(Photos provided by Chas Redmond: Above, at WS Food Bank today with Judi Yazzolino, Lester Yuhand, and Christopher Dickie)

With two of nine candidates in the primary for Seattle City Council District 1 advancing to the general election, what’s next for the other seven? We heard today from one of them – Chas Redmond, who was first to start campaigning for the seat, and finished fifth. As far as we can recall, he’s the first ex-candidate who’s ever sent word of what he’s doing with the leftover campaign cash:

Now that I’m out of the race, I have to close out my campaign finances. I ran a very tight campaign and underspent my fundraising, meaning I had surplus funds at the conclusion of my run for office. I raised $12,467 and spent $9,967, making my cost-per-voter among the lowest, if not the lowest, of all 47 campaigns for City Council – my cost-per-voter was $7.86.

According to the Public Disclosure Commission, I can do several things with surplus campaign funds including donating them to non-profits and charities. Thanks again to all who donated. I had $2500 in surplus funds and have donated $1250 of those funds to Sustainable West Seattle and another $1250 of those funds to the West Seattle Food Bank.

(Above, at Sustainable WS picnic last night, presenting check to president Bryan Fiedorczyk)
As I kept saying throughout the campaign, there are no losers in this race, all of West Seattle and South Park are winners.

After receiving that announcement from Redmond, we asked him about future plans:

I’m working on a few ideas that still involve being an activist in local politics and I think it’s going to be really hard to take me out of the music scene, so music will remain part of my life. And I’m an active member of VIEWS, and we’re looking to do all sorts of cool things to increase engagement here in West Seattle in South Park. The campaign was amazing and getting to know everyone was even more amazing. West Seattle and South Park are very fortunate to have the quality of people running for public office and engaged in civic activities that we do. And finally, hats off to Lisa Herbold and Shannon Braddock, you were great competitors; I thoroughly enjoyed running with the pack.

We published the final election results after certification this past Tuesday.

Our area’s biggest political organization is returning to the lakeside TAF Bethaday Community Space for its biggest fundraiser. The 34th District Democrats are advertising their annual Garden Party dinner/auction on WSB to help get the word out – it’s set for 6 pm Friday, August 21st, and since it’s the 20th annual Garden Party, the theme is “Roaring Twenties,” complete with costume contest. The latest list of items donated for the silent and live auctions includes a football bearing Seahawks star Russell Wilson‘s autograph, a wine-country retreat in Napa, a train trip to Portland with weekend lodging, and one year of having West 5‘s legendary mac and cheese once a month. Garden Party’ers will be entertained by the Casey MacGill Duo. If you haven’t been to the Bethaday Community Learning Space, it’s in White Center’s wooded Lakewood Park, which is home to Hicklin Lake. Garden Party tickets are on sale now online – find the link here.

Whole lot of last-minute voters in our area – while the last pre-election count of returned ballots showed only about 9,000 out of 60,000 had been received, that number has almost doubled to just under 18,000, for a turnout of about 30 percent. Meantime, the fourth round of King County election results is out; here’s the latest in four of the races that were on your ballot (the full list of all results around the county is here):

CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 1 (West Seattle/South Park)
Lisa Herbold – 5072 – 30.10%
Shannon Braddock – 4703 – 27.91%
Phillip Tavel – 3053 – 18.12%
Brianna Thomas – 1720 – 10.21%
Chas Redmond – 1235 – 7.33%
Jody Rushmer – 355 – 2.11%
Karl Wirsing – 239 – 1.42%
Arturo Robles – 231 – 1.37%
Pavel Goberman – 191 – 1.13%

SCHOOL BOARD POSITION 6 (West Seattle/South Park, district vote in the primary, citywide in the general)
Leslie Harris – 7287 – 48.11%
Marty McLaren* – 5727 – 37.81%
Nick Esparza – 2054 – 13.56%

PORT COMMISSION POSITION 2 (at large)
Courtney Gregoire* – 220612 – 82.91%
Goodspaceguy – 23985 – 9.01%
John Naubert – 19963 – 7.50%

PORT COMMISSION POSITION 5 (at large)
Fred Felleman – 64709 – 24.71%
Marion Yoshino – 47202 – 18.02%
Richard Pope – 41054 – 15.67%
Ken Rogers – 29459 – 11.25%
Darrell Bryan – 27186 – 10.38%
Herb Krohn – 20762 – 7.93%
Norman Z. Sigler – 18542 – 7.08%
Mark Hennon – 6961 – 2.66%
Daniel E. Reandeau – 5173 – 1.98%

King County will announce daily vote counts until certification a week from Tuesday. The general election is on Tuesday, November 3rd, which includes not only more races, but also ballot measures including the “Move Seattle” transportation levy

If you were waiting for the third round of primary-election results – it’s in. For Seattle City Council District 1 (Seattle/South Park), Lisa Herbold‘s lead over Shannon Braddock has widened to more than 300 votes. Phillip Tavel is a relatively distant third:

Herbold – 30.07% – 4870 votes
Braddock – 27.97% – 4530 votes
Tavel – 18.07% – 2926 votes

Top two go to the November general-election ballot. We’ll be adding more results-update notes shortly.

King County Elections has gone public with its second round of primary-election results. While the top two in Seattle City Council District 1 remain the same, the order has changed – Lisa Herbold is now slightly ahead of Shannon Braddock:

Herbold – 28.56% – 3551 votes
Braddock – 28.23% – 3510 votes
Tavel – 18.51% – 2301 votes
Thomas – 10.87% – 1351 votes
Redmond – 7.20% – 895 votes
Rushmer – 2.20% – 274 votes
Robles – 1.56% – 194 votes
Wirsing – 1.41% – 175 votes
Goberman – 1.16% – 144 votes

Otherwise, the top two remain the same, in the same order as last night, in all the other races that West Seattleites voted on – at-large Council Positions 8 and 9, Port Commission Positions 2 and 5, and School Board Position 6, the only other district-specific (West Seattle/South Park) race on this ballot, which is now:

Leslie Harris – 46.74% – 5240 votes
Marty McLaren – 38.69% – 4338 votes
Nick Esparza – 14.09% – 1580 votes

Next results will be out around the same time tomorrow, with daily counts until final certification in two weeks. The general election is Tuesday, November 3rd.

ORIGINAL REPORT, 8:06 PM: The big race of the night for our area is the first-ever primary for Seattle City Council District 1, West Seattle/South Park, with nine candidates in the running. As soon as tonight’s vote count is in (any minute now), you’ll see the results here (and other races here).

FIRST RESULTS, 8:15 PM: The first and only election-night vote count is in: Shannon Braddock is the top vote-getter with 29 percent, Lisa Herbold next with 27 percent, Phillip Tavel third with 19 percent, Brianna Thomas with 11 percent, Chas Redmond with 7 percent. (added – full first-round results for all 9 District 1 candidates)

Braddock – 28.59% – 3096 votes
Herbold – 27.44% – 2972 votes
Tavel – 19.03% – 2061 votes
Thomas – 10.74% – 1163 votes
Redmond – 7.32% – 793 votes
Rushmer – 2.30% – 249 votes
Robles – 1.65% – 179 votes
Wirsing – 1.42% – 154 votes
Goberman – 1.17% – 127 votes

8:38 PM: Just talked to Braddock at her election-night party at Mission in The Admiral District. Asked “what did you do when you saw the vote count?” she replied, “Started breathing again!” We’ll add a short video interview later. (10 pm: Now added:)

Headed south in hopes of catching Lisa Herbold next.

8:51 PM: Just talked with Herbold outside her party location, Feedback Lounge in Morgan Junction (she was on the back patio, talking to her brother via phone, when we arrived). She said she was surprised by tonight’s results, not expecting a clear top two. We’ll add our quick video interview once we’re back at HQ. (10 pm: Now added:)

Again, this is just the first round of ballot-counting; next round is around 4:30 pm tomorrow. When the vote-counting is done and results are certified in two weeks, the top two advance to the November general election.

P.S. The county says 12,000 ballots from District 1 had been returned by Election Night – 20 percent of the “active voters” in West Seattle/South Park.

ORIGINAL REPORT, 8:04 PM: Voting’s over and vote-counting is under way – this is our placeholder for everything BUT West Seattle/South Park’s first-ever primary in City Council District 1 – we’re covering that race here. Once the vote count is released, the links below will go directly to results in that race:

City Council Position 8 (at large) – results here
City Council Position 9 (at large) – results here
School Board Position 6 – results here
Port Commission Position 2 – results here
Port Commission Position 5 – results here

FIRST RESULTS, 8:21 PM: The one and only election-night count is in. For Position 8, it’s Tim Burgess with 48 percent and Jon Grant with 28 percent. (Added – full results:)

Burgess: 48.34% – 37300 votes
Grant: 28.36% – 21883 votes
Roderick: 15.66% – 12082 votes
Persak: 7.07% – 5459 votes

For Position 9, it’s Lorena Gonzalez (a West Seattle resident) with 64 percent, followed by Bill Bradburd with 15 percent. (Added – full results:)

Gonzalez: 63.72% – 49191 votes
Bradburd: 15.21% – 11742 votes
Bassok: 9.22% – 7121 votes
Tobin: 8.58% – 6627 votes
Tahir-Garrett: 1.57% – 1209 votes
Tsimerman: 1.39% – 1076 votes

P.S. See all nine City Council districts/positions’ results here.

8:40 PM: For Port Commission Position 2, it’s Courtney Gregoire with 82 percent, Goodspaceguy with 9 percent. For Position 5: Fred Felleman 22 percent, Marion Yoshino 19 percent, Richard Pope 16 percent.

8:44 PM: For School Board Position 6, which represents West Seattle/South Park, Leslie Harris is top votegetter with 46 percent, incumbent Marty McLaren next with 39 percent. (Added – full results:)

Harris: 46.00% – 4493 votes
McLaren: 38.93% – 3803 votes
Esparza: 14.56% – 1422 votes

Again, the next round of results will be out around 4:30 pm tomorrow; final vote counts will be certified in two weeks, and the top two will be on the November ballot.

Two weeks after ballots arrived in most local mailboxes, more than 80 percent of them are still waiting to be turned in, according to the newest King County Elections numbers:

That’s the screen grab from the KCE webpage with tonight’s count of ballots received so far (at right, compared to how many were sent out, at left) – we are in City Council District 1, as we hope you know by now, in this history-making year, with the seven newly created districts each electing its first councilmember. That’s not the only contest on your ballot, but it’s the highest-profile one. The decisions you’ll make:

*King County Elections Director (3 candidates)
*Seattle Port Commission Position 2 (3 candidates)
*Seattle Port Commission Position 5 (9 candidates)
*Seattle City Council District 1 (West Seattle/South Park; 9 candidates)
*Seattle City Council Position 8 (citywide; 4 candidates)
*Seattle City Council Position 9 (citywide; 6 candidates)
*Seattle School Board Position 6 (West Seattle/South Park; 3 candidates)

Whomever you support, vote for them and get your ballot in the mail or into a dropbox by Tuesday night – here’s the list of dropboxes (open now) and ballot vans (open Sat. and Mon. 10 am-5 pm, Tues. 10 am-8 pm).

STILL MULLING YOUR COUNCIL DISTRICT 1 CHOICE? See our nine “Last Look” interviews/stories (first published last Friday), one per candidate.

One week from tomorrow, it’s the last day to vote in the first-ever primary for the newly reconfigured Seattle City Council – seven people elected by district, two at-large (right now all nine are elected at-large). If you’re not registered to vote in this state, TODAY is your last chance to sign up in time to be part of it – and you have to do it in person, by 4:30 pm. Two options:

*King County Administration building downtown, 500 4th Avenue (note they close for 1-2 pm break)
*King County Elections HQ, 919 Grady Way, Renton

Whether you’re a new voter or not, if you’re in West Seattle, your ballot features seven decisions to make, including Council District 1. They are:

*King County Elections Director (3 candidates)
*Seattle Port Commission Position 2 (3 candidates)
*Seattle Port Commission Position 5 (9 candidates)
*Seattle City Council District 1 (West Seattle/South Park; 9 candidates)
*Seattle City Council Position 8 (citywide; 4 candidates)
*Seattle City Council Position 9 (citywide; 6 candidates)
*Seattle School Board Position 6 (West Seattle/South Park; 3 candidates)

Voting deadline is next Tuesday night – get your ballot in the mail (you pay the postage) so that it’s postmarked by August 4th, or get it to a dropbox (open now) or ballot van (next Sat., Mon., Tues.) by 8 pm that night (no postage needed).

STILL MAKING UP YOUR MIND ON COUNCIL DISTRICT 1? Check out our nine “Last Look” interviews/stories (first published last Friday), one for each candidate, even if just to verify you’re voting for the one you think is best!

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Back in February, when campaigning for this year’s history-making City Council elections was just stirring to life, we presented a “First Look” forum featuring what were, at the time, four candidates in the race for the new District 1 (West Seattle and South Park).

Two of them are still in the running, with seven more who have since joined. Along the way, five others were in the race for a while. Now, phase one of the numbers game is almost over. Nine candidates are looking for your vote by August 4. When the votes are all counted, two will move on to the November 3rd general election.

Ballots were mailed last week. If you’re a typical voter, yours is still sitting on a table or shelf, unopened. You might be planning to sit down this weekend or next to take some time before voting.

That’s why we decided to bookend our coverage with a “Last Look.” Not another forum – you’ve had plenty of chances to go watch one of those, and if you couldn’t go in person, we’ve videotaped most of them (here’s the one that featured all 9).

Instead of a forum, we sat down with each of the nine candidates, with the goal being a conversation – not all “where do you stand on X?” nor “if you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you would be?”, but something inbetween. We recorded each candidate on video for the entirety of our conversation, and have written a story to go along with each video, including some other links that might help you, if not make up your mind, at least ratify – or re-evaluate – your choice.

The interviews were all done in West Seattle in the past two weeks; thanks to West Seattle Office Junction and Swift Media Solutions for providing quiet conversation spaces.

One candidate told us they don’t get the chance to “be ourselves” enough during the campaign, to show a little personality. This has a little of that. Because they were more conversation than interview, we didn’t ask everyone the same questions – this is not meant as a comparison guide so much as a chance to gut-check your decision/leaning/etc.

Click any candidate’s name (they’re listed in first-name-alphabetical order) to read, watch, listen.

Arturo Robles

Shannon Braddock

P.S. There’s been one forum in South Park – we have it on video via our partner site The South Park News.

P.P.S. Remember you’ll also be voting for at-large Positions 8 and 9. Wish we had had time to check in with all of those candidates too. Here’s our coverage of the at-large-candidates forum in nearby Georgetown back in May (with video), which also featured two local School Board candidates.

P.P.P.S. Not registered yet? Hurry! You can still register but you have to do it in person, today OR by 4:30 pm Monday – info on the King County Elections website.

Voting deadline is the evening of August 4th – get your ballots in the mail ASAP or to a van/dropbox by 8 pm that night.

Did you get your ballot today too?

Voting has begun for the August 4th primary. If you’re like many people and planning to leave your ballot unopened for a while as you decide what to do, here’s what you need to know:

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL
You have three positions to vote on – technically, no incumbents, because these are all-new seats, seven districts and two at-large:
—District 1 (this is the one we’ve been talking about the most, the first-ever West Seattle/South Park seat), with nine candidates)
—Position 8 (this is one of the two at-large City Council seats, with four candidates)
—Position 9 (the other at-large City Council seat with six candidates)

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION
You’ll be voting on two spots
—Position 2 (three candidates, including the incumbent)
—Position 5 (nine candidates, no incumbent)

SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
You’ll be voting on one board position
–District 6 (three candidates, including the incumbent)

KING COUNTY ELECTIONS DIRECTOR
–Three candidates, no incumbent

It’s been a busy primary season, with the first City Council District 1 candidates’ forum in February, the “First Look” forum we presented at Highland Park Improvement Club on February 5th. Four candidates were in the race; two of them are among the nine on your ballot now. Others jumped in (and in some cases jumped out) after that. The final forum was this past Wednesday night at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor), presented by SSC and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. While it was in the “candi-dating” format, which means no way to record it in its entirety without a small army of videographers, we did get the opening statement by all participants:

(Those statements start at 5 minutes into the video; 8 of the candidates were there.) In the past week, we also have recorded interviews with each of the nine D-1 candidates, one at a time, in case you’re interested in a “Last Look” before you cast your vote. We will publish them simultaneously at some point in the next few days, as soon as the stories to accompany them are all ready. You can also review our coverage by scrolling through our West Seattle Politics archive, here. All this assumes you didn’t cast your vote the second the ballot showed up; if not, you have 2 1/2 weeks, so no rush. But do vote – this election is historic, with the council change to 7 district reps plus 2 at-large.

Next week, King County Elections mails the ballots for the August 4th primary, and yours will include the nine candidates in the historic first-ever District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) City Council race. One forum remains before the voting begins – next Wednesday night (July 15th) at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor), which is partnering with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce to present this forum, focused on business, jobs, and education issues. It’s set for the Brockey Center at SSC (6000 16th SW), and the Chamber describes it as follows:

The event will begin at 5:30 pm with a meet and greet between the candidates and the attendees of the forum. At 6 pm all candidates will have an opportunity for an opening statement, and then we will begin the next phase of the forum. This will consist of “candidating” with the attendees. After the opening statements, all candidates will be sent to a table of attendees for 8 minutes. At the end of 8 minutes, the candidates will move on to the next table of attendees. We will continue this process as time allows. There will be time allowed at the end of the “candidating” portion for all candidates to give a 30-second closing statement. We plan to conclude the event by 8 pm.

The candidates in the at-large Positions 8 and 9 races have a concurrent forum outside West Seattle but if it finishes sooner, some might drop by toward this one’s end. While there is no admission charge for the forum, the Chamber is hoping you will pre-register so it knows how many people to expect – you can do that from this page.

Two proposals today from City Councilmember Tim Burgess are described in his announcement as “part of the City’s latest effort to improve gun safety in Seattle.” One would be a tax to be charged to gun and ammunition sellers, with its proceeds “dedicated to prevention programs and research intended to reduce the burden of gun violence on Seattle residents and neighborhoods.” The other would require filing a report with SPD if a gun is lost or stolen. Read on for more:

Read More

2:40 AM: As previewed here Monday, this week’s Wednesday night trivia at Talarico’s in The Junction featured a special guest team – some of the present-and-past City Council District 1 candidates. Trivia host Phillip Tavel – in the race himself – came up with the idea. (L-R above, that’s Tavel with Brianna Thomas, Karl Wirsing, Shannon Braddock, Tom Koch, and Chas Redmond.) Another team of community leaders jumped into the fray:

They had just walked over from the monthly Southwest District Council meeting up the street at the Senior Center (we know because we covered it – report to come later today) – from left, SWDC co-president David Whiting of the Admiral Neighborhood Association, district coordinator Kerry Wade from the Department of Neighborhoods, Cindi Barker from the Morgan Community Association, SWDC co-president Eric Iwamoto of the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council, and Susan Melrose of the West Seattle Junction Association.

But no, it wasn’t WS community trivia, at least not in the early going when we stopped by for photos. And we don’t yet have the results (checking; will add when we get them!).

Speaking of results – just two weeks until you’ll get to make your choice from among the full field of nine D-1 hopefuls … the top two advance to the November election. At least two more forums are set before then – 2 pm Saturday, July 11th, on the GreenLife Stage at West Seattle Summer Fest, and 5:30 pm Wednesday, July 15th, at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor)’s Brockey Center.

ADDED THURSDAY MORNING, 10:15 AM: The trivia results, courtesy of host Tavel:
*The candidates’ team, “The Primary Is August 4th,” placed 6th with 33 points
*The SW District Council team, “The Dark Horses,” placed 2nd with 36 1/2 points
*The night’s winners were “Jane Austen’s Super-Excellent Butt-Kicking Trivia Masters,” with 38

(WSB photo from May 18th Fauntleroy forum: L to R – Phillip Tavel, Shannon Braddock, Jody Rushmer, Brianna Thomas, Karl Wirsing, Chas Redmond, Arturo Robles, Pavel Goberman, Lisa Herbold)

If you’re looking forward to voting in the primary for the first-ever City Council District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) election – you’ll be able to do that (as well as voting on at-large Positions 8 and 9, School Board Position 6, Port Commission Positions 2 and 5, and County Elections Director) starting in a little over two weeks: King County Elections says it’s sending out the August 4th ballots two weeks from today. But you can’t vote if you’re not registered, and the deadline for getting that done is a lot sooner – July 6th, if you want to do it the easy way, registering (or updating your info) online or by postal mail. If you need to register, start here. If you want to be sure your address is correct in county records, so you get that ballot they’ll be sending, go here – that’s also where you can go right now to create your customized sample ballot, to see the races and follow candidates’ infolinks.

P.S. If you miss this deadline, you can register in person up until July 27th, but don’t procrastinate and set yourself up for the hassle – get it done now.

Special event this Wednesday night at Talarico’s in The Junction – the regular weekly trivia night, long hosted by Phillip Tavel – who happens to be a candidate for City Council District 1 – features seven of his current and former fellow candidates, comprising one of the competing teams. Tavel says those who accepted the invite are ex-candidates Tom Koch and Dave Montoure plus current candidates Karl Wirsing, Brianna Thomas, Jody Rushmer, Chas Redmond, and Shannon Braddock. If they win, their prize and his pay get donated to a local nonprofit. You’re invited, 8:30 pm Wednesday at 4718 California SW.

Voting in the first-ever Seattle City Council District 1 primary is sooner than you think. Ballots you’ll use to help narrow the field of nine candidates to two finalists will arrive in about five weeks. So it’s down to decision time, if you haven’t made your choice yet.

NEXT WEDNESDAY: 7-9 pm Wednesday (June 17th) at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, your next chance to see the D-1 candidates side by side will be presented by the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council. DNDC chair Mat McBride promises some format change-ups: “The audience will be equipped with a feedback/voting tool, and reactions to candidate statements will be displayed on screen.” Also – come early for dinner; Indian-food truck Spice on Curve will be at Youngstown. (4408 Delridge Way SW)

WHAT YOU MISSED LAST MONDAY: The Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council‘s candidate forum in the Pathfinder K-8 cafeteria used the “candi-dating” format – after introductions at the front of the room, the candidates circulated between tables. Seven of the nine candidates participated (Arturo Robles, Brianna Thomas, Chas Redmond, Jody Rushmer, Karl Wirsing, Lisa Herbold, Phillip Tavel – organizers said Pavel Goberman declined the invitation and Shannon Braddock was ill) and each table got to talk with five of them before time ran out. Since we’ve been videotaping all the D-1 forums, we had to do this one too; the format was a challenge for that, so our cameraperson picked a random table at which to record the turns. Challenging acoustics, but here’s the result:

Then we recorded the candidates answering one final question at the front of the room – they were asked what they specifically would do for Pigeon Point if elected, but the answers turned out to speak more to West Seattle-wide issues:

We also sat in at a second table without video. The questions varied from candidate to candidate, so no comparison is possible, but the questions asked by those at the table involved White Center annexation (we put that question to all candidates earlier this month), rent control and housing affordability, workers’ rights, education, transportation, weed control, and crime.

FINAL FORUM? In addition to the June 17th event mentioned at the start of this story, the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce also has finalized the plan for what might be the final forum before the primary – July 15th at the Brockey Center on the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) campus. It’ll start with a 5:30 pm meet-and-greet, then 6 pm opening statements, followed by table-to-table “candi-dating,” and a closing statement. This will be open to all, members and non-members, no admission charge. (6000 16th SW)