Seattle election results: Council and city attorney

Two Seattle council seats were up for grabs this election along with the city attorney. Initial results favor Teresa Mosqueda and Lorena González for their respective council positions, and Pete Holmes for city attorney.

RELATED: Election results for the 45th District

Seattle Council Position No. 8

Mosqueda is leading the race for council position 8 with 61 percent of the vote, over her opponent Jon Grant with 38 percent.

Position 8 is an at-large seat, open to all of Seattle to vote. Tim Burgess occupied the position from 2007 to 2017. He left the council last month to take over the mayor’s office following Ed Murray’s resignation. Burgess previously decided not to run for reelection. The position has been temporarily filled by Kirsten Harris-Talley. The new council member will take over the position earlier than usual, once voting counts are official.

Mosqueda is a third-generation Mexican-American with experience as a health care advocate when the Affordable Care Act was implemented in Washington. She works with the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO as a political and campaign director. She favors a housing-first approach to the homelessness crisis. During the campaign, she noted that — if elected — she would be the only renter on the council; she rents in the Queen Anne neighborhood.

Renter and housing issues were also the foundation of Mosqueda’s opponent, Jon Grant. And both candidates touted their work on I-1433, which raised the state’s minimum wage.

Grant served as executive director of the Tenant’s Union — a renters’ rights organization — and was previously a housing advocate with Solid Ground. He has worked on homelessness issues in the past and promotes his stands against slumlords, the landlord industry, and developers. Grant also wants the city to tax large companies like Amazon to pay for housing the homeless.

Seattle Council position No. 9

González is leading the race for council position 9 with 67 percent of the vote, over her opponent Pat Murakami with 32 percent.

González currently occupies council position 9. When she was first elected in 2015, she was the first Latina elected to Seattle’s council. She was previously legal counsel to former mayor Ed Murray. As an attorney, she focused on representing vulnerable workers in discrimination cases. She currently chairs the council’s Gender Equity, Safe Communities & New Americans Committee, and sits on the Education, Equity & Governance Committee; Energy & Environment Committee; and the Planning, Land Use & Zoning Committee.

Murakami ran against González, promoting that neighborhoods should be included in the development of Seattle to preserve the integrity of communities. She also said that raising taxes should not be the answer to every problem the city faces. Murakami is a small-business owner of an IT firm. She previously served on the community councils that were shut down by Mayor Murray.

Seattle City Attorney

With 72 percent of the vote, Pete Holmes leads opponent Scott Lindsay with 27 percent.

Holmes has served as Seattle’s attorney ever since he was elected in 2009. He ran unopposed in 2013. He became known for not prosecuting low-level marijuana crimes, and focusing legal action on Johns instead of prostitutes in human trafficking cases. Holmes was a business litigation attorney before his role at the city.

Lindsay was previously an advisor to former mayor Ed Murray, working on public safety and policing issues and is credited with forming Seattle’s Navigation Team. That team currently engages Seattle’s homeless residents, connecting them to services and shelter. He ran for city attorney under the motto “An Activist for City Attorney” promoting a “progressive justice” plan.

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