Meet Sultan’s new 21-year-old council member

When Russell Wiita represented his peers as a high school ambassador on the Sultan City Council, he wasn’t doing it for kicks. He was taking notes.

“I knew I wanted to run for city council when I was a student representative four years ago, so it was just a matter of when,” Wiita told KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz Show.

“When” turned out to be fairly soon after he graduated from the University of Washington. Upon returning home to the small Washington town of Sultan, Wiita started campaigning. Mailers were sent out. He waved signs on the side of the road. He was even in a Sultan parade over the summer.

“We campaigned really hard. We knocked on more doors than anyone else,” he said, noting that people wanted new approaches and ideas. That is something he could offer as a 21-year-old candidate.

“I heard from a lot of people that they were excited for someone young running, new ideas coming forward, and taking a new approach to city government,” Wiita said.

That excitement paid off at the polls. At 21, Wiita will be the newest member of the Sultan City Council in January. He won his position with more votes than the mayor, or the other two council members on the ballot received.

For Wiita, it’s a natural move after returning home. He heard a council member was not running again, and he took the opportunity. But being fresh, back in town, Wiita says he is no stranger to politics.

“I grew up in Sultan. I went to schools there. When I was in high school I was a student representative on the council. I got my start early seeing how government functions and how politics work,” he said. “I’ve worked on a few different campaigns and interned down in Olympia. So I’ve had quite a bit of exposure to politics and government.”

Wiita identifies as Republican, though the council position is non-partisan. He doesn’t expect partisan politics to play too much of a role on the dais.

“I grew up in a family and I talk to family and friends about politics all the time, and we don’t always agree…I definitely think it’s important to have an appreciation for differing opinions,” he said.

That will come in handy when facing the issues he campaigned on.

“The biggest thing in Sultan right now is public safety. That’s what I’ve heard most from people,” he said. “We’ve got issues with repeat offenders getting back out onto the streets a couple days later after breaking into someone’s car or stealing a bike. These aren’t people that we have issues with once or twice, it’s people we have issues with all the time.”

Wiita believes that the county prosecutor is fairly busy, and such crimes in Sultan don’t register as important. He said he will head onto the council in January seeking solutions.

“One other thing was fiscal responsibility; making sure the city is spending its money wisely,” he added.

But going in, he has one advantage: reasonable expectations.

“One advantage I have going in is that I know things move slowly…I don’t have these sky high expectations of thing moving through quickly,” Wiita said. “The biggest thing to overcome that is picking battles wisely and building consensus with council members.”