Seattle, Washington municipal elections, 2015

Seattle, Washington municipal elections, 2015

List of candidates Position 1 Position 2 Position 3 Position 4 Position 5 Position 6 Position 7 Position 8 — At-large Position 9 — At-large

Districts map

Issues

Ballot measures

2015 Municipal Elections

2015 Seattle Public Schools elections

Seattle, Washington

The city of Seattle, Washington, held elections for city council on November 3, 2015. A primary took place on August 4, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was May 15, 2015. All nine council seats were up for election.

From 1910 to 2015, Seattle elected its council members in at-large elections, meaning voters elected candidates in citywide elections rather than dividing the city into smaller districts. In 2013, however, Seattle voters approved Charter Amendment No. 19. This amendment created seven new districts within the city, each of which is responsible for electing its own representative on city council. Two council members will still be elected at-large. Elections for the Seattle City Council are nonpartisan.

The transition from at-large voting to by-district voting took place in conjunction with the city's 2015 elections. All nine city council seats were up for election, and the seven district members served four-year terms. Initially, the two at-large members will serve two-year terms. They were up for election again in 2017 along with the mayor. After 2017, they served four-year terms. A map of Seattle's seven districts can be seen below.

Incumbent council members elected in 2011 and 2013 were eligible to file in 2015 in the districts where they hold residency. Only six incumbents, however, chose to do so: Sally Bagshaw, Jean Godden, Kshama Sawant, Tim Burgess, Bruce Harrell and Mike O'Brien. Burgess was the only incumbent who ran for one of the two at-large seats (Position 8). Incumbents who decided not to run in 2015 include John Okamoto, Nick Licata and Tom Rasmussen. The city council appointed Okamoto to the Position 9 seat in April 2015, following the retirement of Sally J. Clark. Okamoto pledged not to run for a full term in 2015. One incumbent, Jean Godden, was knocked out of the race during the primary election. The other incumbents each won their general election. There were four new members on the council following the 2015 elections.

A total of 47 candidates filed to run for nine seats in the primary election. This field was over twice the size of Seattle's previous two election cycle primaries combined. Ten candidates vied for four seats in the 2013 primary, while 13 vied for five seats in 2011. Backers of the charter amendment that voters approved in 2013 argued that district-based elections would lead to more candidates. Daniel Beekman of The Seattle Times wrote that the numbers seemed to support this argument.

With some of the longest commute times and most expensive housing prices in the country, transportation and affordability were key issues in Seattle's 2015 election cycle. Candidates offered a variety of different solutions and visions for how to address these problems. You can read more about transportation and affordability in Seattle below.

Four seats on the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors were up for election on November 3 as well—read more about these elections on this page.

City council

Map of Seattle's seven new council districts. Click to enlarge

Candidate list

Position 1 — Southwest

August 4 Primary election candidates:

• Shannon Braddock a
• Pavel Goberman
• Lisa Herbold a
• Charles R. Redmond III
• Arturo Robles
• Jody Rushmer
• Phillip Tavel
• Brianna Thomas
• Karl Wirsing

Note: Amanda Kay Helmick dropped out of the race on May 20, 2015.

November 3 General election candidates:

• Shannon Braddock
• Lisa Herbold

Note: The race between Braddock and Herbold went to a recount due to a narrow margin after final votes were tallied. Local races in Washington go to mandatory recounts if they have margins of victory of 150 votes or less. Herbold won the recount by the same margin as the original certified vote.

Position 2 — Southeast

August 4 Primary election candidates:

• Joshua Farris
• Bruce Harrell a - Harrell was elected to the council in 2007.
• Tammy Morales a

November 3 General election candidates:

• Bruce Harrell
• Tammy Morales

Position 3 — East Central

August 4 Primary election candidates:

• Pamela Banks a
• Morgan Beach
• Leon Carter
• Rod Hearne
• Kshama Sawant a - Sawant was elected to the council in 2013.

November 3 General election candidates:

• Pamela Banks
• Kshama Sawant

Position 4 — Lake Union to Sand Point

August 4 Primary election candidates:

• Jean Godden - Godden was elected to the council in 2003.
• Rob Johnson a
• Michael J. Maddux a
• Abel Pacheco
• Tony Provine

November 3 General election candidates:

• Rob Johnson
• Michael J. Maddux

Position 5 — Central

August 4 Primary election candidates:

• Sandy Brown a
• Debadutta Dash
• Mercedes Elizalde
• Debora Juarez a
• Kris Lethin
• Hugh Russell
• David Toledo
• Halei Watkins

November 3 General election candidates:

• Sandy Brown
• Debora Juarez

Position 6 — Green Lake to Golden Gardens

August 4 Primary election candidates:

• Jon Lisbin
• Mike O'Brien a - O'Brien was elected to the council in 2009.
• Stan Shaufler
• Catherine Weatbrook a

November 3 General election candidates:

• Mike O'Brien
• Catherine Weatbrook

Position 7 — Downtown to Discovery Park

August 4 Primary election candidates:

• Sally Bagshaw a - Bagshaw was elected to the council in 2009.
• Gus Hartmann
• Deborah Zech Artis a

November 3 General election candidates:

• Sally Bagshaw
• Deborah Zech Artis

Position 8 — At-large

August 4 Primary election candidates:

• Tim Burgess a - Burgess was elected to the council in 2007.
• Jonathan A. Grant a
• John Persak
• John Roderick

November 3 General election candidates:

• Tim Burgess
• Jonathan A. Grant

Position 9 — At-large

August 4 Primary election candidates:

• Alon Bassok
• Bill Bradburd a
• M. Lorena González a
• Omari Tahir-Garrett
• Thomas Tobin
• Alex Tsimerman

November 3 General election candidates:

• Bill Bradburd
• M. Lorena González

General election

Seattle City Council Position 1, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Lisa Herbold	49.8%	12,459
Shannon Braddock	49.6%	12,420
Write-in votes	0.62%	155
Total Votes		25,034
Source: King County, Washington, "November 3, 2015 General Election Recount Summary Report-Final Results, City of Seattle Council District No. 1," December 7, 2015

Seattle City Council Position 2, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Bruce Harrell Incumbent	50.8%	9,532
Tammy Morales	49.0%	9,188
Write-in votes	0.25%	46
Total Votes		18,766
Source: King County, Washington, "City of Seattle Council District No. 2", accessed November 3, 2015.

Seattle City Council Position 3, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kshama Sawant Incumbent	56.0%	17,170
Pamela Banks	43.8%	13,427
Write-in votes	0.28%	87
Total Votes		30,684
Source: King County, Washington, "City of Seattle Council District No. 3", accessed November 3, 2015.

Seattle City Council Position 4, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Rob Johnson	51.3%	11,808
Michael J. Maddux	48.2%	11,100
Write-in votes	0.48%	111
Total Votes		23,019
Source: King County, Washington, "City of Seattle Council District No. 4", accessed November 3, 2015.

Seattle City Council Position 5, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Debora Juarez	64.3%	15,058
Sandy Brown	35.1%	8,224
Write-in votes	0.54%	126
Total Votes		23,408
Source: King County, Washington, "City of Seattle Council District No. 5", accessed November 3, 2015.

Seattle City Council Position 6, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mike O'Brien Incumbent	61.3%	18,830
Catherine Weatbrook	38.4%	11,802
Write-in votes	0.3%	91
Total Votes		30,723
Source: King County, Washington, "City of Seattle Council District No. 6", accessed November 3, 2015.

Seattle City Council Position 7, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Sally Bagshaw Incumbent	80.9%	18,576
Deborah Zech Artis	18.3%	4,213
Write-in votes	0.75%	172
Total Votes		22,961
Source: King County, Washington, "City of Seattle Council District No. 7", accessed November 3, 2015.

Seattle City Council Position 8, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tim Burgess Incumbent	54.5%	91,863
Jonathan A. Grant	44.9%	75,585
Write-in votes	0.57%	968
Total Votes		168,416
Source: King County, Washington, "City of Seattle Council Position No. 8", accessed November 3, 2015.

Seattle City Council Position 9, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
M. Lorena González	78.1%	128,588
Bill Bradburd	21.4%	35,293
Write-in votes	0.51%	844
Total Votes		164,725
Source: King County, Washington, "City of Seattle Council Position No. 9", accessed November 3, 2015.

Primary election

Seattle City Council Position 1 Primary Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Lisa Herbold	30.1%	5,234
Shannon Braddock	27.8%	4,824
Phillip Tavel	18.2%	3,156
Brianna Thomas	10.2%	1,765
Charles R. Redmond III	7.3%	1,268
Jody Rushmer	2.1%	368
Karl Wirsing	1.4%	245
Arturo Robles	1.4%	240
Pavel Goberman	1.2%	204
Write-in	0.3%	58
Total Votes		16,247
Source: King County Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed August 12, 2015

Seattle City Council Position 2 Primary Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Bruce Harrell Incumbent	61.7%	8,066
Tammy Morales	24.7%	3,223
Joshua Farris	13.2%	1,725
Write-in	0.4%	55
Total Votes		13,069
Source: King County Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed August 12, 2015

Seattle City Council Position 3 Primary Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kshama Sawant Incumbent	52%	11,675
Pamela Banks	34.1%	7,651
Rod Hearne	9.7%	2,168
Morgan Beach	2.1%	463
Leon Carter	1.9%	436
Write-in	0.2%	44
Total Votes		22,393
Source: King County Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed August 12, 2015

Seattle City Council Position 4 Primary Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Rob Johnson	32.8%	5,516
Michael J. Maddux	24.6%	4,138
Jean Godden Incumbent	19.7%	3,307
Tony Provine	14.1%	2,372
Abel Pacheco	8.4%	1,416
Write-in	0.3%	46
Total Votes		16,749
Source: King County Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed August 12, 2015

Seattle City Council Position 5 Primary Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Debora Juarez	39.3%	6,635
Sandy Brown	19.9%	3,360
Halei Watkins	14.4%	2,431
Kris Lethin	7.7%	1,307
Mercedes Elizalde	5.8%	985
Debadutta Dash	5.7%	968
David Toledo	5.7%	959
Hugh Russell	1.4%	231
Write-in	0.2%	27
Total Votes		14,718
Source: King County Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed August 12, 2015

Seattle City Council Position 6 Primary Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mike O'Brien Incumbent	59.1%	12,403
Catherine Weatbrook	22.3%	4,680
Jon Lisbin	13.1%	2,751
Stan Shaufler	5.3%	1,107
Write-in	0.3%	53
Total Votes		20,994
Source: King County Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed August 12, 2015

Seattle City Council Position 7 Primary Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Sally Bagshaw Incumbent	76.6%	12,292
Deborah Zech Artis	13.4%	2,144
Gus Hartmann	9.3%	1,487
Write-in	0.7%	117
Total Votes		16,040
Source: King County Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed August 12, 2015

Seattle City Council Position 8 Primary Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tim Burgess Incumbent	45.7%	54,771
Jonathan A. Grant	30.8%	36,937
John Roderick	15.9%	19,034
John Persak	6.9%	8,301
Write-in	0.6%	702
Total Votes		119,745
Source: King County Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed August 12, 2015

Seattle City Council Position 9 Primary Election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
M. Lorena González	65%	77,839
Bill Bradburd	14.9%	17,895
Alon Bassok	9.1%	10,946
Thomas Tobin	7.8%	9,361
Omari Tahir-Garrett	1.5%	1,854
Alex Tsimerman	1.2%	1,470
Write-in	0.3%	344
Total Votes		117,895
Source: King County Elections, "Official primary election results," accessed August 12, 2015

Districts map

Below is a map of Seattle's seven new council districts. Click the map to return to the candidate list.

Campaign contributions

The table below shows the amount of campaign contributions reported by each candidate running in the general election. The district totals do not include money raised by candidates who were defeated in the primary. Visit Seattle.gov to find more detailed reports on contributions.

Campaign contributions as of October 12, 2015
District	Candidate	Contributions	District total
1	Shannon Braddock	$134,306	$229,421
	Lisa Herbold	$95,115
2	Bruce Harrell	$216,339	$275,752
	Tammy Morales	$59,413
3	Pamela Banks	$324,760	$709,579
	Kshama Sawant	$384,819
4	Rob Johnson	$120,722	$168,147
	Michael J. Maddux	$47,425
5	Sandy Brown	$119,452	$227,250
	Debora Juarez	$107,798
6	Mike O'Brien	$80,316	$133,020
	Catherine Weatbrook	$52,704
7	Sally Bagshaw	$113,269	$113,469
	Deborah Zech Artis	$200
8	Tim Burgess	$361,291	$422,861
	Jonathan A. Grant	$61,570
9	Bill Bradburd	$78,835	$276,198
	M. Lorena González	$197,363

Issues

Two issues that appeared frequently on campaign websites and that loomed large over candidate forums in Seattle's 2015 election cycle were transportation and affordable housing.

Transportation

Several studies from 2014 and 2015 found that Seattle residents have some of the longest commute times in the country. A 2014 study by the GPS company TomTom ranked Seattle's traffic as the fourth worst in the nation, noting that most Seattle drivers spend an average of 83 hours per year stuck in traffic. A 2014 study by INRIX, an international data company, ranked Seattle's traffic as the eighth worst in the country and found it to be the twenty-first most congested city in the world. NerdWallet.com rated Seattle as the eighth worst in the country for drivers in 2015 and pointed out that "drivers face 48 hours of traffic delays each year or nearly 46% more than the national average."

Candidates offered a flurry of different opinions on how to address Seattle's traffic and transportation problems, including light rail expansion, an improved rapid-transit bus system and extensions, intermodal transportation options, more sidewalks, protected bike lanes and smarter urban planning.

Closely connected to the issue of transportation was the Vision Zero plan, an effort championed by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries by 2030 through road design, education, law enforcement and lower speed limits. Seattle's 2015 council candidates were generally supportive of the plan. You can learn more about candidate stances on transportation in Seattle by clicking the individual candidate profiles above.

Affordable housing

Expensive housing was another major issue in Seattle. The U.S. Census Bureau ranked Seattle as the tenth most expensive city in the country for renters, with a median rent at $1,172 per month in 2013. The housing website Zumper.com found that the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city in July 2015 hovered around $1,550, just $200 less than in Los Angeles. Residents looking to buy a home in 2014 faced a median housing price of $360,000, and a report from May 2015 placed Seattle home prices among the fastest growing in the country.

As with transportation and traffic, Seattle's council candidates approached the problem of affordability from a variety of different angles, including the development of affordable housing units; tax exemptions and incentives; a housing levy; rent control; relocation assistance for residents dislocated by redevelopment; zoning laws; and apodments and microapartments. You can learn more about candidate stances on affordable housing in Seattle by clicking the individual candidate profiles above.

Position 8 candidates on affordable housing

Tim Burgess

Jonathan A. Grant

In late September, Council President Tim Burgess introduced a resolution calling for the repeal of the state ban on rent control. This was a surprising move because a rent control proposal failed due to a split vote in the city council's Committee on Housing Affordability, Human Services, and Economic Resiliency earlier in the month. Burgess' opponent, Jonathan A. Grant, said this was an example of how his campaign had forced Burgess to move further on this issue. Burgess said he does not favor "classic traditional rent control." He compared his proposal to the previous one, which was introduced by Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata.

“	As council president, I drafted an alternative resolution that better captures the intent expressed by a majority of council members. That is to request local control for local solutions.	”
—Tim Burgess

Grant criticized Burgess' proposal, saying it was a "watered down" version of the previous attempt by Sawant and Licata. He also said, "The way he introduced the resolution was not meant to bolster that conversation, it was meant to end it." The council voted 8-1 to pass the proposal and Burgess said he was "grateful [his] colleagues have rallied around this more levelheaded language." Sawant, although her own resolution had not been passed, declared victory with a statement titled, "Mass Pressure Forces Establishment to Concede."

Despite leading the resolution's passage, Burgess said that it did not necessarily mean that he supported rent control. He said that prohibiting exorbitant rents increases, like being raised by 50 or 100 percent in a year, "is a reasonable regulation and would not hurt the housing market." Grant again took a jab at Burgess in a statement that read, "If Mr. Burgess is to demonstrate this is not a move to pander during an election year, he must reinstate all of the language from Council Member’s Licata and Sawant’s original resolution."

Races to watch

Position 3: Sawant vs. Banks

Pamela Banks

Kshama Sawant

The race to represent District 3 on the Seattle City Council between incumbent Kshama Sawant and challenger Pamela Banks attracted the most money of any council race. As of October 12, Sawant had raised $384,820 from 2,919 contributors and Banks had raised $324,760 from 1,131 contributors.

Sawant was elected in 2013 and is a member of the Socialist Alternative Party. Educated at the University of Mumbai and North Carolina State University, she worked as an economics teacher at the Seattle Central Community College before joining the city council. Pamela Banks, the CEO of the Seattle Urban League, earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington.

In the primary, Sawant took home the most votes, with 52 percent. Banks received 34.1 percent of the vote. The two swept the board, leaving the other three candidates to share 13.7 percent of the vote. Voter turnout was 36 percent for the primary.

One of Sawant's main points was her desire to increase taxes for the rich. Her campaign website read, "We need a Millionaires’ Tax to fund mass transit, education, and social services!" In a debate with Banks in October, Sawant proposed excise taxes on big businesses in order to support small business. Stressing her beliefs about class conflict, she said, "We all know how big business dominates politics and how their dirty game is played." On the topic of affordable housing, Sawant proposed preventing landlords from raising rent if they have pending building violations against them and creating a Tenant Bill of Rights to help people with past convictions find housing.

During the October 2015 debate, Banks criticized Sawant for missing council meetings. "You can’t represent the people without doing the work of government," she said. She also vowed to keep regular office hours for District 3 residents. Banks' campaign was also focused on public safety, and she said that Sawant had not been a leader on this issue. She proposed a "violence interrupters" program, which would have former gang members working to help kids going down the same path.

The charts below display the geographic locations from which each candidate received her campaign donations.

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Washington elections, 2015

A primary for the state House District 30b appeared on the ballot on August 4, 2015. Winners of this races and the Seattle City Council races advanced to the general election on November 3, 2015.

King County Director of Elections and Port of Seattle Commission Positions No. 2 and 5 races also shared the primary and general election ballots.

School board elections

See also: Seattle Public Schools elections (2015)

Four of the seven seats on the Seattle Public Schools were up for election in 2015. Only one incumbent filed to run for re-election, so the board was guaranteed to have three new members. Two of the districts required primary contests on August 4, 2015. Education policy has been a matter of discussion among several of the city council candidates as well. There has also been state legislation introduced that would make the Seattle school board a partially appointed body.

To find out more about the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors elections, see the school board election overview page.

Ballot measures

Campaign Finance and Elections, Initiative Measure No. 122

See also: City of Seattle Restrictions on Campaign Finance and Elections, Initiative Measure No. 122 (November 2015)

An initiative designed to increase public participation in government through laws governing campaign finance and elections was on the ballot for Seattle voters in King County, Washington, on November 3, 2015. It was approved.

Initiative Measure No. 122 established or amended several provisions governing the city's campaign finance and elections laws.

See this page for details.

Transportation property tax, Proposition No. 1

See also: City of Seattle Transportation Property Tax Levy, Proposition No. 1 (November 2015)

A transportation property tax levy was on the ballot for Seattle voters in King County, Washington, on November 3, 2015. It was approved.

Proposition No. 1, which was also called the "Move Seattle" proposition, authorized the city to replace an expiring property tax levy with a tax designed to collect $930 million over 9 years to be used for transportation improvements and maintenance. The measure was intended to raise $95 million in tax revenue over the first year of the Prop. 1 property tax. The property tax rate required to achieve this revenue was estimated to be $62 per $100,000 of assessed property value. This would not put the city's total property tax rate above the state-set maximum of $360 per $100,000. The measure dictated that the amount of this tax could be adjusted by no more than 10 percent by a regular ordinance of the city council requiring a majority vote. It was written to allow a three-fourths supermajority vote of the city council to adjust it by more than 10 percent.

Census information

The table below shows demographic information about Seattle, Washington, from the United States Census Bureau.

Demographic data for Seattle, Washington (2015)
	Seattle	Washington
Total population:	653,017	7,160,290
Land area (square miles):	84	66,456
Race and ethnicity
White:	69.5%	77.8%
Black/African American:	7.2%	3.6%
Asian:	14.2%	7.7%
Native American:	0.7%	1.3%
Pacific Islander:	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more:	6.1%	5.2%
Hispanic/Latino:	6.5%	12%
Education
High school graduation rate:	93.4%	90.4%
College graduation rate:	58.9%	32.9%
Income
Median household income:	$70,594	$61,062
Persons below poverty level:	13.5%	14.4%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Seattle Washington Election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Seattle, Washington municipal elections, 2015 - Google News

See also

• United States municipal elections, 2015
• Seattle, Washington
• Seattle Public Schools elections (2015)

External links

Suggest a link

• City of Seattle - Law, Rules and Information for Filers
• City of Seattle - 2015 Candidate List
• King County Elections - Official primary election results