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Seattle is holding the first two non-partisan primaries on August 3 for the mayor, two major city council seats, and a city attorney. The races for the mayor’s office and a seat on the city council are open. Acting City Councilor Teresa Mosqueda and City Attorney Pete Holmes are seeking re-election.
Mayoral election
Fifteen candidates are in the mayor’s area code, six of them leading in terms of support, fundraising or media attention. Four of the six have served in the city or state government. Casey Sixkiller is the deputy mayor of Seattle. Lorena González is President of the City Council. Bruce Harrell was President of the City Council from 2016 to 2017 and from 2018 to 2019. Jessyn Farrell was state representative from 2013 to 2017.
Colleen Echohawk is the executive director of the Chief Seattle Club, an organization that provides services to Alaskan Indians and Native Americans. Andrew Grant Houston, an architect, owns a company and served as Mosqueda’s interim policy manager.
City council primaries
Seattle has nine city council seats, seven of which are elected by district and two are city-wide. The seven district seats were last up for election in 2019. The two total seats have increased this year.
Position 9 is open because González, the incumbent, is running for mayor’s office. Three out of seven candidates have led in support, fundraising and media attention: Fremont Brewing co-owner Sara Nelson, attorney and Creative Justice executive director Nikkita Oliver and Brianna Thomas, who serves as González’s chief of staff.
Local media have said the seat at position 8 is uncompetitive, with Mosqueda the incumbent being preferred to win.
Advocates of city council members
Five incumbent city council members confirmed in the mayoral election campaign. Mosqueda, Tammy Morales, Lisa Herbold and Andrew Lewis supported González. Dan Strauss supported both Echohawk and Farrell. Harrell has the most approvals from past councilors (four).
In the election to position 9 of the city council, Thomas received support from González, Herbold, Strauss and Lewis. Mosqueda and Morales supported Oliver. Five former council members supported Nelson.
Two of the three council members who did not accept any of the races – Debora Juarez and Alex Pedersen – were the two candidates won in 2019 with the support of the Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE), the political action of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce have committee. They were also the two councilors who spoke out against Seattle’s 2020 ordinance introducing a tax for companies with a payroll of $ 7 million or more a year. CASE is not active in the 2021 election cycle.
Kshama Sawant, the third council member who did not support, is a member of the Socialist Alternative and the target of a recent recall.
Election to the city council
Incumbents Pete Holmes, Ann Davison and Nicole Thomas-Kennedy are running for office. Holmes first took office in 2009. His supporters include Public Land Commissioner Hilary Franz (D) and State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti (D). Davison, an attorney and arbitrator, received assistance from The Seattle Times and former Governor Dan Evans (R). She ran for vice governor in 2020 and city council in 2019. Thomas-Kennedy is a former public defender and criminal and eviction attorney. The stranger supported her.
