Seattle Mayor Durkan endorses middle-ground council candidate for District 2
Jul 24, 2019, 4:54 PM
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. (File photo, Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
(File photo, Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
With Seattle City Council President Bruce Harrell not running for reelection, the race for District 2 is wide open. That had Mayor Jenny Durkan announcing her own endorsement among the district’s seven candidates, in Mark Solomon.
Candidates running for Seattle City Council in 2019
“We are at a critical crossroads in Seattle, and District 2 needs Mark Solomon,” Durkan said in a news release reported on by The Seattle Times. “Mark is a leader and problem solver, with strong ties in the community. We need his voice and his experience to make sure Seattle works for everyone.”
Solomon serves as crime prevention coordinator for the Seattle Police Department, and already scored a pair of endorsements before Durkan’s, first from advocacy group Speak Out Seattle (as part of a co-endorsement with Ari Hoffman) in June, and then from the Times in early July,
Solomon recently drew the ire of Safe Seattle on Monday, who labeled him a “shape-shifter who changes himself to suit his audience,” and accusing him of “waffling on safe injection sites.”
He’s largely viewed by those who endorse him as a middle ground between progressive candidate Tammy Morales, and conservative Ari Hoffman.
“Adding another socialist like Tammy Morales, or a rigid conservative like Ari Hoffman to the City Council will cause more division in our city,” Durkan’s statement continued.
Endorsements roll in for Seattle City Council races
Morales fired back late Tuesday on her campaign’s Facebook page, stating that she is not a socialist, and labeling Durkan’s language as “Trump-like fear mongering.”
“The Mayor’s red-baiting is so 1950s,” Morales said. “I’m proud that I’ve spent my career fighting for working families – advocating for policies that keep families from being displaced, improving access to healthy food, and protecting workers from greedy CEOs.”
Also running in District 2 are Henry Clay Dennison, Christopher Peguero, Omari Tahir-Garrett, and Phyllis Porter, in addition to Solomon, Morales, and Hoffman.
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