After the first ballot count Tuesday night, with about 20% of Seattle’s votes tallied, a picture is emerging of a likely contest between progressives and centrists for each of the seven City Council districts in November’s general election.
The issues remain the same. Voters are still worried about homelessness, housing affordability, public safety, policing and the city’s economic recovery from the pandemic. For many observers, the 2021 election of Mayor Harrell, Councilmember Sara Nelson and City Attorney Ann Davison was seen as a conservative turn by Seattleites seeking harder-line responses to those pressing issues.
Seattle’s political class is carefully watching this election to see whether that trend continues apace, or if voters are moving back toward the left-of-center politicians who have led the Council for more than a decade. After the first night of counting, it looks like the general election could be a showdown between those ends of the political spectrum.
