City of Seattle

John Wilson, the current King County Assessor, is running for King County Executive. During his campaign, Wilson stated that he would fight for "safe and thriving communities," citing his experience as King County Assessor.

In 2025, Wilson was accused of stalking and harassment by a former domestic partner. This was an alarming and serious allegation, which led to the current King County Council calling for Wilson's resignation. He continues to deny the allegations and has rejected calls for him to resign as Assessor. John Wilson is not fit to be King County Executive. Wilson withdrew from this race in mid-July but will still appear on the ballot.

Amiya Ingram is also running for King County Executive. Ingram has worn many hats professionally, from serving as a government military researcher to founding her own athleisure brand. While Ingram's campaign includes some progressive ideas, it also features other proposals that lean more moderate or conservative. She is a proponent of establishing more housing shelters that offer wrap-around services to address the housing crisis and help those struggling with addiction.

Rebecca Williamson is also running for King County Executive. Williamson's campaign website is linked to The Militant, which is a weekly socialist newsletter. As of early July, they do not have a detailed campaign website available, and their platform is unknown.

Bill Hirt is running for King County Executive. Hirt has run for various offices around Washington state, primarily to criticize light rail. Bill Hirt is not a serious candidate for King County Executive.

Don L. Rivers is the final candidate running for King County Executive. Rivers is prioritizing homelessness, safety, and small business support. He proposes some progressive solutions, such as housing-first programming and investments in affordable housing. His approach to public safety also includes public health measures and points to international models of community policing. Don L. Rivers is running a progressive campaign, however, there are other candidates in this race with more experience in public service.

Ahmad Corner is also running for King County Council from District 5. Corner grew up in tight-knit neighborhoods where community was highly regarded. He is a graduate of UW and the founder of Young Professionals of Seattle.

Corner is running a progressive campaign with inclusivity at its forefront. He is a proponent of improving affordability, community well-being, and youth development. However, in our interview with him, we were hoping to hear more concrete policy proposals that he would implement or support if elected. His website also mentions that he will fight for opportunities for all, but lacks specifics on how he plans to achieve this.

While Ahmad Corner is an enthusiastic candidate, there are other candidates in this race with more relevant experience and policy knowledge.

Attorney Steffanie Fain is running for King County Council, District Position 5. Fain has spent her decade-and-a-half-long legal career at law firms and is currently a managing partner at one in Seattle. She is also the current board president of Harborview Medical Center, the county’s public hospital, a position she has held since her first appointment in 2015. Fain went through breast cancer treatment herself and leads on the board with a lens to expand equitable access to health care.

Fain has yet to release a detailed campaign platform as of late June. Her website also lists public safety, affordability, and addressing homelessness as priorities, but does not provide any specific solutions to address these issues. Without detailed policy proposals, it’s unclear what her approach to these issues will be. However, she uses coded language on her website that is more common among Republicans who are skeptical of essential services. Even more concerning is her extensive list of endorsements from moderate Democrats and Republicans, which suggests she would likely lean to the right if elected. Fain is not a progressive choice in this race.

Peter Kwon, a current SeaTac City Council member, is running for King County Council, District 5. Kwon has been on the council since 2016 and served as Deputy Mayor from 2020 to 2022. He is also the founder of the Neighborhood Locking Mailbox program.

While he declares himself a true non-partisan elected official, Kwon's work on the SeaTac council often leans conservative. In 2024, Kwon spoke in favor of the FLOCK camera system as a deterrent to crime. However, the ACLU is skeptical of these cameras as its developer will not allow an independent review of its surveillance devices. Additionally, when residents of the Firs Mobile Home Park expressed concern over being pushed out by zoning changes, Kwon doubled down on the issue, saying he's "done quite a lot" to help the residents. Peter Kwon will not be a progressive voice if elected to the King County Council.

Angela Henderson is running for King County Council. As of late June, Henderson does not have a published campaign website, and their platform remains unknown. According to her voter pamphlet entry, Henderson's campaign is prioritizing accountability and access to affordable housing and health care. Her platform does not include specific policies that she intends to implement if elected.

Ry Armstrong is also challenging Mayor Harrell for the seat. Armstrong works as an actor, union representative, musician, and entrepreneur. They are a trans community leader who wants to be a strong voice for Seattle’s LGBTQ+ community, which has become the target of Trump’s dangerous policies and rhetoric. Armstrong is the co-executive director of Sustainable Seattle, a social justice nonprofit focused on an intersectional vision of sustainability. Additionally, Armstrong has served on the Seattle LGBTQ Commission, advising city leadership on LGBTQ+ issues and policy priorities.

Armstrong is a staunch advocate for labor rights, social justice, and a city that works for everyone, regardless of income level. They aim to increase shelter capacity by 1,000 beds within their first 100 days, reduce public transit fares for working families, update land use rules to facilitate the construction of more childcare centers, expand community safety alternatives to militarized policing, safeguard workers’ rights in the Trump era, and more. Their progressive vision for the city is based on the principle that Seattle thrives when everyone can access the basics, such as groceries, rent, and medicine, and have their civil liberties protected by city leadership.

Joe Molloy is running for mayor as an unhoused candidate with a central focus on tackling Seattle’s housing crisis, which he calls a “state of emergency.” Molloy was evicted after losing his job during the pandemic, and he has been living in tent cities since then. He has personally seen how City Hall’s housing policy affects Seattle’s unhoused population, and it has prompted him to run for office to implement different strategies. As a current resident of Tent City 3, Molloy works alongside his neighbors in community encampment administration responsibilities and serves on the board of the nonprofit SHARE, the Seattle Housing and Resource Effort.

Molloy is running to combat the housing crisis with bold and compassionate progressive solutions while destigmatizing the city’s unhoused community. He wants to implement ideas such as a universal basic income pilot program, widespread and accessible health care, substance abuse treatment, a nonviolent crisis response program, and other systemic reforms that can raise the basic quality of life for all Seattleites. Much of these policy ideas fall under what he has termed the “Homelessness New Deal,” which envisions a three-step policy process to end the housing crisis, from relief to recovery, and ultimately to reform. Molloy’s lived experience, advocacy background, and community leadership make him an important voice on this issue.

Joe Mallahan, a telecommunications executive and Democrat, is also in this race. Mallahan serves on the board of the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center and has previously run for the office back in a competitive 2009 race. He claims to have leveraged his business background to drive down wireless prices for low-income communities while in his executive roles.

Mallahan has not released a detailed campaign platform as of early July, but says he wants to drive social justice-aligned progress in the city. He supports increasing housing opportunities for more people, addressing sexual assault in our community, developing social housing and tax credits for those struggling, and enhancing transit-oriented housing density, which he believes will also lead to a reduction in carbon emissions for the city. Mallahan also wants to challenge and refuse cooperation with the Trump administration, admonishing ICE as an amoral and unconstitutional agency that he would oppose regardless of municipal budget and personal cost.

Republican incumbent Ann Davison is seeking re-election as Seattle City Attorney. She was first elected city attorney in 2021 and has pursued a conservative agenda in office. Previously, Davis ran for Washington Lieutenant Governor with an anti-democratic platform, and she spent nearly two decades in private practice as a lawyer.

Davison’s approach to the lead prosecutor role in our city is to further divide us by casting blame on those struggling the most. Rather than investing in services and programs that can uplift our neighbors experiencing homelessness, addiction, or other hard times, she wants to use our criminal legal system to criminalize poverty and rely on our overcrowded prisons as a band-aid solution. In 2023, Davison unilaterally dismantled Seattle's innovative community court, which allowed people accused of some low-level offenses to access services without pleading guilty.

Davison also generated controversy by launching a highly personal campaign against Seattle Municipal Court Judge Pooja Vaddadi. Davison created an internal policy to exclude Vaddadi from all criminal cases, a nearly unprecedented move against a sitting judge elected by the voters. Davison faces a personal bar complaint over the issue, and the ACLU of Washington similarly sued her office seeking to overturn the policy.

Davison's petty and politically conservative agenda continues to hinder Seattle's progress toward making meaningful change. Seattle needs new, progressive leadership as our City Attorney. We lean toward Erika Evans for a fresh start that prioritizes equal justice under law.

Rinck faces numerous challengers from across the political spectrum.

Rachael Savage owns a Broadway business selling crystals, incense, and other spiritual goods. She recently went viral for what many called racist fear-mongering outside of the Capitol Hill light rail station and for campaigning against the construction of housing for people exiting homelessness with wraparound services on Belmont Ave. Savage is pushing a pro-business agenda that seeks to criminalize struggling Seattle residents to boost her bottom line. Despite experiencing addiction herself, Savage wrongfully believes that sending away the people who are most impacted by substance abuse and housing insecurity – to jails or out-of-sight mandatory treatment – will resolve these systemic issues in our community, but we know this is not the way to heal and grow Seattle.

Jesse James is a local rock and metal musician running on a mixed platform. If elected, James wants to abolish the sugar tax, build more affordable housing, expand the light rail, eliminate the democracy voucher program, which creates better funding equity in our elections, and support a strong minimum wage. He also supports the SOAP and SODA zones – a Mayor Harrell 2024 policy to exclude residents with drug use and sex worker histories from entering certain parts of the city, which has been strongly opposed by civil liberty organizations and leaders. He is not a progressive candidate in this race.

Ray Rodgers, a local bishop, is also seeking the Position 8 seat. Rodgers runs Circle of Love Outreach, a BIPOC-led nonprofit, and serves as the director and bishop for Full Gospel Pentecostal Assemblies. He sought the District 2 vacancy earlier this year, when he shared how community outreach and services enabled him to access a future full of opportunity despite a difficult upbringing. A tenet of his platform is leveraging his own frontline service experience to mitigate the housing crisis, which he believes is the root of many of the city’s current issues, through compassionate, wraparound support. Rodgers also supports sustainability goals, investments in public transit and utilities, as well as union and small business interests, and arts and culture programming, such as the Race & Culture Dialogue Series.

Cooper Hall is the final candidate running for Seattle City Council, Position 8. Hall is committed to progressive solutions that uplift marginalized voices and address systemic barriers to opportunity. He proposed reforming Seattle zoning codes and developing more multi-family complexes to address the current housing shortage. Hall also strongly supports police reform, including the conversion of precinct police captains into elected positions. While we were impressed by Cooper Hall's progressive voice, we recommend retaining Alexis Mercedes Rinck to Seattle City Council, Position 8, due to her extensive community involvement and endorsements from our partner organizations.

Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson is running for re-election for her citywide Position 9 seat. Nelson was first elected to the city council in 2021. She also previously served as a legislative aide to the city council in 2002. Outside of public office, Nelson owns Fremont Brewing, a business she started in 2009.

For the last four years, Nelson has been the leader of a conservative shift on the Seattle City Council that has sought to roll back hard-earned progress. She has prioritized downtown business interests over the needs of working people and taken an overly punitive approach to addressing some of the challenges facing the downtown core.

One of Nelson's first priorities in office was an attempt to reduce the minimum wage for app-based delivery drivers, such as those working for DoorDash, which ultimately failed to pass. In 2023, she opposed legislation that expanded the Jumpstart Tax, which required the wealthiest corporations in Seattle to pay what they owe our communities. She also worked with Republican City Attorney Ann Davison on legislation that re-criminalized drug use and possession.

Nelson has been the leading obstacle to progress on the Seattle City Council. We strongly recommend Dionne Foster for new progressive leadership in Position 9.

Also in this race is Mia Jacobson, a third-generation union longshoreman and mother of three who has run for city council multiple times in recent years. Over her lifetime, Jacobsen has watched the cost of living in Seattle increase to unaffordable levels. In previous campaigns, she ran on a platform of systemic change to bring greater access to the policy process and transform local governance in the digital age. She wants to uplift the community; however, she does not have a detailed campaign platform as of late June to demonstrate how she would approach the most pressing issues facing Seattle residents.

Connor Nash is also running for Seattle City Council, Position 9. He moved to Seattle in 2018 and worked at the WA Attorney General's Office. In his campaign, Nash is positioning himself as the opposite of Sara Nelson: someone who will listen to his constituents and meet community members where they are through positive leadership. He opposes Nelson's unpopular Stay Out of Drug Area zones and Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution zones. He also opposes the unnecessary criminalization of those struggling with addiction and homelessness. While Nash is running a progressive campaign, we recommend voting for Dionne Foster due to her extensive community involvement and strong endorsements from our partner organizations.

Also in this race is Eric Feeny, a tech sales professional and district parent. Like more conservative school board candidates, Feeny’s platform centers exclusively on academic excellence without drawing attention to how systemic barriers unevenly affect student success. His platform lacks specific policy recommendations, leaning more toward being reactionary than solutions-focused. Feeny has a vision of a hyper-individualized district, where the experiences of students from school to school or within the same one can vary greatly in terms of access to resources and opportunities. He has previously criticized some equity policy reforms and advocates for parental discretion in student experience.

We know that a strong public school system works so that every student – regardless of parental advocacy, wealth, or zip code – can access the same high-quality learning and foundation.

There are four other candidates in this race for the District 4 seat on the school board.

Laura Marie Rivera is active with the 36th Legislative District Democrats, where she leads voter registration and activation efforts, and also contributes freelance writing to Pacific Publishing Company. She serves on the boards of the Seattle Special Education PTSA and Coyote Central, a nonprofit organization providing youth education programming. Rivera has also previously worked as an educator herself.

Rivera ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Seattle School Board in 2021. Her current campaign focuses on a balanced budget, inclusive education, and maintaining access to programs such as the arts, STEM, and languages.

Neuroscientist and bilingual instructor Gloria Suella Menchaca is running on a platform focused on equity, access, and investment to ensure our students have the resources and support they need to thrive. Menchaca believes that her personal experience navigating public education makes her a strong voice to advocate for school board policies that promote transparent resource allocation, solutions to systemic inequities, and strong investments in our students. While it is clear that Menchaca is committed to an equity framework in this race, without significant community leadership experience or detailed campaign priorities as of late June, it is unclear what her policy objectives will be if elected.

Bill Campbell is running for District 4 on a more reactionary platform that defines itself in opposition to the current school board leadership. Campbell is a sustainability project manager and carbon consultant for a business consulting firm. He has worked with youth as a tutor for Bellingham Public Schools and as a youth basketball coach with the YMCA. If elected, Campbell plans to establish a citizen review committee to advise the board, hold meetings with hundreds of community members, and terminate the consulting services hired by the board. He also unfortunately supports increasing disciplinary measures in schools, allowing more privatization of our local schools, and reducing overall investment and funding in our schools. He is not a progressive choice.

Harsimran Kaur has not shared any campaign information in this race as of late June.

Several other progressive candidates are running for Seattle School Board, Director District 5.

Community organizer Julissa Sanchez is seeking the District 5 school board seat. Sanchez works as the director of advocacy for a social justice nonprofit that seeks to transform harmful systems that unevenly impact the most marginalized Seattleites. She previously spent five years working on education and advocacy for the Tenants Union of Washington State, where she has now transitioned to a board role. Sanchez also served on the city’s Renters' Commission for a two-year term and advised the county’s Community and Human Services Department on equity.

Sanchez grew up in the Central District as an ESL student, and her personal experiences in the education system have fueled her desire to ensure that all students have the support and resources they need to thrive. If elected, Sanchez aims to strengthen the relationship between the school district and local communities, making community-informed, transparent budgeting decisions that invest in our students. Additionally, she seeks to enhance inclusion and safety within schools, including through the provision of mental health resources, the development of inclusive and accurate curriculum content, and the implementation of accountable DEI policies.

Janis White founded All Youth Belong, a community nonprofit advocating for disabled youth, and is a former board president for the Seattle Special Education PTSA. She is also a district parent.

Resources for students with disabilities and special education needs are a top concern for White. In 2021, she penned a critical op-ed about how the district failed its students with disabilities during the pandemic, advocating for an adaptable district that takes all learning needs seriously and fosters belonging. If elected, she would oppose racism and ableism in our schools while fighting for equity policies to ensure that all students can access the educational opportunities they deserve. White also wants to heed students’ gun safety demands, restore Higher Achievement programs, and solicit the state for more funding for our schools. White is a good choice if you are looking for an experienced special education advocate for the Seattle School Board.

Vivan van Gelder withdrew from this race in early July. Although she is no longer a candidate, she will still appear on the primary ballot. We appreciated her progressive campaign and her extensive experience in equitable education practices.

Landon Labosky is also in this race. Labosky is the aquatics manager for the City of Covington and serves as an aquatics steward for the Washington Recreation and Park Association. Additionally, Labosky serves on the city’s LGBTQ Commission and works with the Washington State Institute for a Democratic Future. He is running on an optimistic platform with a special focus on improving the school experience for LGBTQ+ youth, which is more important than ever with the rise of MAGA hate. Labosky’s platform lacks specific policy ideas, instead affirming broad goals to offer high-quality learning for every student, increase funding across the district, improve communication between the school board and families, and partner with other municipal branches.

Visual artist, screenwriter, and district parent Allycea Weil is also in this race. Weil became involved in the district as a concerned parent back in 2018, advocating for her children’s school, Licton Springs, when the district attempted to dismantle the unique Native-centered, social justice program for a majority non-white student body. Weil has also spoken in support of more curricula on Black heritage and history for local schools. As of mid-May, she has yet to release a campaign platform, and it is unclear what her priorities for the district will be in this race.

We believe Song is the most qualified candidate with the most progressive endorsements in this race.