SEATTLE — The general election is less than a week away, and one local race that isn't seen too often during an even-year election is the race for a seat on the Seattle City Council.
Current citywide Councilmember Tanya Woo aims to continue her role on the council and serve for the rest of the term, while opponent Alexis Mercedes Rinck says she's eager to step into the position.
Woo narrowly lost a race for the council District 2 seat last November but was appointed to the citywide Position 8 seat in January. Both candidates believe they offer a needed perspective on Seattle City Council.
“I’ve always worked from the ground level, from community," Woo said. "I think that’s the approach we need to address homelessness and how we build housing for the long-term. I have the experience that's needed to assess and address our priorities going forward."
Meanwhile, Rinck says she believes she'll bring a sense of balance to the council.
“I’m a renter and someone who doesn't own a car right now," Rick said. "I’m of a generation that’s starting to think about what it would mean for us to remain within the city of Seattle. I think I offer a generational voice and representation.”
Rinck moved to Seattle seven years ago to receive her master's degree from the University of Washington. She has worked for the Sound Cities Association and now works in policy planning for UW.
She said her top priorities are affordability, community safety, and addressing the budget deficit. She wants the ultra-wealthy and corporations to pay more taxes to fund city services.
“The most urgent thing is addressing our budget deficit,” Rinck previously told KING 5. “We need to be able to know how we're going to really do our work, and I think coming from a place of having a balanced budget is how we even start carrying out the work.”
Woo is a Seattle native who started a community safety group in the Chinatown International District during the pandemic and runs a workforce housing complex.
She said her top priorities are public safety, affordability, and addressing homelessness.
“I've done a lot of important work in all of my priorities,” said Woo. “I started community safety teams, de-escalation teams, I have done mutual aid. I've gone to encampments and tried to help our unhoused neighbors. And I haven't just started this work recently, I've been doing this work the last several years.”
As for public safety, both candidates want to see increased police staffing, more crisis intervention workers, and more community violence prevention programs.
“Addressing our first responder staffing means we'll be able to have faster response times and solve more crimes,” said Rinck. “When paired with that, investing in prevention measures to prevent crime in the first place. I'm really excited to see the proposed King County Plan for gun violence prevention.”
“I think we really need to focus on our young people and our children and making sure that we do have that programming available and the resources available to them to be able to go to late night basketball, to have mentorship opportunities, to have economic development opportunities as well,” said Woo.
Whoever wins this race will serve for the remainder of the term's position and will have to run for re-election at the end of 2025.
A city council election during an even-numbered year doesn't happen often. The last city council race held during an even-year election was in 2006, and the last time elections for U.S. president, state governor, and a Seattle City Council seat occurred simultaneously was in 1996.
Seattle University political science professor Patrick Schoettmer said that while he doesn't believe the outcome of this race will dramatically affect the council's political makeup, it is a unique opportunity for voters to offer direct feedback.
“We don’t often get an opportunity to get a vibe check one year in on a city council term," Shoettmer said. "This is actually a pretty exciting and distinctive opportunity for citizens of Seattle to let the council know where they stand.”
The high voter turnout expected for the presidential election could boost the number of votes cast for the city's Special Election, making voter turnout more representative, Shoettmer said. He explained that it might give the council a bit of pause, especially in addressing budgetary issues.
Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 5. People can also drop their ballots off a drop box or vote in person.