⚡Mayoral race widens but still undecided

Progressive Candidates Came Out Ahead, but Mayoral Race Still Undecided

Bruce Harrell leads challenger Katie Wilson by 8 points, but King County elections told Seattle Time’s David Kroman they have not started counting ballots submitted to the drop boxes on Election Day. They estimate there will be another 115k ballots to count from the drop boxes. Final votes should be counted by Friday.

A Wilson win would mark Seattle’s most progressive shift in years, potentially reshaping policy on housing, policing, and homelessness. As Wilson volunteer and one-time city council candidate Ron Davis told Cascadia Journal on election night: “I think we're going to win, but I'm going to sleep with my butt cheeks tightly clenched until Friday."

Here’s where the rest of the election results stand:

• King County Executive: This is another close one. King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay is leading with 50.6% of the vote. But Claudia Balducci is just behind him, with 48.2% of the vote. This decision marks the first time King County will get a new leader, after longtime Executive Dow Constantine left the job earlier this year. Whoever succeeds him will manage the buses, sheriff’s department, jail, and more. [KUOW]
• Progressive Sweep Reshapes City Council:
  • Position 9: Dionne Foster ✅ defeated Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson for citywide Position 9. Foster had 57.78% of the vote. Guess that means saying farewell to the Sara Nelson puppet too.
  • District 8: Alexis Mercedes Rinck ✅ garnered 78.86% of the vote to Rachael Savage’s 20.44%.
  • District 2: Eddie Lin ✅ will be the new city council member. He left election night with 68.6% of the vote.
• Seattle City Attorney: Erika Evans ✅ defeated Ann Davidson handily, with a 25-point lead on election night.
• Seattle School Board:
  • District 4: Joe Mizrahi ✅
  • District 5: Vivian Song ✅
  • District 7: Jen LaVallee and Carol Rava are 12 points apart, but the race has yet to be called.
  • District 2: Remains too tight to call with Kathleen Smith holding the lead over Sarah Clark.
• Seattle Taxes: As usual, Seattle voted to fund human services via… you guessed it! More taxes.
  • ✅ Proposition 1: Voters said yes to paying for the renewal of the Family, Education and Preschool Promise Levy to fund daycare, preschool and student health, and academic and safety support from kindergarten through senior year.
  • ✅ Proposition 2: Voters also said yes to changing the B&O tax rules so small businesses pay less, big businesses pay more, and the Seattle general fund has more to fill gaps in our budget.
• ✅ King County Proposition 1: Voters reapproved a six-year property tax levy to fund Medic One, the county-wide emergency medical service.
• ✅ State Senate Joint Resolution 8201 WA Cares: Washington voted to amend the state constitution to allow the Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Fund (known as WA Cares), the public long-term care insurance program, to invest in the stock market.

For Complete Election Results: Visit King County's election results page. Vote tallies will update daily in the afternoon for several days as ballots mailed in and placed in drop boxes by Tuesday night are counted.

And, Make Sure Your Vote Was Counted: King County has a handy tool for tracking your ballot, so double check your ballot, especially with how tight the mayoral race is becoming. Ballot tracking status updates every hour between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

🏒 PWHL Springs a Leak: Welcome to the Seattle Torrent? Seattle’s new women’s hockey team was expected to announce its chosen name during a “major team announcement” at the Museum of Pop Culture today. Instead, the name appeared to leak on their website on Tuesday. Screenshots show a light-blue, swish of an ‘S’ cut through with the word “TORRENT.” The pages were up briefly before they were switched back to the PWHL Seattle logo. [Reddit]

🚔 Leadership Shakeup At Seattle Police Department: Wednesday morning SPD’s top civilian leaders were both fired. The department’s chief operating officer, Brian Maxey, and general counsel, Rebecca Boatright, were let go by Chief Shon Barnes, who was chosen earlier this year by Mayor Harrell. [Seattle Times]

• The department just exited their 13-year consent decree, dictating federal oversight, in September. [KUOW]
• Both fired leaders were often part of the department’s forward-facing team, answering questions about policy, body cameras and navigating the consent decree’s federal oversight.

📚 Big Book Is Back: Barnes & Noble has filed permitting documents to fill the former North Face location downtown. Never thought I’d be excited about a box store returning, but more books can only be a good thing, right? [Joe Veyera]