Joy Hollingsworth has the mayor and, by 89 votes, the highest ballot tally in the primary on her side. Alex Hudson is stepping forward with support from three of her competitors.
With Hollingsworth and Hudson emerging from August’s top two primary election as the candidates moving forward to vie for the District 3 seat on the Seattle City Council in November, Hudson’s campaign announced this week that three of the challengers in the primary have formally endorsed her run.
The Hudson camp says her “progressive primary election rivals” Efrain Hudnell, Alex Cooley, and Ry Armstrong are “enthusiastically backing accomplished progressive Hudson in the general election.”
“My decision to endorse is simple,” Armstrong, who campaigned as a climate and Democratic Socialists of America candidate, said in the campaign’s statement. “We have six years left to change our trajectory toward a climate change extinction and the investments we can make next year in the Move Seattle Transit levy requires bold commitments to expanding beyond our current sustainability investments. I believe Alex Hudson will do that and more,”
Central District neighborhood organizer Alex Cooley said he believes Hudson “will lead our council and city to a progressive future.”
CHS reported here on the strong Election Night results for Hollingsworth, Mayor Bruce Harrell’s pick in the eight-way District 3 race and a Central District resident with deep connections to the neighborhood and the city’s Black communities.
Hudson, meanwhile, also had a solid Election Night first tally and showed late voter strength reminiscent of the support for outgoing D3 leader Kshama Sawant.
That strength wasn’t enough to overcome Hollingsworth who finished with the top count in the primary.
The turnout of around 36% in the district was down significantly from the hotly contested 2019 battle.
While it is tempting to add the votes from the rival campaigns that are now endorsing her, predicting Hudson’s strength now that the District 3 race is a two-person contest probably isn’t that simple.
Hollingsworth has championed middle of the road progressive positions on housing, homelessness, and public safety and a tendency toward accessible takes and straightforward answers and solutions that veer toward a more centrist approach to the council. She has said she would support Harrell’s plan for increased spending on SPD staffing while calling for more accountability at the department. She has also been endorsed by the Seattle Times.
Hudson, meanwhile, has taken positions that veer from her centrist challenger. Hudson is the D3 Stranger candidate after winning the former alt-weekly’s endorsement with positions mostly slightly to the left of the Hollingsworth camp. Hudson has spent her campaign time solidifying her position as a wonk with first-hand experience shaping legislation and the political process around it. Her experience leading groups like the First Hill Improvement Association and Transportation Choices Coalition plus advocacy for public transit and “upzones everywhere across the city” has set her apart from Hollingsworth who has also called for the development of more housing in the city but in more moderate forms like ADUs that are, she says, less likely to lead to displacement. But Hudson has also aimed for a more center-focused appeal on many issues including criticizing the council’s past actions to pursue 50% cuts to the Seattle Police Department as a political mistake. Hudson says, instead, she would support moving more spending to community policing while increasing the number of officers available for patrol and neighborhood beats.
The General Election deadline for ballots is November 7th.
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