City Attorney candidate Erika Evans was happy to see the Election Night tallies during a party Tuesday night at Capitol Hill’s Stoup Brewing
Tuesday night at Stoup
Seattle’s band of upstart progressives taking on entrenched moderate incumbents in this summer’s battle for City Hall might wish it to be so.
You can’t add up the votes from Tuesday night’s count in the August Primary Election to figure out who will win in November. That just isn’t how it works.
Seattle’s progressive challengers put themselves in strong positions with some big “wins” Tuesday night in the first tallies in the top-two primary. The bad news for the likes of Katie Wilson, Dione Foster, and Erika Evans? Turnout is on track to be abysmally low. And, the incumbents are also on their way to staying in the race to November 4th.
“Tonight, we got results that were even better than we hoped, and it’s likely to only get better,” Wilson said Tuesday night on social media. “Seattle, you showed up! It’s clear that voters want change. This is your city.”
Meanwhile, Foster and Evans joined City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, one of the few Seattle incumbents who wasn’t looking over her shoulder after Tuesday’s results, in an Election Night party at Capitol Hill’s Stoup Brewing.
With results like these, they had a fun night.
In the mayor’s race, Wilson took a hold of the top slot with an Election Night count above 46% — about 1,300 votes ahead of Mayor Bruce Harrell. The good news for the incumbent is he easily made it through. The bad news is that change seems like a priority for Seattle voters.
In the citywide Seattle City Council races, Rinck, the most progressive member currently on the council, took more than 75% of the votes for Position 8. Her challenger will be Capitol Hill business owner and — gasp — Republican political candidate Rachael Savage who claimed just under 15% of the first vote count. Savage will also be busy this fall gathering signatures for her initiative to make homeless camping illegal in Seattle.
For the other citywide Position 9 seat, incumbent City Council President Sara Nelson gave Harrell company with a soft Election Night showing, claiming less than 40% of the vote in her race against challenger Foster’s strong 54%. Foster is a nonprofit executive and former community organizer and policy advisor.
The City Attorney’s race also played out poorly for a center-leaning incumbent. Republican-leaning Ann Davison, like Nelson, is on her way to November with less than 40% of the vote on Election Night. Evans, a former federal prosecutor, has emphasized her record as a civil rights prosecutor with a dedication to public service and personal experience with poverty, claimed the top spot with more than 51% of the vote.
Much of the Election Night results had been foretold — or foreshadowed, at least, as the summer’s endorsement season played out and groups like the 43rd District Democrats leaned to the left in their choices. Along the campaign trail, Wilson continued to grind it out even as polls showed her pulling ahead of the incumbent. CHS reported on this Central District community forum where Harrell was a no show on his home turf. Wilson scored points that night with her record as a progressive organizer and leader at the Transit Riders Union who has helped lead minimum wage and renter rights campaigns around the region. She scored again Tuesday.
But a big loser on the night was participation. The first count tallied totals from just under 20% of eligible voters. Turnout isn’t expected to rise much above a third of the county’s voters by the time results are certified.
Democracy Vouchers
There was one clear winner . Seattle voters were well on their way to approving renewal of the Democracy Voucher program. About 56% of Election Night voters approved the renewal and expansion that will grow the levy to $4.5 million a year to fund the city’s program that gives each Seattle voter four $25 democracy vouchers to donate to candidates to fund their campaigns. Advocates say the public funding program helps broaden and strengthen the candidate pool and encourages better representation of the city’s communities.
Now the race for November will begin.
As the Election Night parties fade and the campaigns resume, Seattle’s progressive challengers will face a much different race for November with more voters and even more at stake. Incumbents also typically have the advantage of the office with its legislative sessions, community events, and press conferences presenting opportunities to slip in a campaign priority or two. With the current political mood in Seattle, it remains to be seen how much of an advantage holding the office really will be for the city’s political veterans.
More results from the night including the King County Executive race, the Prop 1 King County Parks, Recreation, Trails and Open Space Levy, and the Seattle School District races are below. You can find the latest counts here. You can find all CHS Elections coverage here.
$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
🌈🐣🌼🌷🌱🌳🌾🍀🍃🦔🐇🐝🐑🌞🌻
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.
Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month — or choose your level of support 👍
