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Todd Donovan, a political science professor at Western Washington University and a member of the Whatcom County Council, said Democrats shouldn’t read too much into Tuesday’s results since Republicans didn’t have the same motivation to cast their ballots.

“My guess is that it is a campaign mobilization effect,” Donovan said. “Republican voters were staying home because there weren’t any contested races on their side. But we don’t usually see 50 percent to 52 percent against the Republicans, either.”