Hudson at the recent labor march calling for higher wages for city workers

One of the area’s most significant political organizations has made its choice in the District 3 race for the Seattle City Council.

The 43rd District Democrats group voted last week to endorse First Hill’s Alex Hudson for the D3 seat on the city council. The group of Democratic supporters draws from the some of the most densely packed blocks in District 3 within the state legislation district that stretches from Madison across Capitol Hill to the north.

The endorsement marks a split with the 43rd’s southern cousin. The 37th District Democrats group covering D3’s Central District-area neighborhoods backed Hudson’s Central District challenger Joy Hollingsworth earlier this summer.

Hudson’s camp says the pick adds to “a string of important endorsements” and says the endorsement illustrates the candidate’s progressive bonafides.

“Hudson is a strong progressive with a long string of accomplishments in diverse policy areas and a proven track record of building coalitions and finding common ground across divides,” the press release reads. “On a broad range of issues, including housing affordability, creating parks and improving neighborhood quality of life, as well as transit and transportation, Hudson has demonstrated an impressive capacity for solving problems and delivering tangible results.”

This map shows the voteshares comparing only the top two candidates — and illustrates that District 3’s political divides were muddled in August 2023

Even with state party veterans like Frank Chopp and Jamie Pedersen in the mix, Hudson isn’t the most left-leaning candidate the 43rd has backed. In 2019, the group made history by throwing its endorsement behind a non-Democrat, choosing Socialist Alternative incumbent Kshama Sawant in that year’s D3 race.

This summer, the 43rd couldn’t agree on an endorsement in the D3 primary following a candidate’s forum hosted by the group that did little to narrow down the nine candidate field.

The Hudson-Hollingsworth clash comes in a less divided District 3 with a race that could play out with a neck and neck vote.

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 supports the city’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 is the D3 Stranger candidate after winning the former alt-weekly’s endorsement with positions mostly 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.

Still, D3 voter decisions might come down to a single issue in the divide around the council’s recent vote to approve legislation opening up a crackdown on public drug use in the city paired with hopes for increased treatment and diversion spending. How would the candidates vote? Hollingsworth said she would have voted for the plan. Hudson said she would not have.

Meanwhile, the more progressive candidates eliminated from the race in the primary have backed Hudson. The sole law and order candidate? He backed Hollingsworth.

Ballots for the November General Election will be mailed the week of October 18th.

You can find all CHS election coverage here.

Mapping the Hollingsworth-Hudson primary victories in a less polarized District 3

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