Rob McKenna’s campaign for governor issued an urgent plea early this morning to supporters for donations to help with “legal and vote-chasing efforts.”

The request for money came in the wake of early vote returns that show Democrat Jay Inslee with a slim lead in the race.

Inslee collected 51.3 percent of the vote in the Election Night tally, while McKenna, a Republican, had 48.6 percent.

With more than 1.9 million votes counted in the race, Inslee leads by 50,209 votes.

Randy Pepple, McKenna’s campaign manager, sent an email at 12:14 a.m. Wednesday to supporters asking for donations of $5.

“Team – I need to make this brief,” Pepple said in the email. “The first returns are in, and the election is too close to call – so we need to chase votes in order to win this election. And we need to be prepared for whatever legal roadblocks that the other side has prepared for us.

“We have come too far to give up now. I had hoped that the time for fundraising would have passed, but now we are going into overtime – can you please give $5 to fund our legal and vote chasing efforts?”

Pepple noted that the campaign needs to go door to door to contact voters who have not had their ballots counted in the contest.

“Over 20,000 ballots have already been rejected by county election officials,” Pepple wrote. “We need to ensure the voices of these voters are heard, by first finding these voters and then having them verify their ballot.

“It is going to require us to go door to door until we find everyone and make sure these ballots are counted.

“We knew this was going to be close and we knew this was not going to be easy. We have just a little more work until we win this. Thank you for your help,” he wrote.