Post navigation

Prev: (04/03/19) | Next: (04/03/19)

What will it take for Orion to outrace Sawant in D3? Business, bravery, and ‘a queer voice on council again’

Orion was introduced Tuesday by Aleksa Manila, “drug counselor by day, drag diva by night,” before his campaign announcement on Broadway

Walking through the Emerald City chaos of Broadway and its glorious mix of the glamour and the squalor of Seattle on a Tuesday morning is one thing. Holding a press conference to announce your candidacy for City Council at the corner of Broadway and Harrison in the middle of it all is quite another.

There is one thing for certain in the just-starting race for the District 3 seat at Seattle City Hall. The campaign will include two of the bravest politicians in the city.

 

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.

 

 

“I landed back in District 3 after I came out as gay in the early 90s,” Egan Orion said Tuesday as he addressed a small group of media and supporters on the sidewalk, “and I remember watching the Pride parade on Broadway just a few steps from here, literally, and feeling that I’d arrived someplace special, someplace where I could be myself and be safe.”

Orion chose the location, of course, as part of his favorite “origin story” — his mother was conceived in the apartment building that still stands above what is now the teriyaki joint, a parking lot, and a bikini espresso stand at Broadway and Harrison. But the candidate for D3 also seemed to have selected the corner as the center of his work in the city and for its window into the city’s challenges and opportunities. In the background, a group was crashed out on the sidewalk with their belongings piled up against the mattress store hanging out in the April sun while across the street, a longtime shuttered Broadway restaurant was being busily cleaned out in preparation for a new $3.2 million start in life.

CHS reported here on the newly hired head of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and longtime PrideFest organizer’s choice to join the race against Seattle Socialist Alternative firebrand Kshama Sawant and Orion’s focus on small businesses, homelessness, and behavioral health services. Orion says he is taking on Sawant because “there’s a difference between talk and legislation and building coalitions and getting real change done” and says Sawant “seems to be a little more focused on rallies over results.”

Tuesday, Orion emphasized another reason to brave what will likely be a grueling, expensive race.

“I’d love for there to be a queer voice on council again,” Orion said.

CHS asked him what that voice would say in the Seattle of 2019.

“I think we have the impression from living in the bubble of Capitol Hill that every place is safe– for especially queer youth,” he said. “I don’t think that that’s necessarily the case. I think that having more people who are LGBT on City Council and in the city government gives those young kids who feel like they don’t have a place in this world… it gives them another example. We can be visible and be ourselves.”

In the shaping D3 race, then, you can color Orion as the business candidate… and the LGBTQ candidate rolled into one.

Though there are a few twists. Orion said in his announcement speech that he would support a new effort similar to the reversed Seattle head tax. “Seattle voters are not opposed to giving more of their tax money to important things that the city can do,” he said.

“I think there’s lots of places for innovation,” Orion said, explaining that it’s a question of how that money will be spent. “There are groups that have been defunded and then refunded and then defunded — so I think there is definitely an opportunity to use that money better.”

At the same time, he also made sure to open his campaign tent to District 3’s many tech workers. “I am not here to stand in defense of Amazon at all,” Orion said Tuesday. “But they have tens of thousands of employees who are living in our neighborhoods and attending our shops. They are integrated with our communities.”

He’ll need that kind of support to tangle with Sawant’s tremendous name identification and passionate following and overcome other competitors with a head start in the campaign like housing-first urbanist and small business owner Logan Bowers in what is likely to become a “million dollar” race to become the “top two” out of August’s primary and win November’s general election.

Orion plans to finance his campaign through the Democracy Voucher program and hopes to qualify quickly with the prerequisite contributions and signatures — 150 total contributions of at least $10, with half coming from within the district. Saturday he will hold a volunteer event and he is collecting donations through his eganforseattle.org site.

To help catch up, Orion Tuesday also offered up the possibility of a seemingly unholy alliance for a candidate focused on the progressive voters of Central Seattle — a truce with Speak out Seattle, the pro policing community group “that fought against the head tax for homelessness, opposes tiny house villages and encampments, and backed an initiative to ban safe consumption sites in Seattle.”

“I’m open to have conversations with any voters that want to… any groups that want to be engaged,” Orion said when CHS asked him what he thought about SOS joining him in his criticism of Sawant and whether he would attend any forums organized by the group.

And as for that criticism, Orion also brought a little more of that to the corner of Broadway and Harrison, too.

“If we had a great council member that I had full confidence in, I would not be in this race,” Orion said. “We live in a great district and we deserve great representation.”

Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

12 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Cranky Old Man
Cranky Old Man
4 years ago

I’ll vote for damn near anyone OTHER than useless Sawant!

HTS3
HTS3
4 years ago

Orion said in his announcement speech that he would support a new effort similar to the reversed Seattle head tax. “Seattle voters are not opposed to giving more of their tax money to important things that the city can do,” he said.

Hmmm. I think what you really mean to say here is that, “Seattle voters are not opposed to giving more of Amazon’s money to important things the city can do.” The Head Tax was not about us voting to tax ourselves, it was to tax large corporations—specifically one of them. Yes, “anyone but Sawant” is the mantra, but, how about a reasonable person, willing to shake up our Billion Dollar A Year fighting Homelessness efforts. How about accountability before pushing more taxes. Sure, more gay representation is great. The Council should reflect us. But I’d also like it to reflect some intelligence and prudent spending of money that I believe many of us demonstrate personally.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
4 years ago
Reply to  HTS3

This is hardly the time to resurrect that stupid head tax issue, given that Amazon has just announced today they’re moving several thousand jobs to Bellevue. Think Bellevue will be eager to start with the talk of taxing them? Doubt it. Did the Clowncil not learn the lesson that Amazon has options? They’re not afraid to use them.

Seattlite
Seattlite
4 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

I support the mayor’s view, as quoted here from the Seattle Times:

“The more jobs we have in the region and the more it’s diversified, the better it is for all of us,” Durkan said on KUOW Wednesday. “We’ve got a housing-affordability crisis, not just in Seattle but everywhere.”

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
4 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

I agree, but Bellevue is hardly affordable for housing either. And what Bellevue and the greater Eastside in general has NOT done yet is step up to the plate and pull more weight in the area of attacking homelessness. Resurrecting the head tax will just drive even more jobs to Bellevue. If we think that somehow translates to Bellevue doing more to attack homelessness in Seattle, we’re deluding ourselves.

PD
PD
4 years ago

Not a huge fan of Sawant, in fact I want her out asap.

And I voted for her! Talk about disappointed….

Not sure that this guy has it, though. The Amazon head tax was always a terrible idea.

alan mole
alan mole
4 years ago

I support Egan all the way !

RWK
RWK
4 years ago

The “head tax” was repealed, not because of any love for Amazon, but because there was a groundswell of public opinion that we already spend enough on homelessness, without any real results…..and that throwing even more money at the issue will not help.

So far, I support Egan, but I hope he is not really in favor of resurrecting the head tax.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
4 years ago
Reply to  RWK

I hope not either. But least so far, I get the impression that Egan is open to listening to contrasting points of view. If enough of us bend his ear, he might actually change his mind on that. Imagine a council person who might actually be open to changing his mind.

Egan Orion
4 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

I wasn’t for the head tax then and won’t be for it in the future. Regardless of the merits, it wouldn’t survive a court challenge. I’m listening! :)

ava l levine
ava l levine
4 years ago

So far, I support Egan, but I hope he is not really in favor of resurrecting the head tax.

I agree with that comment. We all know Sawant needs to go but we still need someone who won’t drive jobs away and will work WITH business to solve our problems. Grateful that he is open to attending SOS Forum in District 1. We need to hear from all the candidates in , what has been, a respectful opportunity to hear from all those who are running.Check SpeakOutSeattle on Facebook to see upcoming Candidate Forums .

Bob Blackburn
Bob Blackburn
4 years ago

I live in Shoreline now but was a Seattle and a Cap Hill resident for many years. I am going to support Egan because he seems to have some good ideas and I think Sawant only causes more problems. She is not interested in working with city residents to find solutions. I do think the whole head tax thing needs to stay dead. I also think the council and the citizens should stop vilifying Amazon. They have brought both positive and negative change to the city but isn’t that always the case with any big business? Maybe work with Amazon to get their ideas about how they might help with city problems.