The mayor was on hand for Hollingsworth’s big night (Image: Alex Garland/CHS)

Hudson gets a much needed hug on an exciting night at the Jilted Siren (Image: Ananya Mishra/CHS)

Results as of 8/1/2023 8:15 PM — 21% turnout

With around 74,000 registered voters in District 3 and turnout that could sniff the 2019 primary’s lofty 46% mark, all any of the eight candidates lined up to replace Kshama Sawant on the Seattle City Council would need is around 4,200 votes to go through to the November election.

In Tuesday night’s Election Day first count, its seems clear leading candidates Joy Hollingsworth and Alex Hudson will have more than enough to be the top two.

In the first tally, Hollingsworth and Hudson posted the top totals — by a long shot with Hollingsworth putting up a commanding 40% of the first night’s count with Hudson not far behind at 32%. Both were well in front of the rest of the field led by Bobby Goodwin at just over 11%. Alex Cooley, a Central District community leader who managed to keep up with Hollingsworth and Hudson’s campaign contribution success, garnered less than 1,000 election night votes.

Elections officials said D3 stood at 21% turnout as of Tuesday night’s first count.

Hollingsworth gathered with supporters and her campaign staff Tuesday night at Madison Valley’s MLK FAME Community Center — the same location where she announced her run back in January.

As she waited for the first count, Hollingsworth said she was running “to connect our voices to city hall.”

“For a long time, we wanted that access to city hall,” she said.”We wanted transparent access to government.”

The Black, queer, Central District cannabis entrepreneur and community leader is also the mayor’s choice, winning Mayor Bruce Harrell’s endorsement and leading the way with more than $93,000 in financial contributions to her campaign as she 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.

Tuesday night, Harrell also took the stage at the community center.

“There were 45 candidates running — 45. I only endorsed one,” the mayor said. “Because I know that she’s what Seattle needs. Someone willing to put in that hard work. Fight against gentrification. Fight for housing policy. Fight for affordability. Fight against racism. Fight for gender parity. Strong, effective public safety.”

Hollingsworth vowed the campaign would move forward “neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block.”

Hudson and her daughter enjoy Election Night (Image: Ananya Mishra/CHS)

First Hill’s Alex Hudson, who is second only to Hollingsworth as far as financial contributions have gone, has spent her campaign time solidifying her position as a wonk with first-hand experience shaping legislation and the political process around it while taking positions not that far from Hollingsworth’s. It’s not the mayor but Hudson received an important endorsement as The Urbanist media and advocacy organization threw its support behind the candidate in the D3 race over Hollingsworth. Her 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.

Earlier in the night at her Election Night party at Capitol Hill’s Jilted Siren, Hudson said she was looking forward to “some strong numbers tonight.”

“I’m hopeful about that, and I know that there will be a lot of votes left out after this evening,” Hudson said. “I think that this will be just the beginning of what should be a really positive campaign and I’m looking forward to what’s next.”

“People want to see candidates who are focused on people based solutions and who are willing to stand for what’s right,” Hudson said. “They want effective change and that’s what we’re offering people and that’s what they’re excited about getting.”

Hollingsworth vs.Hudson — the longer the color bar for each candidate, the more important each topic area was to the survey respondents who selected them

In an unscientific poll of CHS readers conducted Tuesday, those supporting Hollingsworth were much more likely to say they prioritized issues around public safety and homelessness in their choice while Hudson supporters valued a wider spectrum of priorities for their candidate. According to the survey, respondents cited public safety, homelessness, and addiction and mental health issues as the most important factors in the primary.

Hollingsworth has said she would prioritize crisis response teams and “non-armed responders” for crisis situations and “responsibly fund and staff first responders including police, fire and EMTs.”

“I want to ensure we have fast response times for ALL Priority calls,” she said in the CHS candidate survey.

Hudson, meanwhile, said her expertise in transit planning would help her shepherd important initiatives including “Vision Zero improvements, 12th Ave bike lanes, light rail stations, the First Hill Streetcar, two Rapid Ride lines.”

To address the homelessness crisis, Hudson champions building more affordable housing, more shelters and day centers and investing in crisis behavioral health “as well as long-term mental health residential facilities so we can get people off the streets and into safety immediately.”

Hollingsworth said the city needs to separate three intertwined issues around the unsheltered — homelessness, open-air drug use, and public safety. “While we are addressing our housing crisis with policy efforts, people who are on our streets and in and out of shelters cannot wait any longer. We have to build and provide more shelter options,” she said. Her plans would include “Family Shelters, Tiny Homes, Resourced RV + Car Lots, Day Centers for people to get connected to resources, showers, and case workers,” and more Transitional Housing Options while also providing more resources to connect people to mental health services, and addressing public safety issues by clearing encampments.

CHS readers got it right… probably

Judkins Park’s Cooley emerged in the race as a neighborhood leader with progressive positions mixed with a bit of free market radicalism — he is calling for the legalization and taxation of drugs like cocaine and heroin — to mark a surprisingly successful third place in the campaign contribution battle with just under $90,000 raised.

Seattle LGBTQ Commission co-chair Andrew Ashiofu stood out as the candidate most likely to pick up Sawant’s mantle of passionate speeches and deeply social legislation.

Both campaigns did not resonate with voters.

CHS surveyed the eight candidates about their positions on a full spectrum of D3 issues. In the survey, both  You can also find their positions on rent control here

There have been few stark divides in the race with the candidates espousing similar messages on supporting increased affordable housing, efforts to slow gentrification and displacement, a less radical approach to changing Seattle Police, and calls for more services to address homelessness, addiction, and mental illness.

Hollingsworth has campaigned with appeals to straightforward answers and solutions. How will her office be more responsive to constituents? “I’m going to pick up the phone.” How can we help youth through issues around mental health? “Get kids off Instagram.” How do we make streets safer? She talked about putting up a camera near her home at 23rd and John at one candidate forum on her Central District home turf.

Hollingsworth’s celebratory crowd

The first count hits the screen at the Jilted Siren (Image: Ananya Mishra/CHS)

First Hill’s Hudson has spent her time on the campaign trail solidifying her position as a wonk with first-hand experience shaping legislation and the political process around it. Her answers have to champion established progressive policy and initiatives like the upcoming Move Seattle levy renewal and housing reforms to address affordability, equity, and displacement like community priority, affirmative marketing, and equitable development initiatives. Hudson has said she led the way in the race in supporting a capital gains tax to invest in crisis mental health care and housing as well as reining in spending at the city.

Pierce County public defender and Capitol Hill resident Bobby Goodwin, meanwhile, has honed his position as the race’s iconoclast, repeating his promise that he would have voted for a tougher stance on drug laws in the city. Despite that, Goodwin’s campaign stands dead last in terms of contributions with only just over $6,000 reported.

Cooley, meanwhile, brought a libertarian bent to the race. “I’m an expert on drugs,” the cannabis industry and policy veteran quipped to one forum audience. Cooley acknowledged that public drug use is “eroding the fabric” of the city but said criminalization doesn’t end the problem. He championed a market approach — that would require the creation of radical new industry regulations in Seattle — to legalize and tax the drug market.

ELECTION 2023 — CHS COVERAGE

• CHS SURVEY: Why you should vote for ALL THE CANDIDATES in the Seattle City Council District 3 primary
• SHOBHIT AGARWAL: In a crowded field, latest District 3 candidate taking building by building approach
• RY ARMSTRONG: The race for District 3 had to have a Democracy Voucher candidate — Ry Armstrong just might be it
• ANDREW ASHIOFU: As D3 candidate field crowds, Ashiofu hopes unique perspectives on housing, health, and transit will change the race
• ALEX COOLEY: ‘Like, the beauty of democracy’ — Judkins Park and cannabis community leader joins ‘conversation’ for District 3 seat on the Seattle City Council
• BOBBY GOODWIN: Bobby Goodwin, a public defender who wants cops to work harder and the streets of Seattle to be safer, wants your District 3 vote
• JOY HOLLINGSWORTH: With ‘cannabis justice,’ hunger advocacy, and three generations in the Central District, Hollingsworth enters race for District 3 — UPDATE
• EFRAIN HUDNELL: This District 3 candidate wants to use affordable housing to help save Seattle from a ‘death spiral that we’ve seen in cities that have gone boom to bust in a way that only American cities do’
• ALEX HUDSON: With her heart on First Hill, Hudson joins race for District 3 with a neighborhood approach to urbanist policy
• More…

The 2023 election has been a big change from the last D3 battle when Kshama Sawant was defending her seat against a chamber of commerce-backed candidate. Egan Orion would eventually say Amazon and business-backed cash cost him the race. Along the way, the candidates traded jabs and lobbed incendiary accusations.

In 2023’s race, Sawant has been a footnote after her announcement in January that she would not seek reelection to focus her Socialist Alternative group’s efforts on the formation of a new national effort.

Meanwhile, the organizers who failed to remove Seattle’s longest serving member of the council in a 2021 recall battle never reemerged. No Recall Sawant candidate joined the race and none of the registered candidates have told CHS they supported the effort to have Sawant removed.

Results will continue to come in over the coming weeks as King County Elections finalizes the totals. The general election will be held November 7th.

8/2/2023 5:00 PM: King County Elections will continue to drop updates as ballots are counted. Wednesday’s “day two” batch show an interesting trend with Hudson grabbing a big 40% chunk of the later-counted ballots raising her overall percentage to 33.8%. Hollingsworth still holds the top slot at 39.2%. Of the eight candidates, Hudson was the only one to gain significant ground with Wednesday’s count. It’s not yet at the level of Sawant’s amazing track record with late-counted ballots but it bears watching if Hudson can pick up this trait in the progressive — and, yes, sometimes late-voting — district.

With reporting by Alex Garland and Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero

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