Seattle progressives are holding their collective breath, awaiting more results that will show whether Katie Wilson is able to succeed in her bid to challenge incumbent Bruce Harrell and become the city’s next mayor. Who ultimately wins that race will have far-reaching ramifications, impacting issues including how much housing Washington’s largest city allows to be built within its borders. But around the region, progressive, pro-housing candidates performed extremely well in early returns Tuesday night, notching victories in cities large and small.
Specific bright spots include Tacoma, Redmond, Burien, Woodinville, and Newcastle, where pro-growth candidates all currently lead. Which isn’t to say there wasn’t some backsliding: early results in Bainbridge Island and Sammamish point to a big housing backlash. But on the whole, the trends so far look cheer-worthy for urbanists.
Eastside
Bellevue‘s city council isn’t poised to see a seismic shift in composition, with incumbents Lynne Robinson, Jared Nieuwenhuis, Claire Sumadiwirya, and Vishal Bhargava all leading in their races. But eight-term Councilmember Conrad Lee’s career appears over, with human rights advocate Naren Briar leading Lee by nearly three points. With this council, Mo Malakoutian looks well-positioned to be the city’s next mayor.
Meanwhile voters in Redmond have resoundingly re-elected urbanist superstar Melissa Stuart, while at the same time sending Steve Fields and Jeralee Anderson packing. Fields and Anderson were the two voices on the council who opposed Redmond’s move to relocate the canceled Plymouth Housing project from Kenmore, an issue that right-leaning groups like Safe Eastside tried to turn into a central campaign issue — and failed at.
In Woodinville, the wave of cash spent by Coinbase cryptocurrency engineer Jeff Lyon to promote slow growth candidates appears to have fully backfired, with promoted candidate Rachel Best-Campbell losing in a landslide to challenger Amber Wise. Lyon himself is also losing to incumbent Michelle Evans, with fellow incumbents Sarah Arndt and James Randolph also doing fine.
Results in Kirkland are more mixed.
Incumbent Neal Black, who has defended the city’s direction on housing densification, looks to be holding on while his colleague, Deputy Mayor Jay Arnold, is currently trailing Ken Oberman. Oberman is a part of the “sanity slate” promoted by the group Cherish Kirkland, explicitly formed to push back on proposals to consider allowing additional housing near Kirkland’s transit corridors. Catie Malik, another slate member, leads pro-growth candidate Shilpa Prem, but only by a hair — less than 300 votes. Finally, Jon Pascal, the only incumbent running who voted against the city’s growth plan last year, is leading significantly against Kurt Dresner, a leader with the urbanist group Liveable Kirkland.
Meanwhile, Sammamish appears to be entering a full-on housing backlash era, with Mayor Karen Howe way behind Debbie Treen, a former mayor of Bothell and wife of another serving councilmember, Kent Treen. Councilmember Sid Gupta is set to lose his seat, with his colleague Amy Lam likely only retaining her seat due to a write-in campaign siphoning votes from her opponent. And Michael Boyer is set to win a race for an open seat on the council against more pro-growth Lin Yang. At the heart of all these races is the Town Center Plan, and the current council’s consideration of alternatives to double the upper limit on growth that the city is planning for over the long term.
We also cannot leave out Newcastle, where progressives made a full sweep including incumbent Paul Charbonneau, and Chris Villasenor, Karin Frost Blakley, and Andy Jacobs, bringing the city to a full 6-1 Democratic majority for the first time in the city’s 31-year history.
And in Bothell, progressive incumbents Jenne Alderks and Rami Al-Kabra are cruising to re-election, while uncontested races see Prasad Anguluri and Brittany Miles joining the council.
North King and Snohomish County
Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin looks poised to hold onto her seat for another term, after facing a right-leaning challenge focused on crime and homelessness from Scott Murphy. As a member of the Sound Transit board, expect Franklin to continue pushing for the completion of the light rail “spine” between Tacoma and Everett, and to de-prioritize other light rail projects (like those in Seattle).
The race for mayor of Lynnwood remains too close to call, with incumbent mayor Christine Frizzell trailing challenger and longtime councilmember George Hurst. Frizzell also serves on the Sound Transit board as one of its less outspoken members. On Lynnwood Council, Josh Binda is set to lose his seat after being involved in several high-profile ethics investigations. Incumbents Robert Leutwyler and Derica Escamilla are set to be retained, with more urbanist-leaning Isabel Mata winning an open seat.
In Edmonds, voters are set to re-elect pro-housing Chris Eck, but pick small business advocate Erika Barnett over the more urbanist-leaning Alex Newman for the open position 3 seat. Incumbent Will Chen will secure another term, but the biggest news to come out of Edmonds on election night was the wholehearted rejection of a ballot measure that would have raised taxes to salvage the city’s dire budget situation.
Lake Forest Park urbanist Josh Rosenau is absolutely within striking distance of beating incumbent John Lebo, trailing by only 14 votes as of Wednesday.
Meanwhile Kenmore voters reelected Nigel Herbig despite his support for the Plymouth Housing project that was ultimately moved to Redmond.
Voters in Shoreline only faced a decision in one council race, with Chris Roberts, Eben Pobee and Laura Mork all running for re-election unopposed. The only open seat, currently filled by retiring John Ramsdell, is poised to be held by Valerie Snider, who campaigned on a platform of tree preservation and has voiced skepticism for Shoreline’s full-throated support of transit-oriented development.
South King County
When it comes to the King County Council, 30-year incumbent Pete von Reichbauer is coasting to another term against challenger Maya Vengadasalam in District 7. In the open race for District 5, attorney Steffanie Fain is narrowly ahead of SeaTac Councilmember Peter Kwon to fill the seat currently occupied by appointed Councilmember De’Sean Quinn. Progressives split on that race in the primary between Renton Councilmembers Kim-Khanh Van and Ryan McIrvin, leading to two more right-leaning candidates advancing into the primary. In the end, both The Stranger and the Seattle Times endorsed Fain, with The Urbanist making no recommendation.
Speaking of Renton: incumbents are leading in all races there, with James Alberson, Carmen Rivera, and Ruth Pérez all likely to secure an additional term on the Renton Council.
Federal Way, Kent, and Auburn will all retain their mayors, with Kent Mayor Dana Ralph running fully unopposed.
But the bright spot in South King County is in Burien, where an existing 5-2 moderate majority is poised to flip. Sam Méndez is on track to replace outgoing Councilmember Jimmy Matta, with former planning commissioner Rocco DeVito on track to beat incumbent Stephanie Mora. The council’s two left-leaning incumbents — Sarah Moore and Hugo Garcia — likely to retain their seats. This fall, that slate of four candidates was endorsed by Representative Pramila Jayapal, a big boost for progressives in Burien. The Urbanist Elections Committee also backed the slate.
Pierce County
In South Sound, incumbent Bryan Yambe will retain his seat on the Pierce County Council, maintaining the existing 4-3 Democratic majority on that body. That’s good news for Executive Ryan Mello, who just took office at the beginning of the year as the first Democrat to lead the county in eight years.
Tacoma‘s next mayor will be Anders Ibsen, after incumbent Victoria Woodards hit the limit of two terms in that job. A former member of the Tacoma Council, Ibsen is leading current councilmember John Hines despite more than $100,000 in outside spending in Hines’s favor. That spending went fairly negative on Ibsen, in a move that may have actually backfired.
On the Tacoma City Council, Latasha Palmer is set to replace outgoing Deputy Mayor Kiara Daniels. Palmer will likely defeat property manager Jessica Johnston in a campaign that saw Palmer support the idea of implementing social housing in Tacoma and Johnston oppose the move. Sandesh Sadalge, who was appointed to his seat last July, looks on track to retain his seat despite a strong challenge from Silong Chhun, and incumbents Sarah Rumbaugh and Joe Bushnell are also set to stay on the council. Ultimately, the results point to voters’ support for the council’s current trajectory on housing, including the Home in Tacoma plan.
Kitsap County
Across the Sound in Kitsap County, there are fewer signs of hope for urbanist candidates.
Transportation advocates in Bremerton will be disappointed to see Councilmember Jeff Coughlin trailing incumbent Mayor Greg Wheeler. Wheeler, who opposed the Bremerton Council’s recent move to ditch parking mandates across the city, has nonetheless vowed to prioritize the issue in his next term, with Coughlin’s challenge likely sharpening those promises.
In Bainbridge Island as in Sammamish, a strong housing backlash looks to propel several anti-growth candidates into office. Incumbent Joe Deets, an outspoken supporter of the 625 Winslow Way affordable housing project, is on track to lose to Lara Lant, who explicitly opposed the project. Meanwhile Clarence Moriwaki, who has been more moderate on housing issues, is likely to be reelected.
For the open seat, currently occupied by Jon Quitslund, voters had to choose between two candidates who have opposed the 625 Winslow Way project as designed, including current planning commission chair Sarah Blossom, who voted against a zoning ordinance that would allow it to move forward. Instead, they look to have picked Mike Nelson, a candidate who has held an even harder line on housing, opposing “ultra-density” within the city’s main downtown of Winslow during the campaign.
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
