"Franklin County votes help Hailey win District 9 race"

From today's Lewiston Tribune:

Republican Steve Hailey won the House of Representatives District 9 legislative primary race, partly by taking a large chunk of the vote in his home county.

He took about 33 percent of the total votes to win over the three others who ran. Hailey, a farmer from Mesa, was followed by Joe Schmick of Colfax with 29 percent, Tedd Nealey of Cheney with 24 percent and Glen R. Stockwell of Ritzville with 14 percent.

Hailey, 61, will take on Democrat Caitlin Ross of Valleyford in the November election. The winner will take the seat Don Cox vacated when he decided not to run again.

"We're really excited over here," Hailey said on the phone from his home.

"I think we prevailed in five counties out of the six."

He was the biggest winner in Franklin County, where he lives, and took about 87 percent of the vote. District 9 also includes Adams, Asotin, Garfield, Whitman and part of Spokane counties.

Hailey said he felt good about the whole campaign process.

"I worked really hard to get into this position," he said.

"I tried to take everything on the high road, so to speak. I think all the candidates worked hard to try to bring some respect back to the political process."

All of the candidates were kind of the same boat, he said, as they were all newcomers.

Because he didn't win by a landslide, Hailey said he's waiting until the final results are in at the end of the week.

"I'm going to relax for a couple of days, and see what the final numbers are," he said.

"Then I'm going to start toward being elected in the general."

Hailey will be hitting the campaign trail hard with his wife, Pat, before the general election.

He credits part of his success in the primary to getting out and talking to the public.

"We met a lot of really nice people and made a lot of new friends," he said.

"We'll be getting out as much as we possibly can before the general. It sure wouldn't be time to quit now, anyway."