With the Aug. 3 primary election, the public will narrow the field to the finalists as only the top two advance in each position to the general election. Some are obvious, such as King County Executive, while others may be decided this weekend, including finalists for mayor of Seattle.

In the race for county executive, there hasn’t been much doubt that incumbent Dow Constantine and State Sen. Joe Nguyen would be facing each other in November. As the incumbent, Constantine can create news and recently received the endorsement of the Seattle Times. He has raised the most money with $1.5 million. But this race will get a lot closer over the next few months as Nguyen starts to run to Constantine’s left. Nguyen will look for Seattle Democratic votes by drawing attention to his view of Constantine’s record, as he recently did in a mailer.

The race for mayor of Seattle is harder to predict. Three candidates appear to have separated themselves from the field, according to polling: Bruce Harrell, a former council member who received the Seattle Times endorsement, Council President Lorena Gonzalez, and former Chief Seattle Club director Colleen Echohawk. Each has raised around $400,000 and each has key endorsements. Two others who could surprise are former state Rep. Jessyn Farrell and Andrew Houston, who has raised the about the same amount as the front-runners.

City attorney is an elected position in Seattle. What are Seattle residents most concerned about? Homelessness or how the city has handled the police department? City Attorney Pete Holmes could be in trouble. A poll showed him at 16% to either Anne Davison, who ran for Lt. Governor as a Republican last year, or Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, a public defender, both of whom were at 14%.

In King County Council races, all of the incumbents have received a Times endorsement, but some races will become closer because the conservative wing of the county council of has drawn several challengers.

In District 3, Kathy Lambert is the incumbent and has over $200,000 to call upon for the campaign. Her likely November opponent is Sarah Perry, who owns a consulting firm and previously worked for Seattle University in development. Joe Cohen is the third person in the race. He worked for Sen. Maria Cantwell and also for the Justice Department. A question in this race is whether the district — one of the fastest growing — has changed enough from rural to urban to elect Perry? And can Perry make a case for “time for a change?”

Districts 1 and 5 have only two candidates and will be decided in November. District 5 incumbent Dave Upthegrove and his opponent Shukri Olow have raised about the same amount of money — $177,000 at this writing — in what insiders believe will be a close race in November.

In District 7, Pete von Reichbauer is the incumbent and has raised almost $200,000. Federal Way City Councilmember Lydia Assefa-Dawson appeared in good position to advance to the general. But some supporters wonder if she has taken the race seriously? She has used signs with her first name that stand out, but they only recently started to surface in Auburn, which is a major part of the of the district. She missed free publicity by not responding to invitations from the Seattle Times and Sound Publishing to interview with the Auburn Reporter and Federal Way Mirror about her candidacy. Saudia Abdullah knows King County, as she works as corrections director in adult/juvenile Detention and has raised more money than Assefa-Dawson. Abdullah now appears likely to advance to November.

In District 9, Reagan Dunn has raised $265,679 and is expected to face Renton City Councilmember Kim-Khanh Van in November. However, it was discovered that another competitor, Ubax Gardheere, had been arrested several years ago for causing a disturbance on a children’s school bus during a mental health episode. That usually will result in the candidate being discounted. Dunn has acknowledged his own DUI issue previously and wished her well.

Voters will find their mailbox full of campaign literature in the closing days of the primary. Do your homework, voters. The health of your schools, city government and special purpose districts depend on your choices.

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Federal Way resident Bob Roegner is a former mayor of Auburn. Contact bjroegner@comcast.net.