Mercedes Rinck reelected to Seattle’s Position 8 over Savage

Alexis Mercedes Rinck, the incumbent, defeated challenger Rachael Savage to retain her seat, the city-wide Position 8, on the city council.

Mercedes Rinck earned 85,024 votes (78.8%) while Savage received 22,162 (20.5%). This result is mostly in line with August’s primary results, when Mercedes Rinck snagged 78.3% of the vote (142,537 votes).

Mercedes Rinck attended Syracuse University, where she fundraised for Planned Parenthood and led efforts in LGBTQ+ justice, as stated on her website. She then graduated with degrees in political science and sociology and moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington and start a career in public policy.

Rinck served at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, where she led the development of its five-year regional plan to address homelessness.

She defeated Tanya Woo for the Position 8 seat last year (58.2% to 41.4%) after Teresa Mosqueda was elected to the King County Council.

Rachael Savage has not held a public office before, having owned and operated a Seattle business, The Vajra, for the last two decades.

Savage is a self-described Republican, campaigning on reducing crime, creating more housing, and boosting the local economy — all of which have a common denominator in her opinion, dealing with the city’s drug addiction crisis.

Savage is more than three decades sober after struggling through her own drug addiction.

For Mercedes Rinck, housing and affordability, workers’ protections, continuing climate preservation, and improving public transportation are among her top priorities.

She is also a strong advocate for utilizing progressive revenue sources, including Jumpstart funding, capital gains tax, high payroll tax, and real estate transfer tax, to address and resolve Seattle’s ongoing budget crisis.

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