Many more votes remain to be counted in Seattle and King County. As they are, the results are likely to shift. That said, Tuesday’s drop of ballots gave us a first glimpse into the political mood of voters in the county and city. Here are six takeaways from this year’s primary election.
A good night for the left
Tuesday evening’s results were a blowout across the board for progressives.
The more left-leaning candidate led in every major race: Seattle mayor, King County executive, Seattle city attorney and Seattle City Council.
It is a swing away from 2021, when a slate of moderates swept through the primary and general.
Some candidates looked at New York’s mayoral primary as hope times had changed. There, the much more left state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani swept Andrew Cuomo, who had more name recognition and institutional backing.
The primary results suggest their hope was not misplaced, as the wave of distaste toward the establishment seems to have reached Seattle and King County.
If history is any guide, the progressives’ leads will only grow as more votes are counted in the coming days, as left-leaning voters tend to vote later in Seattle.
Seattle mayor in fight of political life
The question coming into this election was whether Seattle voters were craving consistency in a chaotic time or change amid slow progress on affordability and homelessness. The early results suggest voters leaning toward the latter, as Mayor Bruce Harrell trailed progressive challenger Katie Wilson. After months of Harrell sweeping establishment support, he now suddenly looks like the underdog.
The two are poised to face each other in the general election, in what’s likely to be a fistfight between the two sides. Harrell’s campaign has already gone intensely negative toward Wilson, seeking to paint her as a proponent of defunding the police and tie her to controversial far-left figures like former Councilmember Kshama Sawant.
Wilson, on the other hand, has cast Harrell as out of touch and part of an establishment that has failed voters and empowered the rise of the populist right.
Colleagues vie to be next King County executive
Girmay Zahilay and Claudia Balducci sit one seat apart from each other at their day jobs.
Now, it looks likely that all their time out of council chambers over the next three months will be spent trying to defeat one another.
The two Metropolitan King County Council members are both seeking to move up to the county executive’s office and were in first and second place Tuesday night.
Both candidates are Ivy League-educated lawyers and progressive Democrats who have voted the same way an overwhelming majority of their time on the County Council. The campaign, so far, has been relatively genteel, with both candidates focusing on their own strengths rather than going negative.
City attorney in trouble
Tuesday was a test of whether Ann Davison’s 2021 election to Seattle city attorney was a fluke. Now, the evening’s results show Davison in a deep well of trouble: She trailed challenger Erika Evans by double-digit percentage points, a margin that is likely to grow as more ballots pour in.
Davison was elected despite running for state office as a Republican just a year before, on the promise of more strictly enforcing Seattle’s misdemeanor laws. She hoped her record of the last four years on crime and disorder would erase any bitterness toward her past affiliations with the party of Donald Trump. Voters so far are not buying in.
Evans is an experienced candidate, having worked under now-Attorney General Nick Brown when he was a U.S. attorney.
Progressive candidates Rory O’Sullivan and Nathan Rouse finished third and fourth.
A rebuke of the Seattle City Council
Council President Sara Nelson is also in trouble, falling well behind challenger Dionne Foster. Of the three races for Seattle City Council, the contest for the citywide seat currently held by Nelson has the most potential to dictate City Hall’s overall direction.
As the council’s president, Nelson has become the body’s figurehead and her race, in turn, something of a referendum on the council’s overall direction. Nelson has argued that she’s made good on her promises to improve public safety and make progress on fentanyl.
Foster, the former head of a progressive nonprofit, argues Nelson has picked the wrong fights while on council and has thrown City Hall off course.
“Democracy vouchers”
“Democracy vouchers” are pretty popular in Seattle, even though the vast majority of voters toss theirs out rather than give them to political candidates.
Case in point: Many more people voted to renew the city’s taxpayer-funded voucher program in Tuesday’s election (about 53,000 and counting) than donated vouchers ahead of the election (about 31,600).
Proposition 1 led with 55.6% in Tuesday night’s results, putting a 10-year, $45 million renewal of the campaign finance program on track to pass.
First approved by voters in 2015 for $30 million over 10 years, the program mails four $25 vouchers to each voter, each election cycle. Voters can sign the vouchers over to candidates, who convert them into cash.
Fans of the program say more people are running for office in Seattle and donating to primary- and general-election campaigns. Critics say vouchers are a bad investment because 46% of the funding has gone to administrative costs, and only 5% of voters gave their vouchers to candidates in 2023.
Tuesday’s ballot drop gave us a first glimpse into the political mood of voters in the county and city. Here are some takeaways from this year’s primary election.
The Aug. 5 primary election gave voters a chance to shape the direction of Seattle. So far, Mayor Bruce Harrell trails challenger Katie Wilson in the race for mayor as initial votes roll in.
View election results for the 2025 Washington state primary, including Seattle mayor, where incumbent Bruce Harrell is seeking reelection.
Katie Wilson is at 46% of votes tallied Tuesday night, leading over incumbent Bruce Harrell, at nearly 45%, to be the next Seattle mayor. Other challengers trailed.
This year’s the contests are seen as a barometer for how satisfied voters are with City Hall’s overall direction.
Hanging over the race has been whether Ann Davison’s election four years ago signaled a shift in Seattle’s views on public safety.
The last time there was an opening to lead Washington’s largest county was 2009.
Peter Kwon, a three-term member of the SeaTac City Council, led a crowded and close race Tuesday for an open seat on the Metropolitan King County Council.
Seattle Proposition 1 was being approved in initial vote counts, setting a course to continue the “democracy vouchers” program that began in 2017.
David Kroman: 206-464-3196 or dkroman@seattletimes.com: Seattle Times staff reporter David Kroman covers Seattle City Hall.Daniel Beekman: 206-464-2164 or dbeekman@seattletimes.com: Seattle Times staff reporter Daniel Beekman covers politics and communities.