Announcer: Seattle City Council.
The Seattle City Council
is the legislative branch
of government.
Members set the city's direction
by enacting ordinances
and passing resolutions.
The council authorizes
expenditures,
adopts regulations,
levies taxes,
controls the finances
and property of the city,
and performs many related
legislative tasks.
Of the nine
city council positions,
two -- Position 8
and Position 9 --
are at large, representing
the entire city
for a term of four years.
Positions 1 through 7
each represent
different areas of the city.
Only the two
at-large council positions
are up for election this year.
The top two vote-getters
in each position will advance
to the general election
in November.
The remaining seven
council positions
will be on the ballot in 2023.
All voters in Seattle can vote
in the at-large
city council races.
My name is Brianna Thomas,
and I'm running for Seattle City Council Position 9
because I'm ready to lead on the policies
our city needs to move forward.
I am proud to have led successful efforts that put
Seattle at the national forefront of workers' rights,
livable wages, and police accountability
from inside City Hall and in the community
as an advocate and an organizer.
For over a decade,
I've invested time and energy in this community.
I managed the Yes! for SeaTac campaign
that won the first $15 minimum wage in the country.
I led Honest Elections, which brought those democracy vouchers
that fuel our campaigns with people power
instead of corporate influence.
I'm a proud progressive and a proud Democrat.
I moved to Seattle in 2004 when I was 23 years old.
I found an apartment in Admiral Junction
and a couple of jobs to make ends meet.
I was able to chase my dreams in this city
because opportunity was abundant.
I'm deeply concerned that those opportunities
are moving quickly away,
particularly for people of color and working families.
From my childhood, growing up in a trailer park
in rural Georgia,
volunteering at our neighborhood soup kitchen,
to negotiating police accountability legislation
as chief of staff to the council president,
I have long felt the call to public service.
Last year, I was proud to be part of the council,
doing the work of holding this city together
during one of its most challenging periods in history.
As your council member, I will prioritize pandemic recovery
that supports small businesses and our arts,
music, and cultural communities
that are the vibrant backbone of our city.
I am committed to reimagining
our entire criminal justice system,
not just sentencing and policing,
and doing the hard work of building trust
between communities of color and law enforcement.
I will champion building a sustainable Seattle
that's affordable,
transit-connected, and accessible,
and allows seniors to age in place with respect and dignity.
Seattle deserves compassionate and effective leadership
to navigate these unprecedented times.
I'm running for Seattle City Council
because it's time for real results,
not just rhetoric, lifting all of our neighbors up
and making sure no one is left behind.
I humbly ask for your support.
My name is Lindsay McHaffie,
and I am running for Seattle City Council
Position 9.
I believe I would be a good fit for the job
because I have experience being low income,
struggling with systemic oppression.
If a person is behind on their child support payments,
the state will suspend the person's driver's license.
How is that person supposed to get to work
to make their payments if they can't drive to work?
New roads being built are getting tolls added onto them.
The Highway 99 tunnel was built to replace the viaduct.
A toll has been added on,
so now only people who can afford to pay can use it.
This is a vivid example of class disparity
that the city is supporting.
Victimless crimes exist
solely for the purpose of generating revenue,
but the people being targeted with these laws are forced
to choose between paying fines or caring for their families.
Much like our elderly, living on fixed incomes,
being forced to choose between their necessary medications
or food. I believe that government
should not make laws that complicate life.
People should be free to be true to themselves,
regardless of how others feel about it.
Laws need to be written
with maintaining the people's freedoms as a first priority,
not how much money can be generated from taxes.
Seattle needs to learn to live within its means.
The city is literally crumbling down around us all,
and everything being done, from my standpoint,
is done reactively.
It is time to start being proactive about our city
and all of the people living within it.
The struggle is real,
and it doesn't have to be.
With your help, I believe we can revive this dying city
and build it back greater and more affordable
than it was before.
♪♪
In the last year,
Seattle has had a reckoning with racial inequality,
a battle with a devastating pandemic,
and is facing a continued climate crisis.
The question before Seattle voters is straightforward.
Will we continue to rely on the policies of the past,
many of which brought us to this point,
or is it time for a fresh perspective
rooted in community care? I'm Nikkita Oliver.
I use they/them pronouns, and I am running
for Seattle City Council Citywide Position 9.
I'm an artist, adjunct professor
at Seattle University School of Law, an executive director,
and an attorney who has supported clients
through school exclusion, eviction,
and anti-discrimination cases.
When elected, I will govern with a conviction
that those most impacted by the problems facing our city
are those who have the solutions we most need.
A vote for the Nikkita for 9 campaign is a vote
for a city that embodies racial and economic justice,
a city with labor protections for freelancers
and prevailing wages and health care
for frontline workers,
a city that enacts progressive revenue to build housing for all
and meet basic needs of residents,
a city that takes bold action to address the climate crisis,
including working towards free transit
and reforming a zoning code
that restricts our supply of affordable housing,
forcing longer commute times between work and home.
My campaign has garnered more democracy vouchers
than any other Position 9 race
because we've built community power from the ground up,
from the South End to the North End,
among renters and vulnerable homeowners,
seniors at risk of displacement, and young people alike.
I've been endorsed in this race by UFCW Local 21,
SEIU Local 925, author Ijeoma Oluo,
Seattle City Council members Tammy Morales
and Mike O'Brien,
County Council members Girmay Zahilay
and Larry Gossett,
and Washington State Representatives
Kirsten Harris-Talley and Tarra Simmons.
With their support and yours, we're going to build the city
we say we are, a Seattle where all are welcome
and none are excluded.
Hi, Seattle. My name's Xtian Gunther.
In addition to hopefully being your city councilor,
I'm a creative, eco-conscious marketer,
publicist, business developer, and music maker.
I've worked with mayors, councilors, celebrities,
and some people endorse me.
You can go to my website, xtiangunther.com,
for specifics. I'm running to represent you
because the challenging crossroads
we're at demand bold, swift action,
well-informed, specific,
practical, and sustainable long-term plans.
But I haven't heard much of those.
So I jumped in. Through my extensive work
for the nonprofit, natural foods, and music industries,
I've formed innovative public-private partnerships
that make dollars go further, getting stuff done.
For decades, politicians here rolled out 10-year
end homelessness plans, declared homelessness a crisis,
and congratulated themselves
for producing hundreds of units of social housing
when many thousands were needed.
Let's end the inadequate piecemeal approaches.
I'll introduce legislation
to create a housing public utility district
to build the many thousand green,
supportive, affordable rental
and first-time homebuyer units we need throughout Seattle.
And our wealthy city must have adequate hygiene stations
and public restrooms for all.
I have detailed plans.
We must overhaul our public safety system,
starting with residency requirements.
A small, well-trained, elite armed division
should only supplement a larger public safety department
that addresses the needs of our growing city.
We can provide much day-to-day safety via bylaw,
mental health, and community officers without guns.
As the only member on council
with significant arts industry experience,
I'll work to create housing, financial opportunities,
and relief for our music, film, theater, culinary,
and other arts creators who define Seattle so much.
Let's equip community centers with art and music
work studios and commissary kitchens
geared especially toward those historically marginalized
and make Seattle Subway's comprehensive subway system
Vision Map a reality, prioritizing humans over autos,
and adopt a comprehensive gray water reuse plan.
My proposals come with funding mechanisms,
so if you want bold, systemic change for the better,
you have to elect bold leaders.
I hope to earn your vote.
Seattle is an incredible city,
but unfortunately, our city leadership is failing us.
My name is Sara Nelson, and I'm running because
Seattle deserves a city council that keeps its promises.
Like you, I've watched with frustration
as the city struggles on issues
like homelessness and public safety.
It's time for a leader that offers real solutions,
not the same old ideological rhetoric.
I have a track record of putting my progressive values
to work to get things done.
As former aide to council member Richard Conlin,
I worked to pass landmark legislation while ensuring that
Seattle delivered on its basic commitments.
On city council, I'll do the same.
My focus will be making sure
Seattle helps the vulnerable by working with proven service
providers using clear and transparent metrics for success.
Public safety is also a crucial issue in this race.
I strongly support the Black Lives Matter
movement's urgent call for police reform,
and I don't believe defunding is the answer.
We need to commit to keeping all communities safe
while holding people accountable for their actions
and then make appropriate funding decisions.
It's important that every Seattleite can feel confident
in a fast, effective response when they call 911.
As we recover from the COVID pandemic
and as the co-founder of Fremont Brewing,
I'll bring the critical perspective
of a small-business owner to council.
I'll also bring the commitment to environmental sustainability
and treating people right that Fremont Brewing is known for.
I'm proud of my broad base of support.
I've got the sole endorsement of the Seattle firefighters,
the Building and Construction Trades Council,
ironworkers, environmental leaders like Denis Hayes,
former Representative Gael Tarleton,
former Seattle City Councilmembers Conlin,
Wills, Rasmussen, Drago, and Godden, and many more
you can see at my website, saraforcitycouncil.com.
My name is Sara Nelson, and with your vote,
I'll fight for a city council that keeps its promises.
Hi. My name is Corey Eichner,
and I'm running for Seattle City Council Position 9.
I know that I'm a new face in
Seattle politics, and that is because
I have spent my career as an educator.
For the last 18 years,
I've gone to work every day, serving our youth as a teacher
and assistant principal in our public schools.
I have proudly served our students across our communities
from Shoreline to South King County,
where I have fought for reform and investments
in our education system to ensure that our students
and families furthest from educational justice
have the access and opportunities
they need to succeed.
We are at a critical moment in our city.
Inequities continue to exist.
We need to advance reform
to bring change to our criminal justice system
that embraces a system of restoration
and not punitive consequences, to act with immediacy
and prioritize regional funding that will provide rapid
rehousing and support to our neighbors without homes
so that we can move them to a path of success,
to be transformative with our infrastructure
that grows our mass transit and utilizes density planning
to actually provide access to affordable housing,
new jobs, parks, and public resources,
and to finally systemize an action plan
to combat climate change and the environmental impacts
our decisions have on the future.
We all know these are not new challenges to us.
Even though most of our city government
share similar progressive values,
there is a polarization
that stops collaboration and progress.
We need new leaders able to push past this divide.
As a city councilmember, I'll get us back to the basics.
Equitable and progressive policy that solves problems
in a practical, "get things done" kind of way.
Seattle will continue down the wrong direction
if we don't change paths,
and I know that my fact-based, collaborative approach
can show real progress for Seattle.
Thank you, and I ask for your vote.