Renton community and business leader Marcie Maxwell has been elected to the state House of Representatives in the 41st District, which includes a big chunk of northern and northeastern Renton.

Maxwell, a Renton Realtor and member of the Renton School Board, held a lead over her Republican opponent, Steve Litzow of Mercer Island, since the Nov. 4 general election, although it had narrowed considerably.

The final results certified Tuesday gave Maxwel, a Democrat, 32,571 votes to Litzow’s 31,823, a difference of 748 votes. In percentage terms that’s 50.51 percent to 49.35, well outside the spread in which a recount is possible. There were 94 write-in votes.

The Canvassing Board certified the results on Tuesday.

In the early days after the election, Maxwell’s lead was holding fairly steady at 53 percent to 47 percent. Litzow is a member of the Mercer Island City Council.

The Maxwell-Litzow race was the last undecided legislative race in Renton. The district’s other state legislative representative, Judy Clibborn of Mercer Island, ran unopposed. Fred Jarrett of Mercer Island, a former long-time state representative, easily won his bid to move to the state Senate.

Maxwell says she wasn’t nervous, but maybe just a little anxious as the election results unfolded. “When you work on an election for 11 months and you have a three-week extension…,” she said, her voice trailing off.

However, she expected a “very competitive race. The 41st District is certainly a desirable place to live and do business.”

The race was expensive and because it was an open House seat, both political parties and their supporters targeted it with their attention and money.

The race drew just more than $500,000 in contributions, with Litzow outraising Maxwell by about $83,000.

“We worked hard to run a good, clean campaign,” Maxwell said.

Even though the results were still uncertain after Nov. 4, Maxwell began her prep work in anticipation of taking a seat in the House. She interrupted a week’s vacation after the election to fly up for a session on preparing for the Legislature.

“It was important to make sure I was starting out ahead of the game,” she said.

Next up, she’ll turn her attention to hiring a legislative aide. She has a busy schedule planned for December, meeting with organizations and businesses.

Litzow, who was elected to his second term on the Mercer Island City Council last year running unopposed, told the Mercer Island Reporter he called Maxwell on Monday (a voicemail, according to Maxwell) to congratulate her on a successful campaign and said he looks forward to working with her as a City Council member on issues that affect Mercer Island residents.

According to state legislative records, it is the first time since the Great Depression that the 41st elected Democrats to all three positions. It is also the first time in decades that one of the legislative electeds – Maxwell – was not from Mercer Island. While Clibborn and Jarrett have been working together in Olympia since January 2003, Jarrett said he was pleased to have Maxwell join “the team.”

“It’s been almost 30 years or so that someone off of Mercer Island has represented the 41st,” said Jarrett. “Someone from Renton is really going to help our team. It’s a different community and having somebody that can bring that diversity to the Legislature will be a real advantage.”

About 87 percent of the 60,916 mail-in ballots issued to voters in the 41st District were returned.

A countywide voter turnout of 85 percent was predicted.

Maxwell and Litzow ran for the House Position 1 open seat that went vacant when Jarrett decided to run for the state Senate.

Maxwell has said that if she wins she will resign her seat on the School Board to devote her energies to the 41st District. She has one year left in her second, four-year term on the School Board.

Jacob Edel, a reporter for the Mercer Island Reporter, contributed to this report.

Renton Reporter Editor Dean Radford can be reached at dean.radford@rentonreporter.com or 425-255-3484, ext. 5050.