(The Center Square) – Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson has announced her campaign for reelection next year.
Nelson confirmed her campaign to The Center Square in an email. She is focusing on continuing progress towards improved public safety, reduced homelessness, and helping local businesses and residents, according to a Wednesday news release.
“I was elected with a clear directive: to refocus Seattle’s progressive values on delivering real results – prioritizing safety, livability, and a city that works for everyone, not just political theater,” Nelson said in the news release. “We still have a long way to go, but after three years of collective hard work and a new council, our city is turning a corner.”
Nelson first joined the Seattle City Council in 2022 as one of the city’s two at-large positions. She became chair of the council in 2024.
The Seattle City Council chair started her career in local politics as a legislative aide to the city council from 2002 through 2013. She left city hall to help launch Fremont Brewing in 2009.
Prior to 2024, the city council’s policies leaned more progressive. Nelson represented a more central approach to local government at that time. Five of seven candidates elected to the council for 2024 were new council members, representing one of the biggest turnovers in modern history. The result was a council that approved legislation considered tougher on crime and public drug use.
Nelson has touted her work to improve the city’s downtown core, which has seen the impacts of increased drug use and crime since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Downtown Seattle Association President Jon Scholes praised Nelson for her approach to improving safety in the area. Scholes added that policy experiments by former council members have allowed criminal activity caused damage that “will take years to correct.”
Scholes said the current city council led by Nelson is putting the city back on the path of recovery.
“Sara’s common-sense approach to public safety – combining treatment, services, and enforcement – is exactly what we need more of in Seattle,” he said.
Nelson pushed for the implementation of recommended policies from a recent audit on how to improve safety in and around downtown Seattle.
The audit focused on a two-block area in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, specifically Third Avenue from Virginia Street to Blanchard Street.
“By the end of this next term, I want our residents and people nationwide to know Seattle turned an impossible situation around by tackling tough issues and playing to its strength,” Nelson said. “That’s why I’m running for reelection.”