8:11 PM: The election-night results count is in. Here are the four city races:

MAYOR
Bruce Harrell – 84,975 – 64.6%
Lorena González – 46,046 – 35%

CITY ATTORNEY
Ann Davison – 74,549 – 58.2%
Nicole Thomas-Kennedy – 52,419 – 40.9%

CITY COUNCIL POSITION 8
Teresa Mosqueda – 65,687 – 52.4%
Ken Wilson – 59,045 – 47.1%

CITY COUNCIL POSITION 9
Sara Nelson – 77,581 – 60.3%
Nikkita Oliver – 50,762 – 39.4%

That’s it for vote counts until tomorrow afternoon, but we’ll update with reaction as the evening goes on. This count represents ballots from 27 percent of the city’s voters; as of 6 pm tonight, 39 percent of voters’ ballots had been received.

8:48 PM: Citywide Position 8 Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, a North Delridge resident, is first to declare victory. “We knew this was going to be a close election given the frustration many people feel right now coming out of the pandemic, in an economy that isn’t working for all people, and a homelessness crisis that impacts too many,” she said in an emailed statement … City Attorney candidate Nicole Thomas-Kennedy says in an emailed statement that she’s not ready to concede: “The primary prepared us to have to wait several days for complete results of this election, but I’m as hopeful tonight as I was then.” … Updating the results above to show exact percentages and vote totals.

8:10 PM: From the election-night results count, the non-city races:

KING COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Dow Constantine* – 169,087 – 57.3%
Joe Nguyen – 122,573 – 41.5%

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 1
Ryan Calkins* – 200,739 – 73%
Norman Sigler – 71,870 – 26.1%

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 3
Stephanie Bowman* – 143,505 – 50.7%
Hamdi Mohamed – 137,905 – 48.7%

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 4
Peter Steinbrueck* – 141,636 – 49.9%
Toshiko Grace Hasegawa – 140,099 – 49.4%

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 4
Vivian Song Maritz – 80,246 – 67.9%
Laura Marie Rivera – 37,325 – 31.6%

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 5
Michelle Sarju – 97,873 – 82%
Dan Harder – 21,065 – 17.6%

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 7
Brandon Hersey* – 104,814 – 91.4%
Gretchen Williamson – 8,748 – 7.6%

Next round of results will be out Wednesday afternoon.

9:54 PM: A few notes – The victory for Constantine, who (like his opponent) is a West Seattle resident, gives him a fourth term as County Executive … The Seattle Port Commission has never had a woman of color, so if either (or both) Hasegawa or Mohamed win, they’ll make history.

(Junction dropbox, in Saturday sunshine)

As of noon today, King County Elections had received ballots from just under 25 percent of voters in West Seattle and South Park. That beats the citywide percentage of 23.7%, but it means a lot of ballots are still unmarked. If yours is still sitting on a desk or counter waiting to be filled out, time’s ticking, but it’s not too late to help beat the predictions of low turnout. Your ballot has 17 local/state races and issues. If you plan to use USPS mail, it needs to be postmarked by tomorrow, so you’ll want to get it out as soon as possible. If you’re going to use an official dropbox – there are three in West Seattle, one in White Center, and one in South Park (map/addresses here) – 8 pm Tuesday is your deadline. Lost your ballot? Here’s what to do. Want to check that yours has been received? Go here. As usual, there will be one results announcement daily, with the first one around 8:15 pm tomorrow

Tuesday is the deadline to get your ballot in, so this weekend is the perfect time to vote if you haven’t already. So far, only 18.4% of West Seattle/South Park voters have turned in their ballots. As always, the deadlines are 8 pm Election Day (Tuesday) if you use a county dropbox – or earlier, to ensure a November 2nd postmark, if you are mailing via USPS. If you need help voting – including doing it via an assistive device – you can go to a King County Elections Vote Center starting tomorrow (nearest one is at Lumen Field Event Center, open 10 am-4 pm Saturday, 8:30 am-6 pm Monday, 8:30 am-8 pm Tuesday). Still making up your mind? We’ve covered some forums along the way – you can review our coverage archive here – and watch for two reports tonight on the Port Commission and King County Executive forums held by local groups last night. As noted here, you have 17 decisions to make this time around.

Today, with meetings at 9:30 am and 2 pm, the City Council launches into the next phase of shaping the next city budget: Going through proposed amendments. Almost 200 of them will be rolled out over the next three days. We read the documents for today’s reviews and found six of particular note:

*Almost $500,000 to add air conditioning to the non-A/C area of Southwest Library, for “climate adaptation”

*Two amendments for Camp Second Chance, West Seattle’s only tiny-house encampment – $80,000 to connect the camp to a sewer system in the area, $100,000 to ensure a mobile city hygiene trailer visits CSC regularly

*$380,000 for “Indigenous-led energy efficiency projects in the Duwamish Valley,” described as potentially involving work at the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse

*200,000 to support youth leadership programs in the Duwamish Valley, such as the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps

This is just the first of three days in which proposed amendments will be presented – we’ll be going through the documents for the other two days too. Today, the many other proposed amendments also include another of note from West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold (who also proposed the Camp Second Chance and youth leadership amendments mentioned above) – almost $400,000 for animal-control patrols in city parks.

HOW TO COMMENT: There’s still a lot of time to comment before the council gets to the point of finalizing its version of the budget. Most meetings, for example, start with a public comment period; two more public hearings are planned in November. This page has all the information.

If you’re still making up your mind, with 10 days left to vote, you might be interested in two local online candidate forums, both coming up next Thursday night. 5-6 pm, the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition is co-presenting a forum with the six people running for three Seattle Port Commission seats; each race is countywide, and has for this election a challenger and incumbent – Norman Sigler and Ryan Calkins (Position 1), Hamdi Mohamed and Stephanie Bowman (Position 3), and Toshiko Hasegawa and Peter Steinbrueck (Position 4). You can register here to get the viewing/listening information. Then at 6:30 pm Thursday, this month’s West Seattle Transportation Coalition meeting will feature a forum with the two West Seattleites who are in the running for King County Executive – State Senator Joe Nguyen and incumbent Executive Dow Constantine. This job has a tremendous influence on local transportation, since King County runs Metro buses and the Water Taxi, and the Executive sits on the Sound Transit board. Watch here for viewing/listening info when it’s available – we’ll have it in the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar as well as that day’s daily preview. (Ready to vote now? Dropboxes are open – here’s the list/map – or send your ballot via USPS, no stamp needed.)

Video/photos and recap by Patrick Sand and Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog co-publishers

Two of the Seattle City Council‘s nine positions are on your ballot for the general-election voting that’s under way right now.

The four people seeking them were in West Seattle tonight for an in-person forum at Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s Walmesley Center, presented by the Westside Interfaith Network, High Point Mosque, and League of Women Voters Seattle-King County.

Though the forum stuck to basic topics like homelessness and public safety, the dialogue – moderated by West Seattle journalist Brian Callanan – was lively, with each candidate offered the chance for up to four rebuttals, and most of those 16 opportunities getting used.

OLG pastor Father Kevin Duggan and the League of Women Voters’ Lucy Gaskill-Gaddis welcomed the candidates – for Position 8, incumbent Teresa Mosqueda and civil engineer Ken Wilson; for Position 9, community organizer/lawyer/artist Nikkita Oliver and brewery co-owner Sara Nelson. Wilson is the only first-time candidate in the group; Oliver ran for mayor in 2017, the same year Nelson made her first try for council.

All four candidates were asked to answer each question. What you read below in our recap is how we summarized the questions and responses, not direct quotes except for what’s within quotation marks. When you see more than one response from a candidate following a certain question, that’s a rebuttal.

First, opening statements:

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The only West Seattle forum scheduled for the only two City Council seats on the general-election ballot is this Monday, and you’re invited to watch in person or online. The Westside Interfaith Network and the League of Women Voters Seattle-King County are presenting the forum for citywide Positions 8 and 9 on Monday night at Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s Walmesley Center (35th/Myrtle). For Position 8, the candidates are incumbent Teresa Mosqueda (a West Seattle resident) and engineer Ken Wilson; for Position 9, there’s no incumbent because Lorena González is running instead for mayor; the candidates are brewery owner Sara Nelson and community organizer/artist/lawyer Nikkita Oliver. You can suggest topics to the organizers via this survey. If you’re going in person (masks required), doors open at 6:30 Monday; the forum (and livestream), moderated by West Seattle journalist Brian Callanan, starts at 7 pm.

Election Day is November 2nd, but voting is about to begin. King County Elections mailed 1.4 million general-election ballots today. Dropboxes open tomorrow; West Seattle has three – at 44th/Alaska in The Junction, at South Seattle College (6000 16th SW; WSB sponsor), and at High Point Library (3411 SW Raymond) – or you can use the USPS to mail yours. Though a handful of races have commandeered most of the attention, you will actually be making 17 decisions – go here to preview your ballot. You’ll see:

BALLOT MEASURES

State Advisory Votes No. 36, 37, 38 (explained here)
King County Charter Amendments No. 1 and 2

ELECTED OFFICES

King County Executive

Court of Appeals, Division 1, District 1

Port of Seattle Commission Positions 1, 3, 4

Seattle Mayor

Seattle City Attorney

Seattle City Council Positions 8, 9

Seattle School Board Districts 4, 5, 7

Voting deadline is November 2nd. If you’re not registered yet, October 25th is the deadline to do that online, or you can go to a county vote center to register in person up through Election Day.

The two West Seattle men running for King County Executive sparred a bit more in a Saturday night faceoff than in another local forum two nights earlier.

This livestreamed event – with incumbent County Executive Dow Constantine and State Senator Joe Nguyen side by side in the Live Oak Audio Visual studio, but the audience online – was presented by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and moderated by its board president, restaurateur Dan Austin.

While the two didn’t exhibit major policy/platform differences – except for the very first question of the night – they swapped some words of criticism. Constantine observed that Nguyen is running for the executive job after three years in elected office, while he and some well-known predecessors had more than a decade of elected experience before moving up. Nguyen could do more good staying in the Legislature, he suggested. Nguyen, meantime, contended he was compelled to run for this because he heard from people who were frustrated about what was, and wasn’t, happening.

The video is above – with the forum starting 12 minutes in. If you’d rather read the details – below is our recap how the Q&A went, after opening statements. As usual with our coverage of events like this, what you see is mostly our paraphrasing/summarizing, not direct quotes unless it’s within quotation marks:

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Another high-profile role for West Seattle-residing former mayor Greg Nickels, who currently co-chairs the West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force. He is one of four people appointed to the Seattle Redistricting Commission, which will be redrawing council-district maps with the new information from the 2020 Census. (This is separate from the processes under way to redraw State Legislature and U.S. House district maps, recently noted here.) The city is spotlighting the commission membership as the group’s first meeting approaches next week. Nickels is one of two members appointed by Mayor Jenny Durkan, along with philanthropy professional Neelima Shah; earlier this year, the City Council appointed public-policy professional EJ Juárez (also a West Seattleite) and administrative-law judge Rory O’Sullivan. The commission will have a fifth member, appointed by these four. From the announcement, here’s what the five will do:

The Commission shall appoint a Districting Master to draw a districting plan for the City, develop a draft districts proposal based on that plan, facilitate a process of public comment on that proposal, and ultimately vote upon approval of that proposal for transmission to the State of Washington. The Redistricting Commission may employ experts, consultants, and attorneys as necessary to accomplish its goals and will submit financial statements and an official record of all relevant information considered to the City Clerk.

All meetings of the Redistricting Commission are open to the public. The Commission’s first meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 13 from 12-1:30 pm. The meeting will be held virtually and can be accessed at seattle.webex.com/seattle/j.php?MTID=mbaa607e36b5f148a3abd5504cef2e5ee.

The City Council is currently made up of seven people elected by district and two elected at large (by the entire city). West Seattle and South Park comprise District 1.

One week from today, King County Elections will send general-election ballots; that means you could vote as soon as one week from tomorrow. This week, two local organizations are presenting online forums with the two West Seattleites in the race for King County Executive, three-term incumbent Dow Constantine and first-term State Senator Joe Nguyen. The first one is with the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, the community council for White Center and vicinity – that’s at 7 pm Thursday (October 7th); viewing/participation information is here. Two nights later, the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce will host Nguyen and Constantine at 7 pm Saturday (October 9th); viewing information is here.

SATURDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Just found that the forum stream link moved here.

Remember back when everyone was being urged to participate in the 2020 Census? One of the many reasons why is coming to bear now: Redistricting, because of population changes. The process of redrawing the maps for legislative (state House and state Senate) and U.S. House districts is under way, and this week, you have two chances to speak out about proposed options. The Washington State Redistricting Commission has four voting members – two Democratic appointees, two Republican appointees – and each of them has proposed a legislative map and a U.S. House map.

LEGISLATIVE: The state Legislative map proposals are here – you can comment directly there, and/or participate in an online public-comment meeting at 7 pm Tuesday (October 5th) – info on that is here. For background – West Seattle is currently in the 34th Legislative District, along with Vashon and Maury Islands, White Center, and part of Burien; one proposal, that by Republican appointee Paul Graves, would split West Seattle, putting part in the 43rd District; the proposal by Democratic appointee Brady Piñero Walkinshaw would keep WS in the 34th but move Vashon Island into another district. Those are just a couple of the possible changes – zoom in on all four maps to see proposed borders.

CONGRESSIONAL: The U.S. House map proposals are linked here – you can comment directly there, and/or participate in an online public-comment meeting at 10 am next Saturday (October 9th) – info on that is at the same link. West Seattle would remain in District 7 under the commissioners’ proposals.

If you can’t make it to the meetings, other ways to have a say are here.

Thursday night’s second online city-candidate debate on homelessness featured the two candidates for Seattle City Council citywide Position 9, the spot that Lorena González is leaving to run for mayor. The event concluded the series presented by The Seattle Times and We’re All In. Here’s what Sara Nelson and Nikkita Oliver had to say, in response to questions asked by Times reporter Sydney Brownstone. Note that everything below is our paraphrase/summary, not a direct quote unless it’s within quotation marks.

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The candidates for Seattle Mayor – Lorena González and Bruce Harrell – spent an hour this afternoon answering questions about homelessness and housing, and are scheduled to take on the same topic at another event tonight.

We watched the noontime forum, presented by the Resolution to End Homelessness. Its founder/board president Kyle Bergquist moderated. The organization recorded the event; the video is below, followed by our notes:

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Voting in the general election is just over two weeks away – ballots go out October 13th. If you haven’t decided yet who you’re voting for in local races, you have a variety of opportunities coming up to watch candidate forums. Tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon is the next one – mayoral candidates Lorena González and Bruce Harrell will answer questions about homelessness in an online forum presented by the nonprofit Resolution to End Homelessness. Organizers say it will include an audience-question period toward the end, Go here to register for the Zoom link

One last time before leaving office in a few months, Mayor Jenny Durkan gave her annual budget speech tonight.

But what she chose to mention is only a fraction of what’s in the 768-page “budget book.” We read through key department sections of the $7.1 billion budget, as well as the accompanying Capital Improvement Program that spans into 2023 and beyond. Here are notes of (mostly) local interest:

SDOT: Of course the agency’s $718 million plan has all the money expected to be needed to fix and reopen the West Seattle Bridge. It also has $5 million for maintenance on three movable bridges, including the West Seattle low bridge, and the 4th Avenue South bridge. But the most eyecatching West Seattle item is in the Capital Improvement Program – penciling in 35th Avenue SW repaving for 2023, Morgan to Roxbury. Where the $35 million would come from, they haven’t decided yet.

PARKS & REC: West Seattle’s three landbanked park sites – 48th and Charlestown, 40th SW in The Junction, and the addition in Morgan Junction – were put on hold for the pandemic. But the $283 million Parks budget for next year includes money to get them going again. Other named West Seattle projects would include energy-efficiency woork at Hiawatha (which is already closed for renovations) and some money to support closing-time security at Alki Beach.

POLICE: The $365 million plan is slightly more than last year. Here’s what the mayor said about it in her speech:

We’ll also continue to address public safety challenges. Like many of you, I believe it’s a false choice to say we must choose between investing in effective community alternatives OR investing in having enough well trained police officers.

We need both.

This budget ensures we have enough police officers AND alternatives to police interventions, particularly for people in crisis. Like HealthOne, a program I launched before the pandemic that sends medics and social workers instead of police to certain 911 calls.

My budget also adds 125 new officers and one million dollars for officer hiring incentives, and new resources for training and oversight. I hope the City Council joins me to support this approach for true community safety, and not buy into false choices.

The alternatives would include adding six Community Service Officers as well as moving money to “specialized triage” and a Regional Peacekeepers Collective.

Those are just a few sections of the many in the budget – you can browse them section by section by going here. Some departments have started publishing their own summaries – including Parks, SDOT; watch for others here.

WHAT’S NEXT: The City Council, meeting as the Select Budget Committee, will review and amend the mayor’s plan over the next two months. Meetings start Wednesday, with individual department presentations; here’s the agenda for that day (watch for subsequent meetings’ agendas here). Three public hearings are planned – 5:30 pm October 12 and November 10, 9:30 am November 18, all online, so you can comment from wherever you are – go here for more info on how to attend/participate. You can also email councilmembers any time – here’s how.

As announced, Seattle Mayor candidate Bruce Harrell visited the West Seattle Junction this afternoon/evening. When we arrived shortly before 5 pm, he was talking with potential constituents at KeyBank Plaza (California/Alaska), including Husky Deli‘s Jack Miller:

(WSB photos)

Shortly thereafter, he embarked on a walking tour with West Seattle Junction Association executive director Lora Radford. She led him behind KeyBank to the parking lot and pitched him on the merits of a potential purchase of the four WSJA-leased parking lots by Community Roots Housing, with city-backed funding (reported here in April).

Harrell asked her how the community would react to the loss of the parking lots; Radford said the expectation is that redevelopment would include some public parking spaces, as well as affordable housing and commercial storefronts. From there, they stopped in a few of the businesses open for Art Walk (included Wlld Rose’s and Capers Home, where he did a little shopping).

We had to break off shortly thereafter because of breaking news. Harrell, a former City Councilmember, faces Lorena González, current City Council President, in the November 2nd election, just under eight weeks away. Voting starts as soon as you get your ballot, which King County Elections plans to mail on October 13th.

Now that Labor Day is past, the fall campaigns are expected to rev up. Top of the ticket remains the race for Seattle Mayor – City Council President Lorena González vs. former City Councilmember Bruce Harrell. Tomorrow night brings the first announced West Seattle event of the fall campaign: Harrell will be touring the West Seattle Junction before and during the West Seattle Art Walk. Junction Association executive director Lora Radford says he’ll be here to talk with community members and answer questions starting at 4:30 pm Thursday at Walk-All-Ways (California/Alaska). Voting for the November 2nd election starts once voters receive ballots, which are scheduled to be mailed October 13th.

6:03 PM: The November election has apparently just lost its marquee measure. Opponents of homelessness-related Seattle Charter Amendment 29 have won a victory in their lawsuit to keep it off the ballot. King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer ruled today that it “violated state law limiting the permissible scope of local ballot initiatives in many ways,” according to opponents, Their lawyer Knoll Lowney said, “The blunt tool of an initiative is not a way to address this complex and evolving crisis. The law recognizes this and so did the judge.” Supporters call their campaign Compassion Seattle. It would codify various city responses to the crisis and would allow encampment sweeps on public property if its requirements were met. The lawsuit against it was filed two weeks ago, same day the 34th District Democrats hosted a forum about it (as mentioned in our coverage of that event). No word yet whether Compassion Seattle will appeal the ruling.

8:57 PM: Compassion Seattle now has a statement on its website, saying in part “This ruling means the only way the public can change the city’s current approach to homelessness is to change who is in charge at city hall. An appeal of the judge’s ruling would not happen in time for the election. However, we urge the public not to give up the fight. We can still make our voices heard in the elections for Mayor, City Council, and City Attorney.”

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Our area’s largest political group voted Wednesday night to oppose Seattle Charter Amendment 29, the November ballot measure that seeks to codify homelessness-response policies into the city charter.

The 34th District Democrats‘ vote followed a pre-meeting forum with representatives both for and against the proposal, and was one of four endorsement votes for city matters that will appear on the November ballot.

We’ll get to the endorsements later. First – the forum, moderated by the 34th DDs’ Rachel Glass (added: video here):

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