Sawant Says No to Democracy Vouchers, Pedersen Has Hella Cash, and More Seattle City Council Election News

Kshama Sawant says yes to socialism but no to public campaign financing. Kelly O

Welcome to the first edition of a new weekly news roundup where we’ll summarize all the latest happenings in Seattle's 2019 election. Which election, you ask? Seven of our city's nine city council positions are up for election this year. That means voters will decide over 75 percent of our city's lawmakers, essentially giving voters the chance to give us an entirely new council, after this year’s elections.

We’re still about eight months away from the first votes being cast but new candidates are already announcing their races while incumbents jockey for positions. Check Slog every Friday afternoon (or get this delivered straight to your e-mail as a newsletter—sign up at the bottom of this post) to stay up to date on what’s happening in the race for Seattle’s next City Council.

Now, on to the news…

Sawant says no to Democracy Vouchers: Councilmember Kshama Sawant launched her reelection campaign Thursday morning at an Ethiopian restaurant in the Central District. The socialist called her campaign a referendum between corporate businesses or regular people having control of city government. In a surprising move, Sawant said she would not be using the city’s Democracy Vouchers, which were created to provide public funding for campaigns. Sawant’s District 3 opponents have said they will use the vouchers, but Sawant said she is concerned they will also receive independent money from big businesses. My colleague Rich Smith has the details on her explanation.

Logan Bowers, one of the Sawant’s opponents, used her announcement to take a dig at the incumbent.

I'm taking Democracy Vouchers, so are other contenders, which means if Kshama participated, we'd all be limited to $150,000 in spending. By rejecting public funding, she's bringing in the big, out-of-city money.



Her financing says she's representing someone, but it isn't us. https://t.co/hE5KcbB8Vs

— Logan Bowers (D3 Candidate) (@loganb) January 25, 2019

Debora Juarez says she’s running: Juarez, a one-term council member representing North Seattle’s District 5, told the Seattle Times that she will run for reelection. Juarez is only the second sitting council member to announce they will run for reelection, the other being Sawant. Three sitting council members, Sally Bagshaw, Rob Johnson, and Bruce Harrell, have announced they are not seeking reelection. Meanwhile, District 6’s Mike O’Brien and District 1’s Lisa Herbold have not yet announced their intentions, although they are expected to run for reelection.

Speaking of council districts: Do you know who your city council member is? Look at this photo I just took of a map on one of our cubicle's walls, or use this city tool to find out what race you'll be voting in this summer.

Zoom in for more.

Emily Myers, a Ph.D. candidate in pharmacology at UW and a candidate for District 4 published an editorial in Scientific American last week explaining why she is running for City Council. She said she wants to bring “scientifically informed policies” to city hall. “It’s time Seattle brings a scientist to the table. I am that scientist,” she said.

City Hall insider Alex Pedersen talks housing, bike lanes: Alex Pedersen, a former city hall staffer and the first candidate to qualify for democracy vouchers with $39,063 raised, spoke with my colleague Nathalie Graham about why he is running in the incumbent-free race for Northeast Seattle’s District 4. Pedersen said the biggest issue facing the district is a lack of trust between constituents and city government. Nathalie also got him to weigh in on the contentious redevelopment of 35th Avenue Northeast, which has homeowners up in arms over lovely things like fewer parking spots and more bike lanes.

District 2 is hella crowded: South Seattle’s District 2 is up to five candidates after Christopher Peguero announced his campaign Monday morning. I asked Peguero to rank a list of policy priorities, read more over here (spoiler, he ranked The Stranger’s pet project, a municipal mushroom farm, dead last on his list).

How many fucking people are running? 28 fucking people are currently running for City Council this year. That’s more than the 15 people that ran in 2017, but there were only two positions up for grabs that year. But we’re still far behind 2015 when eight council positions were up for grabs and 41 people ran.