(The Center Square) – Partisan overtones, differing associations and more than $1 million in combined campaign contributions are factors in the race for Spokane mayor between incumbent Nadine Woodward and challenger Lisa Brown.
Both are well-known and long-established figures in the community.
Woodward, 61, is Spokane’s 45th mayor and fourth woman to hold the office. Elected in 2019, she is completing her first four-year term after previously working for 28 years as an award-winning broadcast journalist in Spokane.
“During my first term as mayor, I led the city through some of the toughest national challenges we have experienced,” said Woodward. “From COVID to economic recession and our first riots in Spokane, we have fought back and continued making progress despite these challenges.”
Brown, 67, was director of the Washington State Department of Commerce from 2019-2022 and served nearly 20 years as a Democrat in the state Legislature, from 1993 to 2012, both in the House and Senate. She also served as chancellor of Washington State University’s Spokane campus from 2013-2017 and as an associate professor in economics at both Eastern Washington University and Gonzaga University. Brown was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 2018, losing to 5th District Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
“I am an experienced public sector leader having been chancellor of WSU Spokane and director of the Washington State Department of Commerce,” said Brown. “I have gotten major things done working with both sides of the (legislative) aisle, including starting the state’s Rainy Day fund.”
In a low-turnout Aug. 1 primary, Brown emerged as the frontrunner by collecting 45.7% of the vote, followed by Woodward with 36.6% and three other candidates who were eliminated.
In the runup to the Nov. 7 general election, both Brown and Woodward point to the same topics as key issues in their respective campaigns: public safety and crime, homelessness and housing, and economic development.
“There are countless issues that separate myself from my opponent, but the most apparent is on the issue of public safety,” Woodward said in response to a candidate questionnaire from The Center Square. “I will continue to advocate for, and partner with, law enforcement to create safer communities. By contrast, my opponent is supported by defund-the-police activists, given grants to convicted felons, and does not stand by our police officers.”
Not so, says Brown, contending that Woodward failed to make progress on her two primary campaign topics from 2019 – crime and homelessness – and that it’s time for a change.
Brown points to her proposed public safety plan that calls for improving police response rates, restoring a neighborhood resource officer program, and expanding street medicine and co-responder teams with the police department.
Woodward says she supports two measures on the local election ballot: Measure 1, which would increase the countywide sales tax over 30 years to raise an estimated $1.7 billion shared by the county and its cities for criminal justice and public safety; and Proposition 1, which would ban encampments within 1,000 of schools, playgrounds, parks, and daycare facilities inside Spokane city limits.
“My opponent opposes both of these accountability and safety measures,” said Woodward.
Both candidates say regional collaboration is needed in addressing Spokane’s homeless populations.
“I have the ability to convene stakeholders and diverse voices to work on solutions to our pressing challenges,” said Woodward, saying her administration helped add more than 500 beds to a regional shelter system and completed a plan to allow “flexible building options” on single-family residential lots.
Brown said she favors a “regionally coordinated navigation center homeless response team” and providing additional housing “at all levels.” “I believe we can better coordinate current resources and by seeking state and federal resources the current mayor’s administration has left on the table,” she said.
During her first term, Woodward said a new community and economic development division was created at city hall that administered millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funding to support small businesses and nonprofit organizations. And the city entered into an agreement with Spokane County to expand broadband telecommunications opportunities throughout the region, she said.
Brown said she would bring her background in economics and as state commerce director to boost the community. “My administration will stop kicking the can down the road and begin the hard work of addressing the city’s financial stability and building the infrastructure necessary to accommodate our growth.”
With nearly 233,000 residents, Spokane is Washington state’s second-largest city operating with a dozen primary departments, about 2,000 employees, and a budget totaling nearly $1.2 billion this year. In 2024, the mayor’s annual salary will be $179,148.
Woodward describes her leadership style as “pragmatic,” saying, “I am a servant leader and as a non-partisan elected, I serve the entire city. And I am mindful that I serve those who voted for me and those who did not.”
Brown, a 42-year local resident, said she has “deep knowledge” of Spokane’s neighborhoods and economy, an understanding public policy and budget processes “which will benefit the city,” and was “a key part of the team” that created and accredited WSU’s medical school in Spokane.
Spokane’s mayoral position may be non-partisan, but there’s a distinct partisan flavor to this race. Much of Woodward’s support derives from business interests and endorsements from Republicans; Brown from labor groups and Democratic-aligned causes.
And a lot of money is flowing into both campaigns. Combined, election contributions top $1 million for the two candidates.
As of Monday, the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission showed Brown’s campaign with $493,885 in cash contributions. About 80% of donations are coming from individuals, another 15% from unions and political action committees, and a small remainder from business and “other” contributors. Donors include the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, Washington State Council of County and City Employees, Washington Education Association, Washington Teamsters Legislative League, Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, Spokane Fire Fighters PAC, and Laborers Local 292.
Woodward has received $528,116 in contributions with about 70% of her donations from individuals and 25% from businesses — a mix of numerous real-estate brokers and developers, car dealers, and construction firms. The local power company, Avista Corp., is a donor. Only about 2% of Woodward’s campaign funding is from political action committees.
Supporters for both candidates have not been shy about criticizing the other over multiple topics and associations.
Brown’s camp denounced the mayor for attending a large Christian worship rally in August during which she appeared briefly onstage with far-right former state lawmaker Matt Shea of Spokane Valley. Woodward’s followers, in turn, faulted Brown for appearing at an event in May also attended by local environmental activist Michael D. Poulin, who was imprisoned in the 1970s on an attempted murder charge and pled guilty in 2003 to federal charges of tampering with electrical towers in northern California.
