SEATTLE — The general election is less than two weeks away and seven Seattle City Council seats are on the ballot. Three current council members are running for re-election, including Andrew Lewis in District 7 who is being challenged by Bob Kettle.
District 7 includes Downtown, Belltown, South Lake Union, and Queen Anne neighborhoods, among others.
Councilmember Andrew Lewis is finishing his first term in office after being elected in 2019. Before holding office, he worked as a prosecuting attorney.
Bob Kettle is a political newcomer and retired Naval officer who has served on several community boards the past decade, including the Queen Anne Community Council.
“In my first term, we set up a lot of really important programs that I want to see completely scaled to their full impact,” said Andrew Lewis of why he wanted to run for reelection.
“My concerns about the failures of the current city council to address public safety, public health and homelessness,” said Bob Kettle about why he decided to run for city council.
Lewis said his top priorities are affordable housing, climate change, and public safety.
“We need to make sure that when a community member calls 911 they get a fast, efficient response from a trained professional, be that professional a mental health professional that we met at the press conference today where I joined Mayor [Bruce] Harrell, or that professional be a firefighter, police officer, or EMT,” said Lewis.
Kettle said his top priorities are public safety, public health, and homelessness.
“We need to lead with compassion with those folks,” said Kettle. “But we also have to have the wisdom to know that we can't have secondhand fentanyl smoke on our buses, we can't have our small businesses’ entrances blocked.”
Both candidates said they support hiring more police officers and using alternative responses. like the city's new CARE team of mental health responders.
Kettle has frequently criticized Lewis for rejecting a proposed ordinance in June that would have allowed the city attorney’s office to prosecute public drug use cases. He said due to Lewis’s vote, 105 days of getting people help and holding people accountable were lost.
“I would have definitely voted for that ordinance,” said Kettle. “And in fact, I would have been a co-sponsor, along with council members Alex Pederson and Sara Nelson, because it's that important.”
Lewis said he voted against the ordinance because he felt like it treated all drug users as criminals and was not a well thought out plan. Lewis ended up co-sponsoring new legislation to allow for the prosecution of these cases. which is now city law.
“I understand that my opponent does not really respect these distinctions, but the nitty gritty of policymaking is making sure that in our oversight we are holding implementers accountable to deliver a plan that comports with our values and also a plan that works. And we saw last week that this plan is working, it is getting people off the streets, is getting people care, and it is holding criminals accountable and I am standing by that plan,” said Lewis.
As the two candidates each pledge to make downtown safer and a more welcoming place, one said he will bring a new perspective to the council, while the other said he has more work to get done.
“I'm going to bring that experience of my naval career, from leadership and management, but also being a leader in my community over the past decade, bringing that viewpoint, that experience from the community,” said Kettle.
“We need to bring people together, we need to solve our problems,” said Lewis. “That's what I continue to be dedicated to.”
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