smelled blood as Sims stood behind Elections Director Dean Logan during months of revelations of misplaced votes, illegal voting and sloppy accounting for ballots.

Tuesday night, Irons continued making sarcastic references to the elections problems.

"Let's see if Mr. Logan can get it right this time. After all, we're still waiting for him to find the other 390 ballots [from the September primary]. ... I suggested the lower right-hand drawer in his office," Irons told supporters at Bellevue's Doubletree Hotel.

Republicans kept up their offensive against the county elections office practically up to Election Day, challenging the registrations of thousands of voters the GOP said were illegally registered at private mailboxes or storage units.

But Democrats fought back.

"We've maintained all along that the Republican strategy has been to keep legitimate people from voting who happened to vote Democratic," said state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt.

Irons' campaign was tarnished by a continuing feud with his parents and one of his two sisters. His mother, Janet Irons, accused him of knocking her down during an argument in the mid-1990s. No police report was filed, and David Irons denied the allegation.

Sims turned to negative campaigning, calling Irons a right-wing supporter of President Bush, whose values, Sims said, were at odds with Democratic-leaning King County. He touted his own record of bringing the county through several years of recession without major tax increases.

King County Councilman Dow Constantine, a Democrat, said that in the end, voters found Irons' case unconvincing. "After a brief flirtation with the idea of change for change's sake, people realized that Ron shared their values and David did not."

Times staff reporter Jonathan Martin contributed to this report. Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com