40th District Democrats will vote June 7-8 to endorse a candidate in the race for the state Senate seat of Harriet Spanel, who is retiring.

Candidates are San Juan County Councilman Kevin Ranker, as well as Hue Beattie, Ken Henderson, Stephanie Kountouros and Paul Gonzales. They will attend meetings on each island June 7 and 8 for Democrats to meet them and then vote for their choice.

Ranker emerged the top choice of Democratic Party precinct committee officers in a vote May 18 in Anacortes. Ranker received 260 votes; the next-closest candidates had 94 and 78 votes, respectively.

The series of endorsement and nomination votes are intended to winnow the field of Democrats vying for the Senate seat.

In this year’s election, under the new “top two” primary system, the top two vote-getters in the Aug. 19 primary will advance to the general election regardless of their political party affiliation.

Events to meet the candidates and vote are as follows.

— Lopez: June 7, 10 a.m., Lopez Library.

— Orcas: June 7, 2 p.m., Fire Hall.

— San Juan: June 8, 4 p.m., Senior Center.

— Skagit: June 9, 6 p.m., P.U.D., 1450 Freeway Drive, Mount Vernon.

— Whatcom: June 10, 6 p.m., Bloedel Donovan, 2214 Electric St., Bellingham.