With deadline passed, fields are now set for Seattle mayor, council, and city attorney elections

The filing window for Seattle election candidates closed last Friday, with the fields for mayor, two city council seats, and city attorney now officially set.

Seattle begins mailing out democracy vouchers

Neither the race for Seattle mayor nor city council position 9 will feature an incumbent candidate. Meanwhile, both City Attorney Pete Holmes and at-large Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda are both running for reelection.

Mayor

With Mayor Jenny Durkan not seeking reelection, the race to replace her features the most candidates (15) of any other race in 2021.

Included among a diverse field of candidates are current Deputy Mayor Casey Sixkiller, former Council President Bruce Harrell, current Council President Lorena Gonzalez, homelessness advocate Colleen Echohawk, Teresa Mosqueda’s interim policy manager Andrew Grant Houston, the grandson of a former Seattle mayor Art Langlie, former state lawmaker Jessyn Farrell, economic developer Lance Randall, and former Seattle Supersonic James Donaldson.

Echohawk has consistently led the field in fundraising efforts, having brought in nearly $375,000 as of May 20. Houston trails not far behind at almost $321,000, followed by Gonzalez at over $245,000, Harrell at roughly $148,000, Farrell at over $103,000, and Randall at $46,000.

City Council, Position 8

As one of two candidates running for reelection, Mosqueda faced little competition in the early stages of filing for her at-large position, with just four candidates registered to run against her as of late April. By the end of last Friday’s deadline, though, a flurry of activity saw the race for her at-large position balloon to 10 challengers.

That said, few are household names. Of the 10 challengers Mosqueda is facing, seven have yet to stand up election websites, while none have raised more than $5,000 in funds. Comparatively, Mosqueda has raised over $141,000.

Local activist, Kate Martin, had previously registered to run for both mayor and council position 8, before dropping out of the mayor’s race to focus on the latter campaign. She also ran for city council in 2019, placing fifth in the District 6 primary with 3.4% of the vote.

City Council, Position 9

With position 9 incumbent Lorena Gonzalez running for mayor, her open seat has attracted three early fundraising frontrunners in activist and community organizer Nikkita Oliver, Fremont Brewery founder Sara Nelson, and Gonzalez’s Chief of Staff Brianna Thomas.

Oliver has raised the most in contributions so far at over $185,000, followed by Nelson at over $120,000, and Thomas at roughly $68,000.

In total, seven candidates are running to fill the open at-large seat, with teacher Corey Eichner sitting at fourth in fundraising efforts at nearly $5,300.

City Attorney

For much of the run-up to last week’s filing deadline, incumbent City Attorney Pete Holmes appeared to largely be running unopposed, after leading challenger Steve Fortney abruptly dropped out. After a pair of last-minute filings, the race now includes two challengers to Holmes in Ann Davison and Nicole Thomas-Kennedy.

Davison had previously run for Seattle City Council’s District 5 seat in 2019, losing to incumbent Debora Juarez by a 60.6% to 39.1% margin. She then ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2020 as a Republican, coming in third in the August primary and garnering 12% of votes.

Thomas-Kennedy has yet to spin up a website for her campaign, although she has indicated she intends to run as an “abolitionist.”

Candidates have until the end of the day Monday to withdraw, and must submit their “declaration of candidacy” to King County Elections by Friday, May 28. 

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