When Washington DC Looks Away, King County Must Make Sure Our Neighbors Can Eat
In a guest post, King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay (who just won his election and will be the next county executive) laid out things the county can do right away to ensure that people losing federal assistance can get access to healthy food.
Seattle Nice: Closing Arguments in the Mayoral Election, and a $5,000-a-Week “Outreach” Consultant
On our final episode of the podcast before Tuesday’s election, we discussed the two mayoral candidates’ closing arguments to voters. We also talked about PubliCola’s article this week about Harrell’s payment of $25,000 to the head of an Eastside taxi company who was at the center of a previous Harrell election controversy.
Tuesday, November 4
Mayor Bruce Harrell attacked his opponent, labor organizer and renter Katie Wilson, as an out-of-touch elite because her parents helped her pay her $2,000-a-month childcare bill while she campaigned. But records from the city show that he paid for luxury upgrades to travel with his wife on city-sponsored trips, splashing out for lie-down beds on international flights and top-of-the-line hotels while others made do with midrange accommodations paid for by the city.
Uncertain Outcome in Mayor’s Race While Progressive Council, City Attorney Candidates Celebrate Wins
Election night began a week of waiting on returns in the mayor’s race, which won’t be decided until next week at the earliest. Both Harrell and Wilson found reason for hope in the initial results, which went strongly for Harrell but generally represented mailed ballots that trend more conservative. City Attorney Ann Davison and citywide City Councilmember Sara Nelson are out, and Eddie Lin will replace appointee Mark Solomon in District 2 (Southeast Seattle).
Wednesday, November 5
Police Chief Shon Barnes Fires Two of SPD’s Top Civilian Staff
Less than 12 hours after the first election results came in, Harrell’s police chief, Shon Barnes, fired two longtime civilian staff, general council Becca Boatright and chief operating officer Brian Maxey, a shakeup that eliminates two people with institutional knowledge and could represent a tightening of the ranks around Barnes, whose small inner circle has no prior history in Seattle.
Thursday, November 6
With Half the Ballots Still Uncounted, This Mayoral Election is an Open Contest
On Wednesday, ballots continued to roll in more slowly than usual, leaving the outcome of the mayor’s race uncertain as a second count moved the numbers just a hair in Harrell’s direction.
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In a guest post, City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck made the case for adopting a city budget that focuses on those who will be most impacted by federal funding cuts, including victims of gender-based violence, tenants at risk of losing their homes, and the service providers who keep the city’s social safety net going.
Friday, November 7
Latest Ballots Trend Toward Wilson
The batch of ballots released on Friday narrowed the gap between Wilson and Harrell to just 4,300 votes, representing a strong upward surge for the challenger among people who voted later. Wilson needed roughly 55 percent of the outstanding vote to pull off a victory, and that’s still the overall math going into next week, with around 44,000 ballots uncounted.
Barnes Moves Controversial Cop Out of East Precinct
A month after announcing he would reassign Mike Tietjen, the recently promoted captain who became infamous in 2020 after driving his SUV onto a sidewalk filled with protesters and likening them to “cockroaches,” Barnes finally took action, moving Tietjen and assigning Captain Jim Britt, who recently took over at SPD’s Real Time Crime Center, to the role.
Harrell Says Shaming Sex Buyers Works
The mayor said he fully supports a new SPD campaign to shame men who pay for sex by sending letters to their homes letting them know they’ve been busted. The mayor’s office says these stings reduce demand, citing claims from a Christian fundamentalist group that opposes same-sex marriage, porn, and sex shops, in addition to sex work.