City of Everett

Jared Mead is running for re-election to a four-year term on the Snohomish County Council in District 4. He previously served in the state Legislature and was appointed to the council in 2020 after Terry Ryan resigned, winning his election in 2020 for the final year of the term.

Mead is a strong progressive who has worked to prohibit discrimination, fight the climate crisis, and secure an energy-independent state for future generations. His campaign priorities include reducing traffic and pollution through transit-oriented development and protecting the county's urban growth areas.

Also in this race is Republican candidate Brenda Carrington. Carrington has a business background in construction and landscaping and opposed Mead for the same position last year. Carrington opposes new funding for essential services and disagrees with efforts to redirect some law enforcement funding to community safety and prevention. 

Mead is the clear choice for Snohomish County Council in District 4.

Brandy Donaghy is a community organizer and Navy veteran who is challenging incumbent Councilmember Samuel Low for Snohomish County Council in District 5. She is a strong progressive whose campaign priorities include COVID-19 recovery that incorporates community support, housing security, justice reform, and maintaining green space. Donaghy serves on the board of directors for the Communities of Color Coalition. She also regularly volunteers to provide emergency services and disaster relief to the Snohomish community.

Low has been an outspoken Republican voice on the council. In June, Low voted against $4 per hour hazard pay for grocery store workers on the front lines of the pandemic. Earlier this spring, he badgered and voted against the appointment of a young woman of color to the Regional Law and Justice Council because he disagreed with some of her social media posts.

Donaghy would bring a much-needed progressive perspective to the council and is the obvious choice for Snohomish County Council in District 5.

Incumbent David Simpson is running to retain his seat as Commissioner of District 1 for the Port of Everett, which he was elected to in 2019 to fill an unexpired term. Simpson also works as a member of the Committee for Housing and Community Development. He has an extensive record in public service, having served as an Everett City Council member, a Washington state representative for the 38th Legislative District, and a member of the Snohomish County Charter Review Commission representing county council District 2. Simpson has also worked in the aviation industry as a manufacturing engineer and aviation mechanic.

Simpson's campaign platform prioritizes economic development, environmental protections, and living wages. He has a slate of projects underway, including the Waterfront Place Central Development, that he believes will help Everett and the port recover from the community and economic impact of the pandemic.

Simpson faces a challenge from Scott Murphy, an Everett City Council member since 2013. Murphy strongly emphasizes his business background and has previously boasted of expanding Everett’s police budget during his time as a council member despite public support to reallocate some of those funds to community alternatives. If elected, he would push the port in a more politically conservative direction.

Snohomish County has benefitted from Simpson's commitment to bringing community-minded leadership to the port. David Simpson is the clear choice for Port of Everett Commissioner in District 1.

Incumbent Cassie Franklin was the first woman ever to be elected mayor of Everett. Before becoming mayor, Franklin was an Everett City Council member and served in a number of organizations and programs addressing homelessness.

Her tenure as mayor, which began in 2017, came at a difficult moment in the city's financial history. Washington cities are required by law to produce a balanced budget. With a deficit of $18 million for the city, up from $15 million inherited before her term due to pandemic-related causes, Franklin and the city council cut costs to balance the budget. Their budget closed service locations like the Carl Gipson Senior Center and the Forest Park Swim Center, reduced library hours, and eliminated city-sponsored events like fireworks, the animal farm, and flower festival, along with laying off or voluntary separating from over 130 employees. Disappointingly, despite calls by Black activists to reduce or move funds from the police department budget into more community services, the police budget was not cut like most other departments. Franklin states that the department's body camera program and training efforts are meeting the changes demanded by activists.

Budget aside, Franklin has worked hard in the pandemic to administer pandemic relief funds and issued a stay-home directive in the early days of the COVID crisis.

Franklin's opponents are Steve Oss and Ron Wittock. Neither have campaign information or websites available as of mid-July. While Franklin is more moderate, her endorsements on both the conservative and progressive ends of the spectrum represent local faith in her second run, and she is the only viable choice in this race.

Retired firefighter Don Schwab is running for Everett City Council in District 3. He worked as a firefighter for more than three decades and has served on various boards in the community and at the state level, including as a board member of the Snohomish County Red Cross and on the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters. He currently works for Snohomish County Treasurer Brian Sullivan and as an associate faculty member at Everett Community College.

Schwab states that the police and fire departments should be fully staffed and funded. He notes that Everett has one of the highest rates of COVID infections in the state, and supports expanding paid sick leave and family leave. He also supports fast-tracking the light rail system to stimulate economic development downtown and along Evergreen Way, promoting housing density, and improving citywide energy efficiency among other considerations.

Schwab is running against Lacey Sauvageau and Jacob Vail. Sauvageau is a 911 dispatcher for Snohomish County. She previously ran as a Democrat for Rep. Emily Wicks' House seat for the 38th Legislative District. Her previous campaign website is not accessible as of mid-July. During her previous run, she stated that she would focus on the environment and smaller class sizes, among other priorities. She supports police accountability but doesn't outline a specific policy agenda.

Jacob Vail is a member of the Everett Civil Service Commission and was appointed in March 2021 as a member of the Snohomish County Parks Board. He states that as a person with disabilities, he has a personal stake in improving accessibility in the community for everyone. His platform is somewhat minimal but includes the high points of using vacant hotels and apartment complexes to help the unsheltered and providing programs for skilled trade. He has earned the endorsement of Humane Voters of Washington in this race. 

Given that the city cut nearly every department aside from law enforcement in the last few months, we would like to see Schwab's policies on law enforcement evolve into a model that prioritizes investing more into human services. Nevertheless, Schwab is the best candidate in this race.

A note for Everett voters: this is the first election using the new redistricted map adopted last year. District 3 includes all of Boulevard Bluffs, Harborview Seahurst Glenhaven, View Ridge-Madison, Evergreen, and the southernmost tip of South Forest Park.

Demi Chatters is an education advocate who has spent more than a decade working to bring inclusive and quality education to public school students. She is deeply embedded in the community as a member of the Snohomish Human Rights Commission and Evergreen Middle School Equity Team. She also serves on the board for Seattle Suns, a youth sports organization that focuses on youth experiencing poverty, as well as a committee member for LGBTQ organization NOLOSE.

If elected to the Everett City Council, Chatters wants to advocate for an equitable and sustainable recovery from COVID that benefits everyone in the city. To that end, she will prioritize infrastructure investment, increase sustainable business development, and champion workers' rights through fair collective bargaining. She notes that the increasing struggle of residents to secure housing should be met with additional services in the form of mental health, encouraging more housing options, and moving the unsheltered towards more housing options. Specifically for District 5, Chatters wants to see the completion of the Silver Lake trail, reinforce road stability, and create opportunities for parks within neighborhoods.

Chatters is running against Kelly M. Fox and Ben Zarlingo. Fox is the executive director of Snohomish County EMS. Fox's campaign website emphasizes her interest in social justice, public transportation, and affordable housing for all. Her voters' guide statement says that she's running to encourage a strong economy outside of Boeing's success and to improve government services.

Zarlingo is a communications technology consultant and a leader in the Silver Lake Neighborhood Association. His platform is not yet concrete. He wants to create good jobs and handle growth and homelessness, though he does not elaborate on how.

Demi Chatters has the support of several local progressive officials and is committed to building an Everett that supports working families. She is the clear choice for Everett City Council in District 5.