(The Center Square) – Initial results from Tuesday’s general election point to an overhaul of all Seattle City Council district councilmembers.
District 2, 6 and 7 include incumbent city councilmembers racing to retain their seats, but as of the initial votes, none are leading against their respective challengers.
The District 7 race, which represents the downtown area, South Lake Union and Queen Anne neighborhoods, sees the incumbent Andrew Lewis losing to his challenger, Bob Kettle. Current results show Kettle leading with 56% of collected votes so far. Kettle is a stay-at-home-dad who has served on the Queen Anne Community Council board for the past eight years, including as Chair of the Public Safety Committee. Kettle said on his campaign website that he is running because he is concerned about Lewis’ inaction and failure on the issues facing Seattle.
In District 2, the Incumbent Tammy Morales is losing to Tanya Woo in the council seat representing the International District, Beacon Hill and Rainier Beach. Initial results show Woo at 54% of votes counted so far. Woo is a community activist who helped launch the Chinatown-International District Community Watch, which conducts safety patrols and provides aid to homeless people.
In a close race, District 7 sees the Incumbent Dan Strauss losing to Former Fremont Small Business Owner Pete Hanning, who has 51% of the votes. One of Hanning’s top priorities is to increase shelter space and mental health and drug treatment programs for homeless people within the city.
The four other city council district races are open, as the incumbent councilmembers declined to run for re-election.
The race between Joy Hollingsworth and Alex Hudson for Seattle District 3 currently has Hollingsworth leading at 58%. The candidate who wins the district covering Capitol Hill and the Central District will take over socialist Kshama Sawant, who has held the position since 2014.
In the open District 4 race, Enterprise Sales Consultant Ron Davis is trailing Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Deputy Director Maritza Rivera. As of the night of Nov. 7, Rivera is leading the race with 56% of collected votes.
District 1’s open seat has Rob Saka leading Maren Costa with 59% of the votes to take over for the incumbent Lisa Herbold. The district represents South Seattle including Georgetown, the Industrial District, SODO, and Pioneer Square.
Lastly, in District 5, Former King County Superior Court Judge Cathy Moore is leading CEO of Epiphanies of Equity LLC ChrisTiana ObeySumner with 70% of the initial votes to take over the seat representing North Seattle.
Notably, the two citywide seats held by Councilmembers Sara Nelson and Teresa Mosqueda are not part of the 2023 general election. However, Mosqueda is running for King County Council District 8, but is split at 50% of initial votes.
The city’s initial results correlate with findings from a recent survey from the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce that found 68% of respondents not trusting the City of Seattle to spend their tax dollars responsibly.
All of Washington state held a vote-by-mail election this year, with the deadline to turn in ballots by 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
