(The Center Square) – It’s been a full week since election day and the majority of Seattle City Council races have been decided, showing a possible transition more toward the middle.
Initial election results showed the three incumbent city council members up for reelection losing to their respective challengers. However, since then, two of those who were initially trailing in last week’s election now appear to be winning their contests.
Seattle City Council District 1 is being called with attorney Rob Saka beating Maren Costa with 54% of collected votes as of Monday. Saka will replace current District 1 Councilmember Lisa Herbold to represent the Georgetown, the Industrial District, SODO, and Pioneer Square neighborhoods.
In District 2, incumbent Councilmember Tammy Morales has taken the lead over Community Activist Tanya Woo, but the gap between the two is slim with 398 votes. Despite the small gap, Morales put out a statement on social media calling the race a win for her campaign. Morales also congratulated Woo for a close race.
“Whether I earn your support or not moving forward, I have listened to and learned from you,” Morales said to Woo in a social media post. “I hope to continue working on our shared goal of elevating disenfranchised voices and bringing them into city hall.”
District 3 has Joy Hollingsworth winning the open seat over Alex Hudson with 53% of collected votes. Hollingsworth is now the representative of the district covering Capitol Hill and the Central District. Socialist Kshama Sawant, who is not running for reelection, has held that position since 2014.
Maritza Rivera is leading Ron Davis with only 303 votes to take over the District 4 seat, the smallest gap out of the seven district races. Rivera initially led with 56% of collected votes, but as of Nov. 13, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture deputy director is winning by 51%.
District 5 has already been decided with former King County Superior Court Judge Cathy Moore leading with over 60% of total votes since the initial count on election day. Moore wins over challenger ChrisTiana ObeySumner to represent North Seattle neighborhoods.
The Center Square previously reported on a close race between Incumbent District 6 Councilmember Dan Strauss and former Fremont small business owner Pete Hanning. Hanning initially had a lead, but Strauss took over as more votes were counted. As of Monday, Strauss won with 53% of collected votes.
Lastly, District 7 sees Bob Kettle beating incumbent Councilmember Andrew Lewis to take over the seat representing the Queen Anne, South Lake Union and Downtown Districts. The gap between the two was only 465 votes, but Lewis posted a statement congratulating Kettle on winning the race.
“I just called [Kettle] to congratulate him on a hard-fought win and pledged my full support for his transition to the city council,” Lewis said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I’m proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to the next chapter.”
The vote count was disrupted briefly as a result of a ballot received by King County Elections containing trace amounts of fentanyl. There have been over 212,000 votes collected in Seattle.
