Gee & Ursula: Seattle City Council has been ‘way too dysfunctional’

The 2023 Seattle City Council election is gearing up with 45 total candidates registered to run across seven districts. Only two of Seattle’s nine total council seats are not up for re-election this year, and of the seven districts up for a vote in 2023, four of the incumbents have announced they won’t be running. Councilmembers Sara Nelson and Teresa Mosqueda’s positions are not up for a vote.

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The primary election will take place in August, and the general election will be held in November.

Lisa Herbold in District 1, Kshama Sawant in District 3, Alex Pedersen in District 4, and Council President Debora Juarez in District 5 have all said they do not intend to run again. District 6’s Dan Strauss and District 7’s Andrew Lewis have announced they are running for re-election.

On The Gee & Ursula Show, hosts Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin discussed the candidates and talked about what they were looking for going into November’s election.

“I started seeing the job being done by someone for the folks out here. To which I say, if you got a pulse, and you can breathe, and you can tie your shoe, that’s enough experience because it doesn’t take much to have common sense,” Gee said.

Ursula said that she was most looking for candidates that were going to be reasonable representatives to get the job done without any spectacle.

“As someone who is heavily invested in Seattle and its success, this is also, for me, a huge relief. The last decade has been way too dysfunctional, way too chaotic,” Ursula said. “I actually look forward to opening up my ballot this time around. Kshama Sawant’s party, the Socialist Alternative, they haven’t fielded any candidates. The People’s Party with Nikita Oliver, who has left, that whole party has been disbanded. And there’s no defund the police candidates.”

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District 5 has the most candidates headed into the August primary at 10. Eight candidates are running in each of Districts 1 and 3, while Districts 4 and 6 both feature six candidates. Despite the fact that Councilmember Alex Pedersen is not running for reelection in District 4, just four candidates have registered to run in that race.

Councilmember Mosqueda is up for an election this fall, though she announced her intent to run for King County Council. If she wins that election, the rest of the Seattle City Council will have 20 days to fill her seat for the remainder of her term, which will last until 2025. If she loses, she will keep her seat on the city council.

You can see the full list of candidates across every race at this link. Ballots for the August 1 primary are scheduled to be sent out to voters on July 12.