YAKIMA, Wash. -- John Gotts, who walked away from the state and his campaign for the 15th Legislative District, said Wednesday he's "99 percent" sure he'll come back and campaign in the general election.

Unofficial returns show Gotts holding onto second place ahead of Donicio Marichalar of Grandview in the three-way runoff for the seat, currently held by Rep. David Taylor, R-Moxee, who pulled the most votes.

Gotts and Marichalar are Democrats.

"When I saw the results last night, I had to say I was surprised," Gotts said in a telephone interview.

The primary sends the top two winners to the general election.

Gotts, 42, formerly of White Salmon, announced he was quitting the race in June to pursue an entrepreneurial venture near Palo Alto, Calif. But it was too late for his name to be stricken from the ballot.

Even though the district has voted overwhelmingly Republican in recent memory, Gotts drew a certain logic from the votes he received without campaigning. As of late Wednesday, he was drawing 18.5 percent of the vote to 16 percent for Marichalar.

"If the people like me enough that they are voting for me over Donicio when I'm clearly not there, perhaps they want me to represent them," Gotts said.

Perhaps, though he would have to pull away thousands of votes from Taylor to win the seat in November. The 37-year-old rancher and agricultural consultant was holding more than 65 percent of the primary vote.

Gotts, who has been living in Santa Rosa, Calif., said he is running two Internet start-up companies and said he's already spoken with the controlling investors about working from Washington state. They're amenable to the idea.

One company, he said, is in the energy business and is backed by retired Idaho Sen. Larry Craig.

Gotts said he planned on returning to the area anyway in 2011 to run for the 4th Congressional District. He has said he would probably move to Toppenish.

In announcing his bid for a state House seat in the sprawling 15th District -- which straddles Yakima, Klickitat, Skamania and Clark counties -- Gotts promised to campaign on job growth.

Last year, he lost to incumbent Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.