Cramer, Rider ousted in primary

The traditional luck of the incumbent wasn’t with Todd Cramer and Ron Rider Tuesday as both lost their seats on the Port Orchard City Council in the primary election.

But after four years of frustration and failure at trying to move the city forward, neither was particularly disappointed at their failure to be re-elected.

“I wanted to either win by a bunch and have everybody say, ‘That’s our guy,’ or not,” said Cramer. “The citizens of Port Orchard spoke. Good for them.”

Cramer lost to Melode Sapp and trailed Ty Moore by 42 votes as of Thursday.

He said he’s not at all surprised at the results of the primary and relieved that he will be able to focus on other things in his life.

“I have a whole other life (apart from the Council),” Cramer said. “I’m free.”

Rider said he was surprised by the results, but like Cramer, is looking forward to life out of the spotlight. He lost to Fred Chang and trailed former mayer Leslie “Jay” Weatherill by 66 votes Thursday.

The final results have not been posted.

“Given the way things turned out,” Rider said, “my support is for Fred (Chang) and Tye Moore because I think, of the people in the race, they really have the best interests of the city in mind.”

Asked what he planned to do after leaving the council after the new year, Rider didn’t hesitate. “I’m going to plan longer vacations,” he said, including one with Cramer as they agreed to do if they didn’t come through the election.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Rider said. “My only concern is that Port Orchard moves forward.”

On Nov. 2, Sapp will run against Moore for Cramer’s seat and Chang will run against Weatherill for Rider’s.

Chang had the highest number of votes with Thursday with 580 cast, or 48.37 percent.

The Dennis Xavier Goss vs. incumbent Carolyn Powers and Gil Michael vs. incumbent Bob Geiger races will also be added to the ballot.

Cramer and Rider will officially leave office on Dec. 31.

“We still have a few more months of work to do,“ Rider said.

For more information and updates on the primary results visit Kitsap County’s Web site at www.kitsapgov.com.

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