From Spokane Public Radio, it’s SPR News Today.
I’m Doug Nadvornick. It’s Tuesday, November 10, 2026.
The count goes on in Washington’s election. There are still a few races that are close.
Democrats will have a big advantage when the legislature convenes in Olympia.
The Post Falls School District is celebrating the results of its part of the election.
Spokane firefighters raise money for their police brethren.
And the spirit of “Dancing with the Stars” is alive in Spokane.
Those stories and more, coming up on SPR News Today.
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The election count moves into a second week in Washington as ballots continue to trickle in.
The Associated Press says Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, has earned a victory in the election for Washington’s 5th Congressional District seat. As of late Monday afternoon, Baumgartner led Democratic opponent Carmela Conroy by nearly four percentage points.
In the two closest Spokane County races, Republican Michael Cathcart is up nearly five points on his Democratic opponent, Callie Gee, in the race of auditor. And Republican Dave Lucas is up four-and-a-half points over Democrat Elliot Robison for clerk.
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Washington state Democrats are on track to achieve a supermajority in the House of Representatives. They’ve picked up a record number of seats from historically Republican districts. Reporter Sarah Mizes-Tan has more.
Democrats have flipped at least SEVEN House seats – in Southwest Washington, in Yakima, and on the Kitsap peninsula.
NIELSEN: That's pretty remarkable. It's proof that the Democratic agenda, the progressive agenda, is what Washington state voters want, and they want more of it.
That’s Dean Nielsen, a political consultant who worked with Democrats in Southwest Washington.
The last time Democrats had a two-thirds majority in the House was in 1949. And it gives them powers to pass bills faster or eject House members. But it does NOT mean they could override a Governor’s veto or amend the constitution - for that, they would need a supermajority in BOTH chambers.
And Democrats don’t expect to flip enough Senate seats until 2028.
I'm Sarah Mizes-Tan reporting.
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Washington state Superintendent Chris Reykdal will not seek re-election in 2028. He says he firmly believes in term limits to bring new voices into public institutions.
Washington state does not have term limits for statewide offices.
He has been in office since 2016 and says he may consider another elected statewide office, although he has not decided yet.
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The Spokane school board has written a letter to Governor Bob Ferguson asking him to decline Washington’s participation in a new federal tax credit scholarship program.
The program would grant dollar-for-dollar tax credits up to $1,700 to those who have contributed to an approved scholarship organization.
Hilary Kozel is the board’s vice president. Although some public school students may benefit from the program, Kozel says the fund doesn’t help the larger system.
KOZEL: The federal government does not fully fund its obligation to the IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or Title 1. And so, we feel strongly that those funds should be, those funds should be fully funded, just again, to provide equitable and full, ample access to public school students.
Kozel says the board has not yet heard back from the governor.
The incentive begins on January 1, 2027, and states must formally opt in to the program. So far, 32 states have opted into the program, including Idaho.
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Voters in Post Falls have agreed to tax themselves to supplement state school funding for the next two years.
Last week’s maintenance-and-operations levy drew about 55% support. The measure will provide nearly $6.7 million in local dollars each year.
Superintendent Anna Wilson says a quarter of that money will pay for school resource officers and other measures that make schools more secure.
Anna Wilson: “Replacing outdated cameras, making sure we have, you know, the latest technology when it comes to our lockdown systems and our alert systems and our communication systems related to school safety. All of that. It definitely does not get cheaper.”
Wilson says that money will also funds the district’s athletics and other extracurricular activities.
She says the local support is vital because state support is sometimes unreliable.
Anna Wilson: “In Idaho, our funding is based on average daily attendance, and what that means for our school district is we lose money every time a student is absent from school. So last year, for example, we lost $4 million in state funding, which is pretty significant.”
Wilson has joined state Superintendent Debbie Critchfield in urging the legislature to reconsider its school funding formula. They advocate for a model based on enrollment, such as Washington uses. Wilson says that would give districts more certainty as they plan their budgets.
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People across Spokane County are coming together to raise money for the families of two fallen deputies. SPR’s Ember Braun reports.
Deputy Mason Acheson and Deputy Parker Perry both died from injuries sustained while responding to a domestic violence shooting in Spangle on November 3.
The Sheriff’s Office is raising money for their funeral services and families.
Spokane County Fire District 9 and its union held a stair climb yesterday in Mead, with first responders taking turns climbing one step for every dollar donated. Fire District 9’s Nick Pluskota says the idea formed three days before the event.
PLUSKOTA: “I think this is just something that shook our community all the way through. Especially our brothers and sisters in blue, they’re a part of our family as well… I thought this was going to be something that was kind of small and we’re now dragging in more stair climbers.”
Here’s union spokesman Robert Gray.
GRAY: “Wearing gear, I mean anybody can walk up a flight of stairs, but between law enforcement and our personnel strapping on an extra 40 to 50 pounds – I mean it's hard work. So it’s our way of doing something hard, because what the deputies did that day is the hardest thing imaginable.”
Donations can also be made at any Canopy Credit Union Branch – by asking for the SCSO Memorial Fund. Or, drop off a check at the Spokane Valley Police Department or Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
I’m Ember Braun reporting.
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Dance is back as a major art form in Spokane. Dance with Spokane will help promote it with a live performance Friday at Riverside Place.
SPR’s Jordy Jones talks with Grace Leaf and Jesse Renaker, the co-producers of Dance with Spokane, to take guests behind the scenes of the event.
HOST OUTRO: Jesse Renaker and Grace Leaf are the co-producers of Dance with Spokane, which will present its live finale Friday evening at 7:30 at Riverside Place. They spoke with SPR’s Jordy Jones.
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Jordy Jones: Dance With Spokane is the new and unique event that's coming this fall. Tell us all about it and how you guys came up with the idea in the first place.
Grace Leaf: I was really looking for something that brought the community together and spotlighted seven high-impact leaders from across different sectors and brought them and paired them with seven dance pros. And Jesse, being the artistic director of Alegria Dance and Entertainment, that was a natural pairing.
So he picked his seven best dancers who could actually be natural teachers, and then we put them together and put them in a dance competition, and really it was more about how could they spotlight the nonprofits that they cared about. And these are servant leaders who were open to learning and learning dances, and then also really showcasing the community and their love of Spokane.
Jesse Renaker: From the get-go, this has been just something we wanted to do as a labor of love for Spokane. You know, our event is really much more than just posting dance videos and having a really cool finale and showcasing the incredible dance talent in Spokane. It's really, like Grace said, elevating the causes that these nonprofit leaders and these servant leaders are showcasing. It's really highlighting all of the incredible things that our community has to offer. It's really putting performance arts on a different scale to help give local professional dancers really good opportunities.
One thing that we're seeing across the board is professional dancers are always feeling like they have to move to other markets in order to be successful, and so we thought that this would just be such a great opportunity to kind of create a reciprocal model where we are not only prioritizing and showcasing all of the incredible things about the Spokane community, but also to give those professional dancers an opportunity to have really high quality work.
Grace Leaf: We picked Erin Peterson, who's the publisher for Trending Northwest, and she is, I would say, Prozac on two legs, and she lights up a room wherever she goes. We also have the executive director of the Northeast Community Center in the Zone, and so she... I call her the mayor of Hillyard because she's really got services embedded in the schools and every agency in 99207, and so she's making an impact in the entire neighborhood.
We also have John Moroney, who is a VP for Numerica. He's out in the community every day doing financial literacy education. He goes to a lot of community events. I don't know when he sleeps. And we have Tim Pham, who is KREM 2 morning executive producer, and he has learned to do so many things in such a short amount of time, and now he actually wants to take dance lessons.
Yeah, so the night of is really gonna be a celebration, not only of the transformation, which is really what we are hoping to highlight by selecting these community leaders and pairing them with local dance pros, but it's also just gonna be a celebration of the Spokane community.
JR: You know, just even most recently with the Spokane wildfires and just dealing with a lot of other things that are going on within the community, we just thought having a grand finale where we get to do more than just observe finale performances, we also get to do things like have a live DJ, light bites, no-host bar, other special surprises that we're not gonna give away now. It would just be like a really great way to bring the community back together and do something which we all feel like we need to do once in a while and just heal. Step up and have something that's really special for the Spokane community, and just come together in love for where we live and who we live among.
GL: I think what I am looking forward to about this night, if I were a guest, is just getting out and putting on whatever sparkles or sequins or anything I could thrift just to make myself feel like I could glow up. And going out with my friends. And I'm talking to all of you in the Inland Northwest, because having grown up on 100 acres an hour north of Spokane, public radio was my lifeline. We didn't have cable, we didn't have internet. I grew up on well water. So listening to Spokane Public Radio was the way that I accessed culture growing up in this region. So I want people to get a sitter and come out together as friends, make the drive in, get dressed up, and there's a DJ'd after party so you can come out on the dance floor after the 90-minute show and make it a night.
JR: Love to say, would encourage everybody to come out, have a great time. Just for one night, forget where you're at and come together in community and just enjoy one another and enjoy observing some really cool dance performances and just having a great time.
HOST OUTRO: Jesse Renaker and Grace Leaf are the co-producers of Dance with Spokane, which will present its live finale Friday evening at 7:30 at Riverside Place. They spoke with SPR’s Jordy Jones.
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SPR News Today is produced at Spokane Public Radio. Today’s contributors are Sarah Mizes Tan, Lisa Leinberger, Ember Braun, Jordy Jones and Doug Nadvornick, today’s host and producer. Web support by Anna Gyure Havlek.
Thanks for joining us. This is SPR News.
