Three Seattle City Council seats face competitive elections this Tuesday, with results potentially significantly altering city governance.
City Council Position 9
Sara Nelson seeks to retain her position 9 citywide seat on the city council. Serving as current city council president, Nelson has completed four years on the council since her initial 2021 election.
However, Nelson performed poorly in the August primary, as challenger Dionne Foster earned 58.4% of the vote (110,636 votes), compared to Nelson’s 35.3% (66,909).
Foster’s experience spans diverse roles, including serving as senior program officer for the nonprofit Seattle Foundation and policy advisor for the City of Seattle from 2016 to 2018.
Foster has emphasized that making the city more affordable represents one of her primary goals as a council member. On the campaign trail, she has also advocated for increasing shelter capacity, expanding treatment services, and opening micro-commercial spaces for smaller businesses.
She has also indicated support for the business and occupation tax changes on this year’s ballot.
At the start of 2023, according to the Northwest Progressive Institute, Nelson was the only Seattle City Council member who had a positive job performance rating.
A significant portion of Nelson’s campaign has focused on the city’s improved public safety. She has cited her support for creating police hiring bonuses to restart staffing a once-depleted Seattle Police Department.
As co-owner of Fremont Brewery, Nelson has been a longtime supporter of small, local businesses, citing the creation of the “storefront repair fund,” which helps businesses address damages suffered from crime.
In a poll sponsored by NPI on October 23, 44% of respondents stated they will vote for Foster, while 29% indicated they would vote for Nelson.
City Council Position 8
Alexis Mercedes Rinck, the incumbent, is competing against Rachael Savage to retain her citywide Position 8 seat on the city council.
In the August primary, Mercedes Rinck had a commanding performance, capturing 78.3% of the vote (142,537 votes). Savage finished second with 13.0% of the vote (23,609 votes).
Washington uses a top-two primary system in local elections, meaning the two candidates who received the most votes in the primary advance to the November general election.
Mercedes Rinck attended Syracuse University, where she fundraised for Planned Parenthood and led efforts in LGBTQ+ justice. She then graduated with degrees in political science and sociology and moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington and pursue a career in public policy.
Rinck served at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, where she led development of its five-year regional plan addressing homelessness.
She defeated Tanya Woo for the Position 8 seat last year (58.2% to 41.4%) after Teresa Mosqueda was elected to the King County Council.
Rachael Savage has not held public office before, having owned and operated a Seattle business, The Vajra, for the last two decades.
Savage is a self-described Republican, campaigning on reducing crime, creating more housing, and boosting the local economy, all of which have a common denominator in her opinion: addressing the city’s drug addiction crisis.
Savage is more than three decades sober after struggling through her own drug addiction.
For Mercedes Rinck, housing and affordability, workers’ protections, climate preservation, and improving public transportation are among her top priorities.
She is also a strong advocate for utilizing progressive revenue sources, including Jumpstart funding, capital gains tax, high payroll tax, and real estate transfer tax, to address Seattle’s ongoing budget crisis.
City Council District 2
After Mark Solomon decided not to seek reelection, the search to fill the seat representing District 2 commenced.
In the August primary, Eddie Lin earned 47.4% of the vote (11,205 votes) while Adonis Ducksworth finished second with 6,941 votes (29.4%).
Lin is an assistant attorney at the Seattle City Attorney’s Office’s housing division, while Ducksworth is the communications and policy adviser for the Seattle Department of Transportation.
During his time with the Office of Housing, Lin has campaigned that he has solutions for Seattle’s housing issues, while also advocating for a fairer tax system for residents.
Finding housing solutions for those experiencing homelessness, creating safer roads, and preventing gun violence are among Ducksworth’s top priorities.
District 2 includes Beacon Hill, Chinatown International District, Columbia City, Rainier Beach, and Seward Park.
The three simultaneous competitive races creating potential for substantial Seattle City Council composition shift, with the outcomes determining whether the body moves in more progressive, moderate, or business-friendly directions on issues including homelessness, public safety, taxation, and housing policy that define Seattle’s political battles.
Sara Nelson’s position 9 vulnerability despite serving as council president demonstrating how incumbency advantages evaporate when primary results show overwhelming voter rejection, with her 23-point deficit to Foster representing extraordinary weakness for a sitting leader suggesting deep dissatisfaction with her leadership or successful challenger campaigning.
Dionne Foster’s commanding 58.4% primary performance establishing her as prohibitive favorite, with the nearly 2-to-1 margin providing momentum and fundraising advantages while forcing Nelson into defensive posture attempting to explain why voters should reverse their August preferences.
Foster’s Seattle Foundation senior program officer experience providing nonprofit sector credibility, with her philanthropic background potentially appealing to progressive voters who prioritize community-based solutions over government-centric approaches that Nelson’s council president role represents.
The 2016-2018 City of Seattle policy advisor role giving Foster insider governmental knowledge, with her prior city employment demonstrating she understands municipal bureaucracy and policy implementation challenges rather than being pure outsider lacking institutional awareness.
Foster’s affordability emphasis resonating with Seattle voters struggling with housing costs, with her platform addressing the economic anxiety that transcends ideological divisions affecting both progressive renters and moderate homeowners facing rising property taxes.
The shelter capacity expansion and treatment services advocacy positioning Foster as addressing homelessness through services rather than enforcement, with the approach aligning with progressive voters’ preferences for compassionate interventions while potentially alienating moderates who prioritize visible encampment removal.
The micro-commercial spaces support demonstrating Foster’s small business orientation, with the policy potentially appealing to neighborhood retail advocates who believe current zoning and permitting processes favor large developments over local entrepreneurs serving community needs.
The business and occupation tax support indicating Foster’s willingness to raise business taxes, with the position potentially alienating the business community that might otherwise support her over Nelson but worries Foster represents more aggressive progressive taxation threatening commercial viability.
Nelson’s sole positive job performance rating in early 2023 according to NPI highlighting how dramatically her political fortunes have collapsed, with the statistic suggesting she once enjoyed broad support that subsequently evaporated through controversial votes, leadership failures, or changing voter priorities.
The public safety emphasis in Nelson’s campaign reflecting her calculation that highlighting police staffing successes represents her strongest reelection argument, with the focus potentially appealing to moderate and swing voters concerned about crime even if progressives remain skeptical about policing-centric solutions.
The police hiring bonuses Nelson championed representing contentious policy where supporters credit them with reversing SPD staffing declines while critics argue the payments waste resources better spent on alternative public safety approaches or addressing root causes of officer departures.
The Fremont Brewery co-ownership providing Nelson with small business credibility, with her entrepreneurial background distinguishing her from career politicians while creating potential conflicts of interest where her brewery interests might influence her votes on alcohol licensing, zoning, or business regulations.
The storefront repair fund representing tangible accomplishment Nelson can cite, with the program addressing visible crime impacts that business owners experience even if critics argue it treats symptoms rather than underlying causes of property crime and vandalism.
The October 23 NPI poll showing Foster ahead 44% to 29% representing 15-point lead that tracks with primary results, with the consistent margin suggesting Foster’s advantage has held rather than Nelson mounting successful comeback narrowing the gap through general election campaigning.
Alexis Mercedes Rinck’s 78.3% primary performance representing overwhelming mandate, with the landslide margin suggesting she faces minimal general election threat from Savage whose 13% showing indicates she represents fringe perspective rather than viable alternative commanding significant voter support.
The Syracuse University Planned Parenthood fundraising and LGBTQ+ justice work establishing Mercedes Rinck’s progressive credentials predating her Seattle arrival, with the college activism demonstrating long-standing commitment to reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ equality rather than recent political positioning.
The political science and sociology degrees providing academic foundation for policy work, with the dual focus combining governmental systems knowledge with social inequality analysis informing her progressive approach to housing, homelessness, and economic justice issues.
The King County Regional Homelessness Authority leadership role giving Mercedes Rinck direct experience with the region’s most visible crisis, with her five-year plan development demonstrating she understands homelessness complexity even if critics question whether KCRHA’s strategies have succeeded in measurably reducing unsheltered populations.
The 2023 special election victory over Tanya Woo by 58.2% to 41.4% providing recent electoral validation, with the 17-point margin demonstrating Mercedes Rinck’s district strength that the current race against weaker opponent Savage seems likely to replicate or exceed.
Rachael Savage’s lack of prior public office experience creating both outsider appeal and competence questions, with voters weighing whether her business ownership provides relevant leadership skills or whether governmental inexperience would render her ineffective navigating bureaucratic processes and coalition-building.
The self-described Republican label representing extraordinary vulnerability in overwhelmingly Democratic Seattle, with Savage’s partisan identification potentially limiting her appeal to the small conservative minority while progressive and moderate voters who comprise district majority reject Republican-affiliated candidates regardless of individual positions.
