BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Democrats are holding their leads in Whatcom County’s 42nd legislative district, but the races have tightened.

Sharon Shewmake still leads Simon Sefzik for state senate, but the candidates are separated by fewer than 1000 votes.

Incumbent Alicia Rule is ahead in the race for state House Position 1 and Joe Timmons leads Republican Dan Johnson for Position 2.

Just under 2000 votes separate the candidates in those races.

The Whatcom County Auditor says they have 23,200 ballots left to count.

They will release updated numbers today, Thursday, November 10th, at about 5 p.m.

Republican Senate Candidate Tiffany Smiley has officially conceded the race to incumbent U.S. Senator Patty Murray.

The Democrat received almost 57% of the vote but Smiley wouldn’t concede on Election Night, saying she wanted to wait until every vote was counted.

She did contact the Murray campaign Wednesday evening, November 9th, and congratulated the Senator on winning a hard-fought campaign.

The two candidates spent a combined $36 million on ads, making it the most expensive campaign in Washington state history.