Doug Sutherland (R-Tacoma), the outgoing public lands commissioner, has finally acknowledged that he has lost his race for a third consecutive term to Democrat Peter Goldmark.

Although Sutherland had an early lead on election night, Goldmark eventually came back to take a slim lead as more and more votes from King County, where Goldmark won with over 60 percent of the vote, were counted.

A number of news sources called the race for Goldmark last week, but Sutherland refused to concede, citing the fact that there were still thousands of votes remaining to be counted.

He called the Aberdeen Daily World Tuesday to offer up a statement on his failed bid.

"At this juncture, the people of King County have spoken," Sutherland told the Grays Harbor newspaper. "As a rule of thumb for Republicans, you do well in the rest of the state and do at least 40 percent in King County and you can win. It’s been that way for the last couple of decades and it’s just getting worse."

King County contains nearly thirty percent of the state's population. 

Sutherland also used the occasion to cast doubt on Goldmark’s actions in office, suggesting as he did throughout the campaign that Goldmark had not made his agenda clear.