There’s a lot of votes to count.”

Heidi Eisenhour, DISTRICT 2 CANDIDATE

It's not an unexpected result, and certainly a winnable race, we believe, at this point.”

Lorna Smith, DISTRICT 2 CANDIDATE

Heidi Eisenhour earned the early lead in the race for the District 2 position on the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners by winning a 50 percent-plus majority in four precincts, and a plurality in two others, according to an analysis by The Leader of unofficial Primary Election results.

The Jefferson County Elections Division released the first vote tally in the three-way race between Eisenhour, Lorna Smith and Amanda Funaro on Election Night.

The first unofficial vote count showed Eisenhour was in front with 44.98 percent of all ballots cast, while Smith amassed 34.52 percent of the vote, and Funaro, 20.21 percent.

Eisenhour and Smith are both on course to advance to November's General Election.

“There’s a lot of votes to count,” Eisenhour said on Election Night after the first tally in the 2020 Primary Election was announced.

"I'm thrilled," she added. "We've been working hard and my team's been working 12 hours a day for the last four months. We're all feeling really excited."

Eisenhour praised the quality of her fellow candidates in the race, and said everyone had run clean campaigns.

She admitted to be the worrier in her campaign leading up to Election Day.

"I actually did not expect it to be as good as it was," Eisenhour said.

Eisenhour led in the initial count by 280 votes.

Next was Smith, who was in front of Funaro by a larger gap — 383 votes.

"We're pleased with the results tonight," Smith said Tuesday.

"It's not an unexpected result, and certainly a winnable race, we believe, at this point," Smith added.

"We've got our work cut out for us," she said.

Eisenhour was winning 10 of the 12 precincts in District 2, according to the first vote tally.

She had a majority in four precincts: Hadlock (50.8 percent); Kala Point (51.7); Irondale I (52.1); and Irondale II (51.6).

In the two Irondale precincts, Eisenhour edged Smith by 106 votes.

Two other precincts were crucial in Eisenhour's early advantage: Chimacum I (where she won 48.8 percent of the vote); and Nordland (47.6).

Smith was winning two of the district's 12 precincts: Cape George and Discovery Bay.

In Cape George, Smith had 44.7 percent of the vote, to Eisenhour's 34.4 percent of votes tallied on Tuesday.

In Discovery Bay, Smith had her best showing of the night, with 48.5 percent of the vote. Eisenhour was at 31.4 percent of all ballots cast in the initial tally.

The pair dueled to a four-vote difference in Four Corners, where Smith had 38.6 percent of the vote to Eisenhour's 41.1 percent. Funaro had 20.2 percent in the precinct.

Jefferson County elections staff reported turnout on Election Day at 36.25 percent.

A total of 9,606 ballots were counted Election Night in Jefferson County's 39 precincts.

Election officials estimate there will be 4,010 ballots left to count.

The next vote tally is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday.