Mitt Romney Wins in Snohomish County, Declared Winner in Washington

Mitt Romney has won the Snohomish County caucus, reports the Washington State Republican Party’s Precinct Caucus.

With 100 percent of the vote from 750 precints in, Romney received 1,841 votes, or 42.4 percent of the total. Trailing Romney were Ron Paul (1,081, 24.9 percent), Rick Santorum (973, 22.4 percent) and Newt Gingrich (443, 10.2 percent).

In addition, CNN, the Associated Press and the New York Times are calling the Washington Caucus straw poll for Romney with about 60 percent of the votes counted, based on projections.

While the straw poll results were not binding, they indicate the preferences of the participants in the caucus, and “it would be fair” to expect that the numbers reflect how the delegates will vote in the upcoming district, county and state caucuses, said Washington State Republican Chairman Kirby Wilbur.

In a prepared statement, Romney signaled that he is looking forward to the campaign in the fall.

“The voters of Washington have sent a signal that they do not want a Washington insider in the White House. They want a conservative businessman who understands the private sector and knows how to get the federal government out of the way so that the economy can once again grow vigorously.”

Republicans gathered in community centers and schools all over the state Saturday morning for the precinct caucuses, which had people lining up out the doors at some locations with much higher turnout than in previous years. The Puget Sound .

More attention has been put on the Washington state caucus than in past years, because of the hotly contested GOP presidential nomination process. Though Romney has been widely considered to be the front-runner, Santorum has won four of the 11 state contests so far, with Romney taking six states and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich taking one state.

Washington also is the only state that held a caucus on Saturday, and the results give a boost to the winner leading up to next week's Super Tuesday, when Republicans in 10 states will decide which candidate to back in the election against President Obama.

Wilbur said that Romney’s win in the state, despite variable polling and different results nationwide, was an indicator that Republicans had been undecided about Romney.

“They were waiting for Mitt Romney to make the sale,” Wilbur said.

Wilbur said that Washington state’s news on Saturday can only be good news for Romney.

“It appears to be four in a row. Nobody’s made four in a row yet,” Wilbur said.

Read a statement from Romney .

Bellevue Patch Editor Venice Buhain contributed to this report.