Hudson making a 2023 campaign stop before her new path with Commute Seattle (Image: @AlexHudsonforSeattle)

It is very likely the voters in the Seattle City Council’s District 3 could not go wrong in November. Though Central District born and raised Joy Hollingsworth reached a solid victory, First Hill neighborhood and transit champion Alex Hudson also would have brought a strong fight for the needs of Seattle’s core neighborhoods to City Hall.

After the election, Hudson has spent the past few months finding a new path to helping the residents of First Hill, the Central District, Capitol Hill and the entire city resting up from the long campaign, sorting out her new priorities, and moving forward in her new role as executive director at Commute Seattle.

“Running for office is an incredible experience and a grueling task,” Hudson told CHS. “I was grateful for the opportunity, especially right after the election, to take a little break—spend some time with my family, catch up on much needed sleep, unwind my brain, and thank people and reflect on the experience.”

She also snatched up the leadership position at Commute Seattle, a nonprofit that works towards making the city more walker and bicycle friendly, while centering those disproportionately impacted by transportation costs.

Hudsons calls her new role the “perfect fit”and is “still very much doing the work that I love and that I’m committed to around transportation, transit and mobility, and doing that in service of the people of the City of Seattle.”

Running for D3 has changed Hudson, she said, by helping her come to appreciate the community’s experiences and real concerns around safety. From her campaign team canvassing a total of 18,000 people during her campaign, Hudson listened to residents’ genuinely held concerns that were backed up by numerous negative experiences, and holds a well of compassion and empathy for those who are struggling in society.

“I think it has helped to crystalize so many of the values that I had walking in—that people deserve a government that works for them,” Hudson said. “People deserve to have a government that invests in opportunities that spreads that fairly, that has meaningful and specific plans for making life better here in the City of Seattle. I feel more committed to making that possible than I did before.”

Hudson hopes to see the city collaborate with residents and hold open forms of communication, because residents deserve to have specific action plans that are resourced and tied to political priorities, she said. She’s also been tracking happenings of the new city council, although she has always been committed to being involved with citywide issues and providing helpful participation prior to running for office.

Hudson’s arrival at Commute Seattle comes at yet another critical juncture in the city’s transportation planning future. Tuesday, Mayor Bruce Harrell included the effort to replace the city’s transportation levy as one of his top priorities for the year in his 2024 State of the City address.

“I want to see a transportation levy get put forward to the people that invests very deeply in safety, sustainability and mobility. We have a huge opportunity to make a major once in a decade investment in the issues I care very much about,” Hudson says.

Seattle’s $930 million dollar property tax levy spanning nine years to fund transportation infrastructure throughout the city is expiring and there are a lot of projects to build.

2024 will also bring compromises on a new comprehensive plan for the city.

Hudson says there are opportunities to make impactful changes in the comprehensive plan, like increasing the city’s housing supply at a low cost to taxpayers. The substance use disorder crisis and the high rates of unhoused individuals are issues that need to be addressed urgently.

“People are suffering really tremendous challenges, and rising up to meet those challenges with equally big proposals is so important,” Hudson said, adding that the city can’t move forward economically, civically and morally until everyone is housed and has access to equitable healthcare.

As for that choice D3 voters made in November, Hollingsworth is also off to a good start on her new path. CHS talked with the first-term city legislator here as she was establishing her new office with a dedication to transparency including office hours, newsletters, and regular community meetings.

It’s way too early to talk about 2027 but many have reached out to Hudson to ask if she would ever run again.

“I’ve been really touched at how many people have expressed gratitude to me and the belief in the ideas we were talking about on the campaign,” Hudson said. “It’s really meant a lot to me personally, and gives me a lot of open faith that there’s a lot of people out there who want to see our city reach its full potential.”

Anyone who runs for office is making significant sacrifices in order to serve the public, and for the time being, Hudson is just excited to spend more quality time with her family, including her teen who attends Garfield High.

“I’m really enjoying just having some regular family time—putting my family first,” Hudson said.

In addition to catching up with loved ones who she lost time with during 2023, Hudson has been making time for herself including starting Pilates.

The campaign has, of course, changed the way she sees things.

Everyone wants to see Seattle thrive, she believes, although there are differing opinions on how to get there.

“I really believe that our council and our mayor, right now, have the opportunity—this incredible moment with so much opportunity in front of us—and I just genuinely hope that we all get to come together, regardless of anything,” Hudson says.

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