Money flows as race for Sawant’s D3 council seat heats up

As the push for open Seattle council seats continues, District 3 is shaping up to be the most hotly contested race in the city, as a handful of candidates look to unseat incumbent Councilmember Kshama Sawant.

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As of publishing, the race for Sawant’s seat features the most candidates of any race where an incumbent is running for reelection. Sawant currently faces seven other challengers in her district.

District 1 Councilmember Lisa Herbold faces just four opponents, while District 5 incumbent Debora Juarez is going up against five other candidates.

District 3’s total number of candidates was capped off most recently by local leader and Seattle School Board member Zachary DeWolf, who announced his candidacy Tuesday.

DeWolf joined the Capitol Hill Community Council back in 2012, going on to serve as the council’s president, and a commissioner for the Seattle Housing Authority Board. He was also recently elected as the director representing a handful of Seattle neighborhoods on the city’s school board.

This comes not long after Capitol Hill Chamber executive director Egan Orion declared his own city council candidacy.

Campaign contributions are flowing in District 3, with the combined money raised among candidates totaling $130,913 across 1,555 contributors, as of April 7 (counting the $17,468 raised by Beto Yarce, who withdrew from the race in February).

Excepting District 7 — where nine total candidates are running — no other district in the 2019 race has featured that much money in contributions.

Sawant — who opted not to use the city’s Democracy Voucher system — has raised over $51,000, half of which has come from outside Seattle’s city limits, and many of which are from out of the state entirely.

Nipping at Sawant’s heels is pot shop owner Logan Bowers with over $41,000 in contributions. That’s followed by the $15,473 given to Seattle Public Defender Ami Nguyen’s campaign, and then $5,493 for South Seattle Crime Prevention Council President Pat Murakami. No contributions have been reported for Orion or DeWolf as of April 7.

Other District 3 candidates also reporting no contributions include local activist Asukaa Jaxx and Capitol Hill resident Sara Brereton.

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