There were five Asian Americans running for office in Washington on Tuesday. It's a mixed bag of results with two clear winners and two more still in tight counting. The inside scoop from our friend Kristina Logsdon in Seattle:

Lloyd Hara for King County Assessor - Winner!
Marilyn Strickland for Tacoma City Council - winning with only 117 votes right now, ballots continue to be counted.
Melissa Ponder for Des Moines City Council - lost
Cindy Ryu running for reelection to Shoreline City Council, currently losing by 313 votes, ballots continue to be counted.
Kyoko Wright running to retain seat on Montlake Terrace City Council won her seat. I don't know her politics. Tried reaching out to her several times while I was at Progressive Majority, but she never returned my calls.

In particular, we'll be keeping our fingers crossed for Strickland who is truly a progressive. 

Here are a couple of links to articles:

From the Northwest Asian Weekly, "Hara comes out on top, credits API support":

Hara, a third generation Japanese American, wants to personally thank the Asian American community.

At his home on Queen Anne, he welcomed a large group of volunteers, supporters, and media.

“Over the years, I’ve had strong supporters from the API community,” said Hara. “Asian Americans are an important element of election successes. It is important to know that we are an emerging force and that our votes count.”

From the Tacoma Weekly, "Campbell wins council seat":

It likely will be several days before Tacomans know who their next mayor will be. At press time on Nov. 4, City Councilmember Marilyn Strickland had 8,320 votes, or 50.37 percent. Architect Jim Merritt was close behind with 8,149. The winner will replace Bill Baarsma, who will step down due to term limits.

Merritt spent election night with supporters at Woody’s on the Water on Thea Foss Waterway. Strickland and her supporters gathered at Le Le’s, a Vietnamese restaurant on Hilltop, where a band livened things up with pop and R&B cover tunes.

Of course, the good news out of the state is the passing of Referendum 71 which grants LGBT couples some basic rights. According to the Northwest Progressive Institute, it looks like it will pass 52-48%.