Moderate candidates leading liberals in Seattle’s top races

SEATTLE (AP) – Moderate candidates took clear leadership in Seattle’s early election Tuesday after months of debate on how to address the city’s issues such as homelessness, police force, and racial and economic injustice.

In the race for mayor, Bruce Harrell, a former city council president, was ahead of current city council president M. Lorena González. Harrell had criticized his opponent for supporting the goal of halving the Seattle Police Department’s budget – a position she has since softened.

And in the normally cautious competition for the city attorney, which also attracted national attention, Ann Davison, who declared herself a Republican in 2020 in largely democratic Seattle, led police and prison abolitionist Nicole Thomas-Kennedy. Davison had said Thomas-Kennedy’s policies threatened public safety.

While Harrell and Davison have strong leads now, it could be days before there are clear winners. Liberal candidates in Seattle tend to gain ground on later vote counts. And in Washington’s postal voting system, ballot papers only need to be stamped, not received, by election day.

The moderate versus left dynamics in Seattle mirrored those in other liberal cities, with “back-to-basics” candidates pledging law and order versus progressives who insist that new approaches to solving stubborn problems are required. The positions in Seattle are officially non-partisan.

Harrell, 63, who grew up in a red neighborhood, would be Seattle’s first Asian American and second black mayor. He has strong backing from business and real estate managers.

González, 44, the daughter of migrant workers, would be the city’s first Latina mayor. It is supported by service unions as well as environmental and urbanist groups.

González and other leftist candidates have stated that they want to tax large corporations in order to provide money for affordable housing. They would end the forcible relocation of homeless camps when there was not enough shelter or shelter for residents; Ending single-family home zones that prevent affordable housing from being built; and invest in alternatives to policing, law enforcement and incarceration.

Harrell said he wanted to reinforce the police. The department has shut down hundreds of officials for retirement and resignations amid the defunding discussion, and Harrell has called for the recruitment of more police officers, including some unarmed officials, as well as the appointment of a cabinet-level position to combat the increasing gun violence In the City.

Harrell has courted voters frustrated with apparent homelessness. He said he would keep parks free of tent camps while increasing the space for accommodation.

The incumbent mayor Jenny Durkan is not standing for re-election.

In the race for the city’s lawyers, real estate and business people have invested money in resistance to Thomas-Kennedy, who often tweeted vulgarly about her hatred of the police during and after the 2020 racial justice protests.

Thomas-Kennedy promises to stop prosecuting most offenses. Citing her experience as a public defender, she describes such crimes mainly as poverty crimes and says the city cannot resolve the problem. Critics say her choice would make it even more difficult to hire and retain officers, and it would send the message to criminals that they can get away with stealing.

Davison has her own luggage in deep blue Seattle: she announced in 2020 that she would leave the Democratic Party and run for the office of lieutenant governor as Republican. She has stressed that she is “not a partisan” – and that she elected Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden as President, not Donald Trump.

In recent years, Davison has advocated clearing homeless camps and moving residents to emergency shelters in warehouses, and has spoken out against safe injection sites and a sex education law.

Davison’s critics have questioned whether she would enthusiastically defend the left-wing laws passed by the council, including tenant protection and progressive taxation.

Police issues were the focus of the voters.

Virginia Newman, who cast her ballot on Tuesday, said she was concerned about law enforcement in Seattle, citing “the national outrage over the past year and what is happening in our city about keeping those who do not have access to have safe spaces that are ostracized and oppressed and how we unjustly monitor them in a city that considers itself so progressive. “

James Vert, another Seattle voter, said the defunding movement was wrong.

“I mean our police will protect us,” said Vert. “And then we want to defuse it. And where are we now with the problem we have? Now look at the crime rates in Seattle. “

___

Associated Press videographer Manuel Valdes contributed to this.

Copyright © 2021. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Moderate candidates leading liberals in Seattle’s top races