With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Mayoral candidate Jan Drago knows what she is getting into. She has served on the Seattle City Council for 15 years, and worked on complex issues such as downtown and South Lake Union revitalization, transportation and economic development.

She’ll probably be remembered most for her push to build off-leash dog parks throughout the city.

Drago is firmly in favor of replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep-bored tunnel.

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With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

James Donaldson’s campaign for mayor plays off his three years as a center for the Seattle Sonics basketball team. He talks about teamwork, and about being the big man who can help the little guy.

Donaldson jumped into the election year as a candidate for City Council, then after a couple of months, made the switch to mayor. His main focus has been helping small business owners like himself, who are overburdened by the cost of doing business in Seattle.

Donaldson owns a string of physical therapy and fitness businesses, but said he had to close the Seattle office when it became too expensive to do business in the city.

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With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Joe Mallahan says he has a plan. The T-Mobile vice-president and candidate for Seattle mayor sees plenty of room to run the city more like a business. He plans to focus on the customer – citizens — providing service, accountability and efficiencies.

The Wallingford resident would put the brakes on the Mercer Street realignment project, and says the South Lake Union Streetcar diverted money for expanding Rainier Valley bus service. He opposes expanding the streetcar system.

As mayor, Mallahan says, he would cut the number of consultants the city hires, and build expertise among city workers.

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With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Norman Sigler says one of his best skills is his ability to bring diverse communities and groups together. If elected mayor, Sigler plans to build on his matchmaking experience to create partnerships that will work on solutions to transportation and education issues, homelessness, neighborhoods and the economy.

Sigler has lived in Seattle for about six years. He lived for two years in West Seattle, specifically on bus routes #54 and #120, he notes, before moving to the Magnolia area.

Although he preferred the surface solution for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct, Sigler said he won’t oppose the bored tunnel solution in the interest of moving the project forward instead of discussing it for decades. Then he wants to get to work on an elevated train down the middle of Interstate-5 between Everett and Olympia.

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With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

It seems that mayoral candidate and environmentalist Mike McGinn has one focus to his campaign – to stop the deep-bored-tunnel plan that will replace the central section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

McGinn wants to tear down The Viaduct, and let traffic flow on surface streets with a dramatically improved bus system and expanded light rail, along with more opportunities of bicycling and walking. He contends the tunnel idea is too expensive, will increase taxes too much, is guaranteed to have huge cost over-runs, and by-passes downtown without exits.

Candidate McGinn’s position is in stark opposition to Mayor Greg Nickels‘ support for the tunnel, and has sparked an overheated back-and-forth in the days before the ballot deadline.

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We happened onto the mayor’s campaign stop (with wife Sharon Nickels) while covering another story at West Seattle Farmers Market this morning. With ballots due Tuesday night, we are publishing one last round of candidate-closeup coverage, focusing on the mayoral race. In Mayor Nickels’ case, we interviewed him earlier in the campaign, asking questions suggested by WSB’ers, so we’re providing links to those stories (taken from a video-recorded interview in late May):

Interview with the mayor, #1: Keeping parks clean
Interview with the mayor, #2: Keeping the peace on Alki
Interview with the mayor, #3: Why re-elect him? How does he address the claim he’s not so likable? What can be done about the “Hole Foods” situation?
Interview with the mayor, #4: Will/should Seattle annex the rest of White Center (assuming the southern part votes for Burien annexation in this election)?

Nickels’ website is at gregnickels.com. We also have covered multiple forums involving the candidates in this race and others; all WSB Politics coverage is archived here, newest to oldest. Be sure to vote – your ballot must be postmarked by Tuesday, or dropped off in one of the dropboxes around the county (no postage needed if you choose that option – the nearest ones are in North Delridge and White Center) by 8 pm Tuesday night. (More mayoral-candidate coverage ahead.)

With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Magnolia neighborhood activist Elizabeth Campbell knows she is a long shot for the mayor job. She entered the race late, hoping that a lawsuit she won against the city in the spring in connection with the Fort Lawton Army Reserve property would infuse her campaign with some momentum.

A King County Superior Court judge decided the city, which wants to put 80 units of housing for homeless people on the land connected to Discovery Park, failed to consider alternate uses for the property.

Campbell’s campaign struggled to raise money and get attention. A friend’s illness took her away from campaign appearances. She also tried to get a “no tunnel” initiative on the ballot, and she is working on her master’s degree in Public Administration at the University of Washington.

Still, Campbell is fired up over the issues and was eager to answer our questions.

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With three days left to vote by mail for Tuesday’s primary, this morning we are wrapping up our close-up looks at candidates in races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot. Previous stories are in the WSB Politics archive.

By Jack Mayne
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

City Councilmember Nick Licata is running for his fourth term even though he acknowledges he said in 1997 he would not serve more than three terms.

Licata is opposed in the Tuesday primary election by Jessie Israel and Martin Kaplan. The two who get the most votes will move on to the November general election.

The councilmember says he has “found through experience that a formulistic approach to government does not work,” and that “specific time limits on serving the public, is one such formula.”

He rejects criticism that he is “Mr. No” on the Council, too often opposing issues with no positive approach to counter his objections.

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With three days left to vote by mail for Tuesday’s primary, tonight and Sunday morning we are wrapping up our close-up looks at candidates in races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot. Previous stories are in the WSB Politics archive.

By Jack Mayne
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Jessie Israel is seeking to replace a Councilmember she once supported but now says has done more obstructing than supporting solutions to the city’s problems.

The 35-year-old Ballard resident is running for City Council Position 6 against incumbent Nick Licata and candidate Martin Kaplan. She has never been a candidate before but she is certainly not a political neophyte.

“I was co-chair of the Women’s Political Caucus for five or six years, so I have been following campaign politics for many years,” she says.

But why Licata, who has gotten more than 70 percent voter support in his last two races?

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With three days left to vote by mail for Tuesday’s primary, tonight and Sunday morning we are wrapping up our close-up looks at candidates in races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot. Previous stories are in the WSB Politics archive.

By Jack Mayne
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Behold, a political candidate who says he is not a politician and maintains he will serve only one term in office “because I can get a lot of work done in four years.”

Martin Kaplan, a 60-year-old Queen Anne resident, says his experience makes him ready to start working as a City Councilmember on the day he is sworn in and can work harder for voters because he will not have to spend all that time during his term trying to line up financial and political support for a reelection bid.

“I won’t be involved in (preserving) the future of my political life,” says Kaplan, who contends that he is running “against two politicians,” Nick Licata and Jessie Israel. Licata is finishing his third term on the Council, and is running for a fourth, which he once promised would be as much time as he would serve. Israel is running for the office for the first time, but her political involvements over the years show she is no political novice.

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With three days left to vote by mail for Tuesday’s primary, tonight and Sunday morning we are wrapping up our close-up looks at candidates in races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot. Previous stories are in the WSB Politics archive.

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Brian Carver sees the future of Seattle in its young people. As one of five candidates for Seattle City Council Position 4, he says he would tap that creativity and energy to find long-term solutions to some of the city’s most persistent problems, including more affordable housing and jobs.

“I have always thought that working with youth is so rewarding and so necessary,” he said. “I am most interested in programs that empower youth so the direction of their life is in their hands and they are equipped to drive it forward.”

Carver, a 30-year-old North Seattle resident, has master’s degrees in business and engineering. He is the Worldwide Lean Manager at Amazon.com, in charge of making sure the company is operating as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. It’s a skill he wants to bring to City Hall.

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King County Council District 8 – which includes West Seattle and White Center – is now atop the list for percentage of ballots returned, as of the latest nightly update: Just under 16%, half a point ahead of District 6 on the Eastside. So, 84% of us will vote this weekend (never mind those predictions of low turnout, we can prove them wrong). Toward that end, we have more than a half-dozen additional candidate stories to publish here in the next few hours, in case you still need more info to make up your mind. Earlier coverage is archived here.