It was still too close to call and getting closer Friday in the 10th Legislative District Position 1 house race.

The latest tally showed incumbent Republican Norma Smith was trailing Democratic challenger Tim Knue by 74 votes.

There are 4,000 votes left to be counted in Island County alone. The district also includes parts of Skagit and Snohomish counties.

On Election Night, Smith trailed by nearly 600 votes. She’s counting on history to put her over the top.

“I wish the numbers had been a little different,” Smith, 57, said Thursday afternoon, “but this certainly fits with tradition. The numbers come in low for Republicans, and then we pick up steam.”

Pointing to close Legislative elections in the district two years and four years ago, Smith said “there are a lot of ballots out there. Stay tuned. I’m hopeful.”

“It looks good and we’re excited,” Knue said. “But it’s not over until it’s over.”

Knue, as of Friday’s count, had 28,854 votes, or 50.06 percent, to Smith’s 28,780 votes, or 49.94 percent.

“We’re just going to wait and watch the numbers,” Knue said. “We expect a positive outcome, and we’ll get ready to take our mandate down to Olympia.”

Two years ago, Knue, 54, came in a strong second to Barbara Bailey in the battle for state representative from the 10th Legislative District Position 2.

Republican Bailey came from behind to win, a race Smith uses to fuel her optimism.

This year, Knue, a longtime educator from Conway south of Mount Vernon, performed a lateral arabesque to take on Smith in the Position 1 race. He received 47 percent of the vote against Smith in the primary.