Tag Archives: Seattle City Attorney Race

News

Seattle and King County General Election Results

by Nathalie Graham, Agueda Pacheco Flores, Ashley Archibald, Chetanya Robinson, Marcus Green

Editors’ Note: We will continue to update this article with election updates in the coming days.

Seattle voters appeared to be embracing moderate candidates in key races for mayor, city attorney and City Council, according to early returns Tuesday night.

Updated results as of 11/04/2021

Seattle Mayor’s Race

Update 11/05/2021, 1:00 p.m.:

Lorena González conceded the mayor’s race, making Bruce Harrell Seattle’s next mayor.

She tweeted her concession Thursday after election results showed Harrell leading González 62% to 38% with just under 33% of ballots counted.

“With today’s ballot drop, it’s clear that Bruce Harrell will be the next Mayor of Seattle,” she said on @MLorenaGonzalez “Earlier, I called him to congratulate him on a hard-fought race and wished him much luck in his efforts to make progress on the challenges Seattle faces.”

Update 11/04/2021, 4:00 p.m.:

With just under 33% of ballots counted, Bruce Harrell leads Lorena González 62% to 38%.

Bruce Harrell was leading Lorena González 65% to 35% in a race to elect Seattle’s next mayor and potentially set the course on homelessness, policing, affordable housing, and other critical issues facing the city.

Seattle voters found themselves in a similar position Tuesday night to election nights past: Should the electorate choose a moderate Democrat or a progressive to steer the city? 

Continue reading Seattle and King County General Election Results →
Features

What Is Justice and How Should It Be Administered: Seattle’s City Attorney Race

by Alexa Peters

The race for Seattle’s next city attorney has been a surprising one since three-term incumbent Pete Holmes conceded in the August primaries, leaving newcomers Nicole Thomas-Kennedy and Ann Davison to duke it out.

The typically uneventful race for an often overlooked office heated up after many of Thomas-Kennedy’s controversial anti-police Tweets from 2020 resurfaced, prompting local media and previous Seattle municipal court judges to question her fitness for the City Attorney’s Office. Even Fox News’ Tucker Carlson took a stab at the candidate during a September segment of his show, calling the candidate flat-out “crazy.” Meanwhile, Davison, who recently switched from Republican to “moderate Democrat,” has come under fire for her Republican rhetoric and ties to a video campaign organized by a Trump supporter who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

In looking beyond political warfare, experts say the race for city attorney gets to the heart of a question all the more relevant since anti-police protests broke out in 2020: In Seattle, what do we consider justice and how should it be administered? Our selection for city attorney will be decided on voters’ answers to those questions.

Continue reading What Is Justice and How Should It Be Administered: Seattle’s City Attorney Race →
Voices

OPINION: Abolition Is Survivor-Centered Justice

by Caedmon Magboo Cahill, Shannon Perez-Darby, and DeAnn Alcantara-Thompson

Seattle local elections are underway, and for the first time voters are presented with two abolitionist candidates. In the race for Seattle City Attorney, much has been said about how abolition would negatively impact public safety. One of the more persistent refrains is the narrative that pursuing abolition is turning our backs on domestic violence survivors. We write to dispel this myth. As a former public defense attorney, a community organizer currently working at a local anti-violence organization, and survivors with a combined experience of over 35 years supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence, we maintain it is abolition — rather than criminalization — that is the path toward survivor-centered justice. 

Continue reading OPINION: Abolition Is Survivor-Centered Justice →
News

What the South End Wants to Hear from Seattle City Candidates

by Agueda Pacheco Flores

Even though Danielle Jackson says she is skeptical of the system, she always votes.

“I want my vote to count, but I’m not always happy with the people in place,” she says. 

Jackson is a long-time Rainier Valley resident and founder of the Changing Habits and Motivating Personal Self-Esteem (CHAMPS) organization. Her community organization helps connect Rainier Valley residents with programs and resources such as violence prevention workshops taught by youth for youth. The non-profit partners with groups, businesses, and churches across the valley to help people who may be struggling. 

Continue reading What the South End Wants to Hear from Seattle City Candidates →
Voices

OPINION: Political Intermission

1 Comment

by Lola E. Peters

Act One was the campaign. We met the players, learned their public backstories, got hints about their character, and were introduced to the context of their stories. Act Two was the primary: a much shorter period where we learned about ourselves. Through social media, on Zoom calls, and over outdoor happy hour snacks we asked, “Who are you voting for?” or “Can you believe so-and-so is voting for so-and-so?” The end of Act Two revealed who were the players representing minor, though no less important, voices but no longer primary participants in the current play. We also learned whose dramatic arcs would move forward to the next act. 

Here I sit, in the lobby, looking around at my fellow voters, wondering what they were thinking. 

Continue reading OPINION: Political Intermission →
News

Abolitionist Nicole Thomas-Kennedy Announces Last-Minute Run for City Attorney

by Mark Van Streefkerk 

Attorney Nicole Thomas-Kennedy decided to run for Seattle City Attorney literally overnight. She’d heard that current City Attorney Pete Holmes was about to run for a fourth term unchallenged. She took a night to think about it and the next day, filed for candidacy. It just happened to be the last day to file. Though Holmes has been touted as a progressive City Attorney, Thomas-Kennedy thinks it’s about time the people had an abolitionist option. 

Continue reading Abolitionist Nicole Thomas-Kennedy Announces Last-Minute Run for City Attorney →