Other Progressive Candidates
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.
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.
