With the vote counts beginning to wrap up, Mountlake Terrace’s Luis Moscoso is starting to put some distance between himself and Bothell’s Heidi Munson in balloting for the District 1, Position 2 state-representative seat.

Initial results gave Munson a slight, 404-vote lead. Results since then have favored Moscoso, who insisted he wasn’t surprised.

“I always expected to come back,” Moscoso said, adding that he had faith the Democrats of District 1 would put him through to Olympia.

Moscoso added that, in support of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and other federal-level candidates, the state Democratic Party undertook an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign just prior to the end of the election season on Nov. 2. Moscoso had some especially nice words for U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-1.

Inslee appeared at a Moscoso fund-raiser and also went door-to-door with the state candidate.

“We just knew we had the votes,” Moscoso reiterated regarding his campaign.

As of Nov. 10, the last day numbers were available for this issue, Moscoso was leading Munson 25,127 to 24,346, or 50.7 percent to 49.2 percent, in combined King and Snohomish county balloting.

In King County, Moscoso was beginning to pull away, earning 4,211 votes to Munson’s 3,917, or 51.7 percent to 48.1 percent.

In Snohomish, the vote is still fairly close, with Moscoso taking 20,916 votes to Munson’s 20,429. That’s 50.4 percent compared to 49.2 percent.

While the candidate totals obviously remain fairly tight, they are not close enough to trigger an automatic recount. According to a spokesperson for King County, a recount only results when the vote difference between two candidates is less than 200 votes and is less than or equal to one-half of one percent of the total votes.

While confident, as of deadline for this issue, Moscoso was stopping shy of saying the election is his. Further, Munson had not conceded. Still, Moscoso said he already had been contacted by the state Democratic caucus and was working to get up to speed on various issues facing the state.

“The biggest problem, and we knew it was going to be, is a lack of revenue,” he said. Moscoso added he has no doubt that state programs are going to see some major budget cuts.

Moscoso also talked about hoping to stay in contact with local voters, including conservatives and Tea Party members.

“I want their advice as much as anybody else’s,” Moscoso said.

During the recent campaign and heading back to the August primary, Munson and Moscoso seemed to give local voters a pretty clear choice: Munson was the conservative Republican, Moscoso the liberal Democrat. Just after the first results appeared, Munson expressed concern Moscoso tried to hide his liberal leanings toward the end of the election season.

“With me, you knew exactly what you were getting,” Munson said.

The counting will continue until results are certified on Nov. 23. In other local races, the latest vote totals are continuing to follow the trends established early in the counting. With Moscoso now overtaking Munson, Democrats may have made a complete sweep in local races. All of the following numbers are combined vote totals from both King and Snohomish counties.

• State Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Shoreline, is in all likelihood on her way to the state senate in District 32. Chase is defeating Kenmore Mayor David Baker 30,133 ballots to 19,733, or 60.6 percent to 39.5 percent.

• For the District 32, Position 1 state-representative seat, former Shoreline Mayor Cindy Ryu continues to lead Republican Art Coday. Ryu had 30,120 ballots compared to Coday’s 19,364, or 60.9 percent to 39 percent.

• The contest for Position 2 didn’t really turn out to be much of a contest at all. Incumbent State Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park, is defeating challenger Gary Gagliardi by a margin of 31,854 votes to 17,681, or 64.3 percent to 35.6 percent.

• Returning to District 1, in the Position 1 race, Bothell’s Derek Stanford continues to lead his fellow Bothell resident Dennis Richter. Stanford has earned 26,339 ballots to Richter’s 23,446. That equates to 52.9 percent compared to 47 percent.

• Lastly, it appears the second time is indeed going to be the charm for Snohomish County Fire District 7. The district’s second try to pass an EMS levy is succeeding with 12,629 votes in favor compared to 6,333 votes against. Most importantly, the results translate to 66.6 percent for, to 33.4 percent against. Under state law, in order to take effect, a super-majority of 60 percent of voters must approve the levy.