Another seesaw race in District 8

Steenson apparent winner by 22 votes

By JIM MANN/Daily Inter Lake

Election night was a roller-coaster ride for candidates in Kalispell's notoriously volatile House District 8 " a ride that ended, apparently, in favor of Democrat Cheryl Steenson.

The incumbent, Rep. Craig Witte, R-Kalispell, led the race most of the night, but at around midnight, absentee ballot counts put Steenson in a slight lead.

"It was a pretty incredible night," Steenson said Wednesday. "Once the absentee ballots came in and I was ahead by 20 votes, we were just pretty shocked and excited."

Steenson ended up staying at the Flathead County Courthouse until 2:30 a.m. before heading home for a short night's sleep.

"It appears that I lost," Witte said Wednesday afternoon, when the vote tally had been refined to put Steenson ahead by 22 votes, 2,006 to 1,984.

That's not a tight enough margin to trigger a mandatory recount, said Witte, who was resigned to the results. "I've got a good wife and good kids and my life goes on. The reality is what it is."

There still are 330 provisional ballots not yet counted in Flathead County's 42 precincts, but it's unknown whether any of those will affect the Steenson-Witte contest. Provisional ballots are to be counted on Monday.

The District 8 race may have kept Republicans from securing a clean majority in the state House.

"We have a lock on 50 Republican seats for sure," said Erik Iverson, the state Republican chairman. "The wild card that we're closest in getting to 51 is House District 63 in Bozeman."

Because of technical problems in counting absentee ballots, the Bozeman race carried on through Wednesday. In the morning, Republican Tom Burnett led by just more than 100 votes, but by late afternoon, the incumbent, Democrat Jennifer Pomnichowski, led by 80 votes.

Republicans did secure a 27-to-23 majority in the Montana Senate.

Kalispell's House District 8 has a history of being decided by no more than a few dozen votes and a tradition of shoe-leather, yard-sign politics.

In the 1990s, Republican Roger Somerville narrowly prevailed twice over Democrat Tim Dowell, who had previously held the seat. Dowell won the House seat back in 2002 and 2004.

Steenson said Dowell joined her in campaigning door-to-door in his old district.

"I would say, absolutely, going door-to-door made all the difference," she said. "Just making sure that [voters] knew I was a real person from the Flathead and I would work hard for them."

Steenson is a teacher at Glacier High School; Witte owns Perkins Family Restaurant in Evergreen.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com