Mason and Grasseth file for Sheriff Position

With in-person filing as a candidate for public office in Wahkiakum County beginning at 8 a.m. on Monday, May 5, the 2025 election season is now underway. Not long after, incumbent John Mason filed to continue to serve as the County Sheriff. In-person filing closed at 5 p.m. last Friday, May 9.

A trained and experienced member of the Sheriff's office for the past 10 plus years, Mason, with the recommendation of then Sheriff Mark Howie, was appointed by the Board of County Commissioners in 2024 to serve as sheriff following Howie's retirement last June. The appointment is effective until the results of the November 2025 election are determined. The term of the upcoming election is one year in order to fill out the full term to which Howie had been elected and put the office of sheriff back on its normal, four-year election cycle.

A committee to retain Sheriff John Mason has been organized and is now active. Under the banner, "a sheriff for all," Mason participated in the first "meet and greet" hosted by the committee at the Rosburg Hall on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.

On Thursday, May 8, Josh Grasseth filed as a candidate for the office of sheriff. Grasseth had been a deputy under then Wahkiakum Sheriff Bardsley from 2003 to 2009. Following his resignation in 2009 from the Sheriff's office during Bardsley's term, Grasseth served in a law-enforcement capacity within the Lower Elwa Police Department before returning to his hometown of Cathlamet. This is the second time he has run for the office, having run previously against John Dearmore in 2010 before being defeated in the primary by Troy Norris.