Harrell appearing at an election night event, González making last minute phone calls to voters (Images provided by the campaigns)
The counts are far from over — but the races might be. The first King County Elections tally of votes in the 2021 primary — including ballots from about 17% of registered voters — showed big leads for Bruce Harrell and Lorena González in their bids to take the mayor’s office while incumbent Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes looks to be in the fight of his political life to go through to the November general.
Updates are scheduled to be posted by 4 PM each weekday through August 17th when the primary election is certified and many last minute votes were cast Tuesday amid fears of a worst ever turnout in a King County primary.
In the top two races to advance to November, Harrell, at 38%, and González, at 28%, appear well positioned to remain ahead of the field through subsequent updates. Harrell is a City Hall veteran with Central District roots and a track record of pro-business, moderate political views. González, meanwhile, worked as a civil rights attorney and as legal counsel to Mayor Ed Murray before taking a citywide seat on the city council in 2015 where she championed a vital new tax on large companies to help fund COVID-19 recovery and the city’s growing slate of social programs. The race looks likely to feature two people of color vying to lead the city.
“Tonight’s results show we have a very good chance to go on to November when all the ballots are counted! We respect every vote and we will not prejudge the outcome, but one thing is clear — Seattle voters are sending a powerful message for change,” González said in an Election Night statement. “Of votes counted to date, two-thirds of voters voted against the corporate-backed, status-quo candidate. That reflects the frustration I’ve heard from voters all over the city — they want bold, decisive, progressive action from their leaders. They want a mayor who will stand up to big wealthy corporations that spend millions trying to stop progress, but refuse to pay their fair share when it comes to addressing the root causes of so many of the problems we face, from homelessness to unaffordability to violence.”
UPDATE 8/4/2021 2:00 PM: The González campaign has declared a primary victory in a fundraising email to supporters. “I don’t have the support of big business CEOs or rich investors, ” the González pitch reads. “Instead, I rely on your support through grassroots donations and Democracy Vouchers.”
UPDATE x2: In a similar pitch, Harrell’s campaign made a softer claim Wednesday morning. “Last night, surrounded by family, friends, and our amazing volunteers, we celebrated our strong showing in a crowded and competitive mayoral primary,” its email reads to supporters and media reads. “It is clear that we will be heading to the November election!”
“The city wants a leader of action,” Harrell said Tuesday night. “People are tired of this fighting in Seattle. The city is expecting me to come up with new solutions.”
“I’m energized and excited by the results tonight,” Harrell said later in a statement. “Our campaign’s message of unity, accountability, and action clearly resonated with voters. I’m looking forward to taking this energy into the general election and into office as Mayor as we unite Seattle to make real progress.”
| Race | Candidate | % |
| City of Seattle City Attorney | Ann Davison | 34.64 |
| Pete Holmes | 32.80 | |
| Nicole Thomas-Kennedy | 32.15 | |
| Write-in | 0.41 | |
| City of Seattle Council Position No. 8 | Teresa Mosqueda | 54.64 |
| Kenneth Wilson | 18.27 | |
| Kate Martin | 12.50 | |
| Paul Felipe Glumaz | 5.69 | |
| Alexander White | 1.56 | |
| Bobby Lindsey Miller | 1.32 | |
| Jesse James | 1.31 | |
| Write-in | 1.25 | |
| George Freeman | 1.12 | |
| Jordan Elizabeth Fisher | 1.07 | |
| Alex Tsimerman | 0.67 | |
| Brian Fahey | 0.58 | |
| City of Seattle Council Position No. 9 | Sara Nelson | 42.36 |
| Nikkita Oliver | 34.96 | |
| Brianna K. Thomas | 14.29 | |
| Corey Eichner | 4.19 | |
| Lindsay McHaffie | 1.80 | |
| Rebecca L. Williamson | 1.09 | |
| Xtian Gunther | 0.86 | |
| Write-in | 0.44 | |
| City of Seattle Mayor | Bruce Harrell | 38.23 |
| M. Lorena González | 28.55 | |
| Colleen Echohawk | 8.32 | |
| Jessyn Farrell | 7.49 | |
| Arthur K. Langlie | 5.83 | |
| Casey Sixkiller | 3.57 | |
| Andrew Grant Houston | 2.59 | |
| James Donaldson | 1.66 | |
| Lance Randall | 1.49 | |
| Clinton Bliss | 0.95 | |
| Write-in | 0.26 | |
| Bobby Tucker | 0.25 | |
| Omari Tahir-Garrett | 0.24 | |
| Stan Lippmann | 0.23 | |
| Henry C. Dennison | 0.22 | |
| Don L. Rivers | 0.13 |
Incumbent Holmes had better hope that late voters valued his service in the role since 2009. The first tally showed the current City Attorney in a neck and neck battle in the top two race with his competitors — tough on crime-talking Ann Davison, and police abolitionist candidate Nicole Thomas-Kennedy.
In the citywide city council races, Position 8 appears to be a lock with incumbent Teresa Mosqueda turning in the strongest showing of the night with nearly 55% of the vote. “We cannot lose momentum now– too much is at stake,” Mosqueda said in a statement on the Election Night tally. “Our progress in expanding and protecting the rights of renters, workers, and marginalized community members is on the ballot. We must elect someone with leadership experience coupled with progressive values that put our most vulnerable at the forefront of policy making.”
The Position 9 battle, meanwhile, appears to be shaping up as a race between pro-business brewery owner Sara Nelson and social activist and attorney Nikkita Oliver.
In county votes, incumbent executive Dow Constantine made a strong showing while challenger State Senator Joe Nguyen kept pace and will likely quality for the race in November. Meanwhile, the ballot measure to renew the Best Starts for Kids levy appears likely to pass.
And in the most local of the races, the candidates to represent Capitol Hill and Central District public schools appear to be set with Michelle Sarju turning in a dominating first tally of nearly 82% of the vote. CHS reported on the candidates for the school board position here.
The top two candidates in each race will go through to the general election on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 to join a ballot with a vote on the Compassion Seattle homelessness initiative and, possibly, the recall of District 3 City Councilmember Kshama Sawant.
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You describe Sara Nelson as a “pro-business brewery owner.” I suppose she is not anti-business, but is that really the best summary description of her policy positions. I don’t think so. Perhaps it might better be described as your editorial attempt to pigeonhole her in such a way that she might be unelectable against Nikita Oliver. Your bias is once again showing, and frankly it is disappointing that you can’t even wait until the votes are counted to begin your subtle campaign against her. If you must go in that direction why not describe Oliver as anti-business rather than as an activist and attorney? After all, if the shoe fits she should be made to wear it.
Projections much?
“Pro-business” is a meaningless term that’s especially redundant in describing a business owner (are there any anti-business business owners?). But I think would be fair, if a bit reductive, to describe Oliver as pro-small-business and anti-big-business. I consider myself the same.
I just read the Seattle Times endorsement of Nelson and it was essentially all about her focus on business and her owning a brewery 🤷♂️ (https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/the-times-recommends-sara-nelson-for-seattle-city-council-position-9/)
I agree. Sara Nelson is a strong progressive. The frame should be the progressive candidate vs the ideological zealot or false prophet
Yeah very unbiased there (eye roll). I think Nelson is a neolib type and not progressive as she is anti-houseless.
Weirdly enough, the phrase “pro-business” to me means someone who won’t just listen to woke social justice aspirational revolutionaries, and who might actually be interested in what our various challenges are doing to the locally owned businesses we all depend on for our walkable neighborhoods to function.
In other words, if D3 had a “pro-business” Councilmember instead of a LARP Socialist Performance Artist, we might actually get help with keeping Broadway Ave sidewalks cleaned up and pressure-washed on a regular basis, using some combination of business and city resources.
Instead we get lectures on how Late-Stage Capitalism is the root of all evils, and we can solve all by taxing Amazon. Meanwhile we run an open-air drug mart and psych ward on Broadway, with multiple dozens of people experiencing mental health crisis on a daily basis threatening themselves, each other, and the rest of us.
The cleanliness of Broadway has gone downhill in the past year or so. There are outdated posters glued to many of the poles, and the brand-new wood benches in front of the light rail buildings are already covered with graffiti.
The Broadway BIA used to contract with Recology (formerly CleanScapes) to keep the street clean, but they ended that contract for some reason (not enough funds due to covid?). Currently, I do not see any street workers trying to mitigate these problems.
“— Seattle voters are sending a powerful message for change,” González said”
Gonzalez is certainly NOT a change candidate. She has been on the Council for years, while major problems get worse in our city. She would be the “same old – same old.”
Literally so is Harrell.
I seriously have to wonder how Nelson is getting so many votes. She is a republican masquerading as a democrat. Her houseless solution is the very worst one I’ve seen.
Basically Seattle has been living with lawlessness for a year and a half so there is a bit of a backlash?
Just to show you how siloed Twitter/capitol hill blog are, the most popular guy here got 2.5% of the vote.
It’s funny how shocked you guys get every election because you have no awareness.
Yes, let’s focus on effects rather than causes. The hyper capitalism directly caused by low wages from FAANG companies, Big Developers, companies like her brewery, and gentrification are the cause of houselessness and property crime (people have to steal because there’s no UBI or foundational government support)–if wages were higher and housing was lower, less stealing would occur. This is proven.
Nelson would be a change for the WORSE.
“This is proven.”
Ummm, where? Any peer reviewed journal articles you can point us to? Any real world examples from specific cities?
All this angsty outrage without real education, facts, or intelligence is getting old.
How is gentrification a cause of homelessness? Travis Berge wasn’t living in the central district or rainier valley before he became a meth’d out street junkie and eventual murder, he came from Reno. Same for Jessie Puff and his girlfriend who came to seattle from Alaska to live on our streets. Jessie set a hotel on Aurora on fire killing multiple people and sending others to Harborview with sever burns over a dispute about a laptop. His girlfriend later attacked a security guard during CHOP with a machete. Maybe, just maaaaaybe some of the dangerous people on our streets are there by choice? Maybe it’s because they enjoy being antisocial/anarchist assholes?
I lived in the central area from 2002-2008 and almost every house I saw sold for what at the time were exorbitant prices were Black families selling to whites families. Should they have been required to sell to only Black families? Gentrification was the best thing that happened to hundreds of hard working Black families in the central area, allowing them to pay off debt, send kids to college or retire early. They worked hard, saved money, bought a house, spent money on upkeep and sold it when they were ready to retire and made a fortune doing so. Are you saying only white families should have that opportunity because when a white person sells to a white person it doesn’t cause gentrification?
And the comment on big developers is just so perfect considering all the cheerleading going on in post a few days ago when the “East Design Review Board gave its support to the plan for a new eight-story, 130+ unit mixed-use apartment building with an 83-car underground parking” to a developer from NYC, “despite concerns from representatives for neighborhood groups”
https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2021/07/buoyed-by-pro-housing-support-8-story-12th-ave-development-gets-design-board-ok/
It’s weird how certain people completely ignore that many black families chose to sell and made a fortune. My black neighbor bought his house for basically nothing in the late ’70’s. He will retire soon and is really looking forward to the pile of money after he sells to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
It’s weirder how you ignore current black voices kicked out of the CD and many who understand a lot of black families sold because of property taxes.
And who votes for property tax increases every chance they get Jeffrey? That would be your non-neo-liberal progressive friends. You are all so busy voting in every levy increase under the sun. It is a wonder you have any time to discuss Colleen Echohawk’s dismal showing and Nikita Oliver’s second place finish at those casual coffee and bar gatherings you frequent. Move outside your circle a bit more and maybe you won’t be surprised that a demographic representing 47% of D3 voters in 2019 do not support Sawant. And some of them comment on this blog, again to your surprise. Pay attention more and your surprises will dissipate.
Some of those families would have probably qualified for the King County Senior Exemption program for property taxes, if they had taken the time to apply.
Lol yes the faang companies created the encampments with the 9x and 12x felons that just tried to kill the people that came back to get the property they stole from them
“If wages were higher”
Last I checked, Seattle had the highest minimum wage across the country. Are you saying this is not working?
> This is proven.
Do you have a link to the data that proves it? Fluctuations in the economy up or down, will cause some people to have to adjust more than others. Blaming the companies that have improved the economy makes it sound like you’d rather there be a stagnant or recessing economy, which definitely will impact more people in a negative way.
Believe it or not, almost everyone on this forum and likely almost everyone living in D3 supports more funding for social services. That’s a false dichotomy you’re promoting. We want social services to work – but we also recognize we cannot have open park and sidewalk camping, for a variety of sane, basic city functionality reasons that for some reason the Abolitionists fail to see.
Hmmm. Get out of your choir much? Your name implies some of the same problem you may have with understanding the perspective of many people here in the city. When you have Civil Rights leaders saying that defunding the police is a bad idea, you might talk to some folks outside your bubble. Look at the current make-up of the City Council. There is no one there who has ever had to make a payroll, make a budget that isn’t for a not-for-profit organization. I think having Sara Nelson on the Council makes a lot of sense. She has worked in city government so she understands how it works, and she has experience in the private sector, so she appreciates the importance of working with business (you know those people who employee most of us) instead of immediately saying that all businesses are Capitalistic pigs and must be taxed out of existence. So I’m thinking that is perhaps why she is getting so many votes. Like mine. She is certainly no Republican. But when all you see around you are so far left, it sort of alters your reality a bit. Of course this is only my perspective. And by the way, I’ve been voting for Democrats since before you were likely born.
My opinion: If you think Sara Nelson is a republican you are an extremist. It means you’re so lost in tribalism that you think anyone who disagrees with you is as bad as Trump.
Nonsense. Not all business-owners are Republicans. Nelson is a strong progressive.
Curious how you arrive at that when her whole platform is how she’s a business owner, so therefore she’s going to business the business so we can business while we business.
Well, people are fed up with the catch-and-release approach Holmes has been following, and want homeless felons locked up before they steal more of our stuff or assault more of us on our daily walks. Your wokeness or your rants about late-stage capitalism won’t cure that. Only enforcing laws will.
I’m really just glad AGH fell flat on his face. I guess he’ll have to look for a job now?
Why? The eviction moratorium just got extended.
AGH is a grifter straight out of the Kshama Sawant playbook. He’ll find a new audience and invent a new scam. He has zero interest in actually governing or doing the hard work of finding compromise to enact civic policy. Neither does Sawant. Performance Artist Socialists don’t actually want to get into the messy details, they just want to fundraise and proclaim victory on social media while actual problems they’re helping make worse continue to happen all around them. But it’s Evil Late-Stage Capitalism to blame. Yep. Not them obstructing government from doing its job, no sir.
Assuming these initial vote spreads hold, things don’t look good for either Oliver or Gonzalez in the general. Both would need to pick up the vast majority of votes from the ‘also-rans’ to make up the difference, and given the trend against more progressive candidates this year I don’t see that happening. Not that I’m broken up over this, mind you…a potted plant would be more effective leader than either of them.
I think there is a big difference between Gonzalez and Oliver. I’ll probably vote for Gonzales and Nelson mainly because Gonzalez will be better on transit/zoning.
Basically I draw the line at “abolish prisons” or anyone that despises me because of my race/gender.
I was in Indianapolis the other day and I was shocked how nice of city you can still have if you don’t elect extremists.
I suspect Oliver will pick up more percentage of votes in the next few days… I think only around 1/3 have been counted? And later votes tend to trend left, at least based on past elections.
I’m waiting for a candidate that says:
1) We need to rezone to allow more housing
2) #1 is a long term solution and in the interim we will do the following things to mitigate the homelessness crisis.
But because someone like this doesn’t exist, Seattle votes for the people that are at least going to do something about the parks being taken over and offers no long-term solutions.
We need a candidate who can hold two ideas about homelessness in their heads simultaneously…
1. We need treatment and psych services for the mentally ill and addicts who are causing havoc in the city
2. We need more housing for those ready to live on their own or who just need a hand up.
+1000
“Causing havoc” I didn’t know a quiet tent somewhere away from most people was wreaking havoc? We had not nearly the same response to cops who provoked violence and fanned flames with their LARPing as soldiers.
Jeffrey don’t be daft. Here’s example #847 of an encampment causing havoc:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/2-from-seattle-homeless-encampment-charged-with-assault-that-prosecutors-say-led-to-fatal-collision/
“I’m waiting for a candidate that says: We need to rezone to allow more housing”
You want someone to lie to you? We have plenty of capacity with the current zoning. We may not have enough capacity for really high-end rowhouses that only techies can afford, but if BMW Gonzales is mayor, she’ll fix that and ensure that Seattle is a city for only the poor and the wealthy.
Harrell is literally a BMW and Mercedes driving mayor too. What are you even saying?
What will rezoning actually do? Can you point me to a single city that has developed its way to affordability through density? No one is knocking down single family homes to develop low income housing, it just doesn’t work that way. And with onerous rules on landlords no one in their right mind would develop ADUs on their property either.
No highly dense urban US city is affordable to live in, so why have you all bought into the cult of development so deeply, can someone explain that to me?
If you look at large cities that are affordable, almost all have urban sprawl, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, etc. Building density in growing affluent cities (Boston, NYC, SF) does nothing to create affordability or stop/prevent/reverse homelessness. The two items are not statistically correlated in any way.
Are there any American cities that have rezoned single-family neighborhoods (aside from Minneapolis last year – too recent), to allow the above question to even be answered?
Right here in Seattle we’ve seen lots of rental SF houses in lowrise zones replaced by townhouses and rowhouses that none of the displaced renters can possibly afford. Those houses were the most affordable market-rate housing.
If you think tearing down 1 house and building 5 or 6 additional houses is bad in a city with a housing crisis then there isn’t much more we could discuss.
Is the critical shortage in luxury real estate? Do you realize that a shared rental house may house nearly as many people as the rowhouses/townhouses that replace it? At least Rob Johnson was open about his goal of wanting to displace longtime residents.
“ Do you realize that a shared rental house may house nearly as many people as the rowhouses/townhouses that replace it?”
Hrm, not sure your point. Square footage of livable space increases.
“Is the critical shortage in luxury real estate? “
Yes. I assume by “luxury” you either mean new or expensive. All new housing will be new. All housing is expensive due to lack of housing.
If you build more “luxury” housing, then that has less rich people competing with everyone else on the remaining things.
I don’t understand the far left’s NIMBY attitude on new housing. There isnt’ enough, so more housing in any form is good. We need to build lots of luxury housing, public housing, mixed, etc.
People are moving here regardless of if the housing is built or not. And if there isn’t enough new housing they are going to take over the housing of the poorer people here.
Also about zoning, simple math says if you built a 4-plex on every block in SFZ in Seattle, that would create enough housing.
Bingo. And Lorena Gonzalez will undoubtedly not fix homelessness or housing affordability.
Harrell has similar track of record over a longer span of time. I am not optimistic, but real estate millionaires are financing him so maybe they know what is coming.
And who is financing Gonzalez? The unions. To the tune of $500,000 already in PAC money. Much more than Harrell received from PACs supporting him. Which is why I find the latest CHS update regarding Gonzalez, where she says she relies upon grassroots donations and democracy vouchers, so amusing. She is the best financed candidate in the campaign, and with union support, will likely remain so throughout.
Do the comment sections here always have the insane few anti-Sawant people coming out of the woodwork? Yikes. No one on here is reflective of my casual coffee and post-work bar meetups on the Hill. I voted Oliver and voted Echohawk. Colleen didn’t do as well as I wanted.
If you’re only on the Hill for ‘casual coffee meetups’ then I can see why you don’t understand the Sawant hatred. Try living or owning a business here and see how you’d feel watching an ineffective blowhard “represent” your interests as the neighborhood festers.
When the MyNorthwest comment section closed down, the exurban rats fled the sinking ship. Seattle neighborhood blog comment sections were ripe for their vitriol outlets so they can regurgitate their echo chamber opinions given to them by the angry guy on the radio/TV.
Do you have actual proof of this or is this just an assumption your are making based on your limited view of the city?
See, if I were to do this same thing, make a sweeping generalization based on my limited view of the city, I would say that all the people her commenting and questioning the current direction of the city are not “exurban rats” but rather long time city residents who know that this city doesn’t have to be this way. As someone who has lived in this city continuously since 1998 (though not for much longer, yay me!) I know that this city can better and that reason there is so much property crime and so many instances of violence involve encampments dwellers is not because of mean old Amazon or racist police, but rather because of specific decision made by elected officials.
So back to making sweeping generalizations, I’m going to assume that you are just another snot nosed young kid that recently moved here using mommy and daddy’s money and ask that you stop insulting us long term hard working tax paying residents just because you don’t like our opinion. Thanks.
>”insane few”
Sawant was re-elected with 52% of the D3 vote in 2019.
But ONLY because Orion made a colossal political blunder and did not denounce the Amazon money. Sawant made great hay out of that, and won because of it.