Major Mitzi Johanknecht leads incumbent King County Sheriff John Urquhart.
Major Mitzi Johanknecht leads incumbent King County Sheriff John Urquhart. courtesy of campaign

In the latest ballot drop, Major Mitzi Johanknecht leads incumbent Sheriff John Urquhart by 8.3 percentage points and 30,751 votes.

Both the Times and King 5 have called the race in her favor:



No word yet from Urquhart.

The sheriff faces two allegations of sexual assault. The first allegation surfaced last year, when a former deputy accused Urquhart of raping her in 2002. King County prosecutors declined to file charges in the case, citing a lack of evidence and the statute of limitations. However, the King County Ombudsman's Office found that Urquhart had a conflict of interest when he asked his office not to document or investigate the allegation. The second allegation came to light last week when the Seattle Times reported that another former deputy alleges that the sheriff groped him three years ago in the parking lot of a Renton restaurant. Renton police are investigating Urquhart for "unwanted touching with sexual motivation."

Urquhart also faces a claim that he offered to share the first accuser's medical records and a separate claim that he improperly shared the second accuser's personnel records. He has denied all of the allegations and sued his second accuser for defamation.

Soon after the latest allegations surfaced, a dozen elected officials withdrew their support of Urquhart.