Washington state residents face the November general election deadline Tuesday evening. Ballot drop boxes accept submissions until 8 p.m.
Citizens will determine outcomes for numerous municipal and statewide contests potentially transforming governance across major jurisdictions. Several significant ballot measures and competitive races will see results reporting beginning shortly after the 8 p.m. deadline Tuesday.
WA Cares Fund Investment Authority
Ballot measure 8201 leads the statewide voting, asking whether Washington should authorize equity investments for its long-term care program.
The proposition would permit the Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Fund, commonly called WA Cares, to purchase stocks and similar securities.
Legislators created the WA Cares program in 2019 to fund elder care services for qualifying Washington employees. Worker payroll deductions finance the system.
Approval would eliminate current constitutional provisions restricting WA Cares to fixed-return investments including government bonds. The Washington State Investment Board, operating without partisan direction, would gain authority for diversified investment strategies pursuing enhanced returns.
The constitutional change mandates directing all investment profits exclusively toward funding care services and assistance for program participants.
King County’s Chief Executive Contest
King County voters select their top administrator, who manages regional transit systems, public health operations, and justice system policies. The outcome will shape county approaches to unsheltered populations and environmental initiatives.
This represents King County’s first executive race without a sitting officeholder since 2009. Former executive Dow Constantine departed in March 2025 after accepting the Sound Transit chief executive position.
Two King County Council members emerged from the August 2025 primary to compete in November.
Girmay Zahilay, representing Seattle’s District 2, challenges Claudia Balducci from Eastside District 6 for the executive role.
Despite the office’s nonpartisan designation, both Balducci and Zahilay belong to the Democratic Party.
Seattle’s Mayoral Election
Current mayor Bruce Harrell confronts challenger Katie Wilson in the contest for Seattle’s top position.
Harrell pursues a second consecutive term. Wilson established and directs the Seattle Transit Riders Union organization.
Seattle’s Chief Legal Officer
The department handling minor criminal prosecutions and municipal legal counsel appears on ballots, with contenders offering contrasting approaches to community safety and government litigation.
Republican Ann Davison won the office in 2021 and seeks continuation. She faces former federal prosecutor Erika Evans, a Democrat, for the Seattle City Attorney position.
Seattle Council Representation
Multiple Seattle City Council positions undergo elections. Below are the district competitions and candidate statements.
District 2 (Southeast Seattle neighborhoods): A special ballot fills the unexpired term after former Councilmember Tammy Morales’ departure.
Eddie Lin campaign statement: “Eddie dedicates himself to community advancement through public service. Eddie feels frustrated watching inaction on South End crises including community safety, cost burdens, unsheltered populations, and underperforming schools. Following decades of discriminatory redlining and segregation, employment bias, and chronic underinvestment, the moment demands a leader who appears, hears concerns, and empowers South End residents and enterprises toward community prosperity.”
Adonis Ducksworth campaign statement: “Confronting our greatest challenges begins with supporting children and families through adequate wages and employment access, accessible housing, protected streets and dependable transit, and wholesome enriching programs.”
District 8 (citywide representation): An at-large seat where the council member serves all Seattle residents.
Alexis Mercedes Rinck (current officeholder) campaign statement: “I seek Seattle City Council Position 8 because thriving secure communities receive adequate resources. I champion policies investing in residents and with voter backing, I’ll construct a bright Seattle future pursuing solutions grounded in evidence and scholarship, addressing urgent inequity drivers, guided by communities experiencing those challenges directly.”
Rachael Savage campaign statement: “We face an unprecedented chance to eliminate circumstances restraining Seattle. We can achieve world-class metropolitan status. Achievement is possible. The Mayor and City Council haven’t accomplished this objective. Democrats haven’t accomplished this objective. Building our city for this era requires a fresh movement. A movement of Seattle residents who’ve witnessed sufficient failures from the fifteen-year ‘progressive’ experiment and adequate business Democrats’ inability providing workable alternatives.”
District 9 (citywide representation): The second at-large position, similarly serving entire city populations.
Council President Sara Nelson (current officeholder) campaign statement: “Sara has engaged Seattle’s hardest struggles and prevailed, compelling business sectors accepting workforce housing, activating dormant resources, broadening genuine addiction treatment. Yet greater conflicts approach. City Council requires robust leadership continuing pressure when dominant interests resist. Sara has demonstrated fearlessness, preparing to champion battles mattering most. When everything Seattle values faces assault, we require a tested champion leading City Council.”
Dionne Foster campaign statement: “We merit protected streets, accessible housing, and a Seattle defending our freedoms and honoring our perspectives. I’m pursuing City Council to refocus on collective priorities and deliver necessary changes to Council operations. With voter support, I’ll guarantee we unite confronting national obstacles and advancing local improvements.”
Everett’s Municipal Leadership
Current mayor Cassie Franklin challenges newcomer Scott Murphy for Everett’s executive position.
Tacoma’s Top Administrator Race
Tacoma’s mayoral contest will emphasize infrastructure development, unsheltered population responses, and law enforcement reforms as contenders seek guiding one of Washington’s largest municipalities through transitional periods. Term restrictions prevent current mayor Victoria Woodards from seeking continuation.
John Hines competes with Anders Ibsen for Tacoma’s leadership role.
Voters must mail ballots receiving election day postmarks or deposit them in authorized collection boxes before 8 p.m. The Secretary of State maintains an online electoral guide.
The 8 p.m. absolute cutoff creating afternoon urgency for delayed voters, with the firm deadline requiring last-minute participants to identify nearby official collection sites rather than relying on postal delivery that won’t receive necessary postmarks after business hours close.
The simultaneous municipal and statewide contests requiring extensive voter preparation, with ballots spanning constitutional amendments, county executives, city mayors, council representatives, and prosecutors demanding research about candidate qualifications, policy positions, and governance philosophies across dramatically different jurisdictional levels.
The post-deadline initial tallies providing preliminary indicators rather than definitive outcomes, with early returns typically representing ballots received days or weeks before election day potentially skewing toward older, more politically engaged voters compared to procrastinators using drop boxes creating scenarios where apparent leads evaporate as counting continues.
Measure 8201’s equity investment authorization representing fundamental shift from conservative to growth-oriented investment philosophy, with the constitutional change enabling professional fund managers to pursue stock market returns averaging 7-10% annually compared to bond yields typically generating 2-4% potentially doubling long-term fund value.
The WA Cares program’s 2019 establishment creating mandatory long-term care insurance, with Washington pioneering a public program addressing the reality that nursing home care costing $8,000-$12,000 monthly devastates family finances while Medicaid requires spending down assets to poverty levels before qualifying for government coverage.
The employee payroll tax funding generating dedicated revenue stream, with the 0.58% wage deduction collecting hundreds of millions annually from Washington’s workforce funding future benefits for participants who work sufficient years to vest in the program providing up to $36,500 lifetime coverage.
The fixed-income restriction limiting returns while protecting principal, with current constitutional provisions requiring conservative bond investments preventing market crashes from wiping out the fund but generating modest yields potentially insufficient for meeting benefit obligations as the population ages and more workers claim coverage.
The Investment Board’s professional management offering sophisticated strategies, with the agency’s decades of experience managing state pension funds worth over $200 billion potentially translating to WA Cares success if granted authority to diversify into stocks, real estate, and alternative investments that pension funds routinely employ.
The mandatory earnings dedication to beneficiaries preventing legislative raids, with the constitutional provision ensuring politicians cannot divert investment profits to unrelated spending guaranteeing that market gains enhance rather than substitute for care funding that participants paid to receive.
King County Executive’s enormous scope controlling multi-billion-dollar operations, with the position overseeing Metro Transit’s bus and light rail coordination, Harborview’s public hospital, county jail operations, regional wastewater treatment, and coordinating responses to homelessness, climate change, and public health emergencies affecting 2.3 million residents.
The open-seat rarity since 2009 eliminating incumbent advantage, with Constantine’s 16-year tenure ending through resignation rather than electoral defeat creating genuine choice between candidates neither enjoying incumbent name recognition, fundraising advantages, or ability to claim credit for popular programs while deflecting blame for failures.
Zahilay’s Seattle urban base providing progressive credentials on homelessness, criminal justice reform, and equity programs, with his District 2 service addressing concerns of racially diverse neighborhoods experiencing displacement pressures, though his lack of Eastside experience potentially limiting appeal to suburban voters prioritizing different issues.
Balducci’s Eastside suburban background offering moderate pragmatism, with her Bellevue-area constituents’ emphasis on transportation efficiency, economic development, and fiscal responsibility potentially resonating countywide especially with voters skeptical of Seattle’s progressive experiments who want balanced approaches acknowledging both urban and suburban priorities.
The nonpartisan-but-both-Democrat dynamic eliminating partisan shortcuts, with candidates sharing party affiliation forcing voters to research policy nuances, management experience, and governing philosophies rather than defaulting to partisan labels that typically guide lower-information voters’ decisions.
The Harrell-Wilson mayoral contest representing pragmatic versus activist progressivism, with the incumbent’s business-friendly incrementalism and public safety emphasis contrasting with the challenger’s grassroots organizing background and transit justice advocacy appealing to voters wanting either continuity or more aggressive progressive change.
Harrell’s incumbency providing governance experience and institutional relationships, with his first-term record including visible homelessness interventions, downtown business recovery efforts, and police department stabilization creating accomplishments he defends while acknowledging ongoing challenges requiring additional time to address.
Wilson’s Transit Riders Union leadership demonstrating policy expertise and organizing capability, with her advocacy for fare-free transit, transit-oriented development, and housing affordability signaling progressive priorities though her lack of executive governmental experience creating vulnerability to criticism about unpreparedness for managing 14,000-employee city bureaucracy.
The Davison-Evans city attorney race creating ideological referendum on prosecution philosophy, with the Republican incumbent’s emphasis on misdemeanor prosecution, geographic exclusion zones, and traditional law enforcement contrasting with the Democratic challenger’s federal experience and criticism of Trump administration policies framing the contest around criminal justice approaches.
Davison’s geographic exclusion zones representing controversial innovation, with SOAP and SODA programs banning convicted individuals from designated areas attempting to disrupt prostitution and drug markets though civil liberties advocates argue the approach unconstitutionally restricts movement while failing to address underlying addiction and poverty.
Evans’ federal prosecutor background providing credible alternative, with her Assistant U.S. Attorney experience handling complex cases potentially appealing to voters wanting proven legal expertise while her resignation over Trump disagreements signals progressive values though opponents might characterize the departure as politicizing prosecutorial independence.
