-We've demonstrated ourselves as a team that is working hard.
-We need to admit when policy has failed.
-Seattle voters have two contrasting candidates
for City Council Position 8 this fall.
Progressive incumbent Alexis Mercedes Rinck won
the August primary with a landslide 78% of the vote.
Savage, a Republican and small business owner,
came in second with just under 13%.
-Not enough people know about my candidacy.
They don't know they have a choice.
-She's someone who aligns herself with the MAGA movement.
Hey. I'm Alexis.
-Rinck is the sponsor of the Seattle Shield proposal
to restructure the city's business tax system.
-Rachael Savage. I'm out here campaigning.
-Savage is a former drug addict
who says her lived experience can help create
more accountability to taxpayers.
The candidates debate.
-I'm asking for your vote
so we can join together to fight against the politics of fascism.
-I believe you are grandstanding
and trying to create a political career from fighting Trump.
-Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Rachael Savage
battle it out to represent Citywide Position 8
next on "City Inside Out."
♪♪
Welcome to "City Inside Out." I'm your host, Brian Callanan.
The race for Seattle's Citywide Position 8 Council seat
presents a stark choice for voters.
Incumbent Alexis Mercedes Rinck has been focused
on protecting Seattle against the policies
of the Trump Administration.
While her opponent, Rachael Savage,
says she supports the president, including his plan
to bring National Guard troops into the city.
That's just one of many differences.
In a nonpartisan race
where Rinck won nearly 80% of the vote in the primary,
it's the progressive popularity of Alexis Mercedes Rinck up
against conservative first-time candidate Rachael Savage.
And the battle for Citywide Council Position 8.
-My name is Alexis Mercedes Rinck.
-Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck is running for reelection
to continue pushing back on what she sees
as federal overreach into the city of Seattle.
-Our office took the lead
in fighting the Trump Administration
by standing up a dedicated committee focused
on federal administration and policy changes.
-Welcome to Seattle.
I'm campaigning for City Council.
-Her opponent in this nonpartisan citywide race,
Rachael Savage, is a Republican who backs Trump,
including his reported plan
to send National Guard troops into Seattle.
-I think it's a great idea because our police need help
and the military's great at building facilities
in a very short amount of time.
-Rinck beat Tanya Woo to win the Position 8
seat last year for the remaining nine months
of Teresa Mosqueda's term.
-And we've done a lot to be proud of.
-A former policy analyst for the Sound Cities Association
and the King County Regional Homelessness Authority,
Rinck won more than 78% of the vote in the August primary.
And is endorsed by "The Stranger" newspaper.
-And we'd love to be able to have four more years
to see through our vision for a city that works for everyone,
a city that is affordable, safe, and welcoming.
-I had my business for so long.
-Savage is a Capitol Hill business owner
who won just under 13% of the vote in August.
She's endorsed by Seattle's 36th District Republicans.
A former addict who's 35 years drug-free,
Savage wants a camping ban in Seattle and jail time
for public drug users who don't go into treatment.
-And I know that just asking an addict if they want help,
most of the time, they're going to say no.
So we need systems to compel people to take treatment
and I think that's the compassionate response.
-Rinck disagrees with Savage's punitive approach
and says her platform of increasing treatment and housing
options and reducing taxes on small businesses
will win out this fall.
-I think our campaign actually represents what Seattle wants.
-First-time candidate Savage is hoping
her work and life experience
and her tough on street disorder platform makes a mark.
-So once people know they have a choice,
I believe that the silent majority is going to come out.
-I'm happy to welcome both of the candidates
for Citywide Position 8 here to the studio at Seattle Channel.
Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, thank you for being here.
-Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
-You bet. Also, Rachael Savage.
Good to have you, too.
-Thank you.
It's a pleasure. -Thanks.
We had a coin flip before the show,
and Rachael, you're going to be speaking first.
Please tell us why you're running,
what qualifies you for this job, and keep it to a minute, please.
-Great.
My name's Rachael Savage
and I am running for Seattle City Council Position 8.
This is a citywide position,
so anyone can vote for me in the city of Seattle.
And I didn't expect to run for office.
I wasn't planning on it.
But what happened is I have a business,
a street-level business on Broadway in Capitol Hill.
That's just up from downtown Seattle.
And the crime, the fentanyl epidemic,
the severe mental illness, the lack of leadership of the city,
came right to my doorstep.
So I haven't seen any other candidates or Council members
that have a different plan to treat the fentanyl epidemic,
and the mental illness epidemic,
and to rebuild our law enforcement and our city.
So I'm compelled to run. I have a lot of experience.
I'm a businesswoman.
I'm a recovering addict myself of 35 years.
I'm a meditation teacher.
All of these things give me a lot of experience.
And I have a strong plan, which I'll tell you about in a moment,
to solve this problem, fentanyl, mental illness, law enforcement,
once and for all.
-Looking forward to that.
Councilmember Rinck, please tell us
why you're running for reelection.
Tell voters a little bit more about your qualifications, too.
-Well, I'm Alexis Mercedes Rinck.
I'm a renter and someone who takes the bus to work every day.
And I went from waiting tables next to the Space Needle,
to working on policy at the UW Tower,
to now serving on Seattle City Council fighting for a city
that works for all of us.
And not just the ultra-wealthy few.
And we had a record-breaking win last year
and since in my short time on Council,
I've been hard at work delivering
on what the people sent me here to do.
I've introduced legislation to build more affordable housing,
expanded our investments to support immigrant and refugee
families through legal defense.
And I spearheaded the Seattle Shield Initiative
which would lower taxes for our small businesses
while raising the rates on our top 10% largest businesses.
To fund housing, food access,
and the services people really need right now.
But I'm brought to this work because of my own upbringing.
I'm proudly raised by my grandparents
and that's because I was born to teenagers
who were caught in cycles of substance use disorder,
homelessness, and prison.
But I'm here today because of good public schools,
the Boys & Girls Club, and my local library.
And I stand here today a living testament to
when we invest in working families
and young people regardless of their beginnings
we can change generations.
And that's what I'm fighting for every day
on Seattle City Council.
-All right. Thank you for that.
I want to talk about one of the starkest differences
between your campaigns,
your response to the actions of our federal government.
Councilmember Rinck,
you're heading up a committee on the City Council
specifically tracking
how federal policy is affecting our city,
from the city budget to civil liberties of Seattle residents.
What are your concerns about the Trump Administration?
Why is it important to you
for the city to stand up this response to the president?
-This was a committee that I called for right
as we were seeing an onslaught of executive orders
from the presidential administration.
Executive orders that threatened local funding for many
of the services that people know, love, and depend on.
It seemed incumbent that we as Council have a dedicated space
that is available and accessible to the public
where we're talking about all of these impacts.
So that committee we've brought in
and it's a committee that I chair and lead on.
We've brought in our local experts
and have focused discussions exploring
all different policies.
From emergency management,
and it should be important to uplift that the wind storm
that happened earlier this year,
we did not receive a check from FEMA for that minor disaster.
And so look examining the future of things
like our emergency response preparedness
and our ability to respond.
Looking at things like homelessness services,
housing and our ability to also develop new housing.
The impact of tariffs on our local community.
Labor protections, gender-affirming care,
reproductive healthcare access, and so much more.
And it was out of the findings of this committee
where we came up with the Seattle Shield Initiative.
But also why I've been working on policies
and being a vocal advocate against certain policies
that I think make us more vulnerable to the impacts
of the Trump Administration.
Such as the expansion to surveillance technology.
-Okay, and we'll talk about that in a minute, too.
But I wanted to make sure I brought this up
with you, Rachael.
This is a nonpartisan race but you've made no secret,
you're a Republican.
You support many of the president's plans including
his idea to bring National Guard troops into Seattle.
You don't see the president as a threat.
You would welcome more of his influence in Seattle,
it sounds like.
-Absolutely.
Well, I'm a walk away from the Democratic Party.
Why? Because of the way our city is run.
We have crime. We have this fentanyl epidemic.
We have businesses going out of business left and right.
Citizens are scared.
Our public transportation is dangerous.
Anyone could get hurt anytime and does on the streets
and on our public transportation.
And the way that the city of Seattle
is treating the fentanyl epidemic,
and the severe mental illness epidemic, and our economy,
is killing our city and killing our neighborhoods.
So I think the Shield tax is ridiculous.
Number 1, it pits big business, our job creators,
against small business. Number 2,
I believe you are grandstanding
and trying to create a political career from fighting Trump.
I believe the job of the City Councilmember
is to represent the citizens of our city.
-Okay.
-And fix problems in a practical,
realistic way that supports people.
And I disagree with the Shield tax.
I think she should be working with the federal government
and she won't.
I, as a City Council member,
will work with the Trump Administration...
-Okay. -...to serve the citizens
of Seattle.
-I'm going to split out the Shield discussion for a second
but it sounded like there was a more personal piece to this
that I hope you can respond to.
-My opponent mentioned fear in our community
and I think we need to really dial in on the kind of fear
that we're also talking about here.
I hear every day from our neighbors
that are scared to go outside because they're
afraid their families are going to be torn apart.
This cruel deportation agenda has cast widespread fear
and has had resounding impacts on our local economy.
From folks not showing up to work to also a kid
who's not going to school because they're scared,
again, that families will be separated.
And I understand that there are a number
of challenges facing our city.
It's why I ran last year. I...
coming into this special election,
I was also very clear when I was running last year
that if Trump won the presidency,
that I would do everything in my power to ensure
that we are safeguarding our city.
And upholding the values that I know this city believes in.
And we had a record-breaking win,
215,000 people chose my campaign
and I take that as a very strong mandate
and a duty to follow through on that.
So yes, I said last year that I would do everything in my power
to safeguard us from the Trump Administration
and I am following through on that promise
to the 215,000 voters that chose me.
And serving out the best interests of everyone
who lives in our city.
-You put criminals, drug addicts that are using drugs,
above everyday citizens, above our taxpayers,
above our citizens. That's who you're putting first.
When do the victims of crime get representation?
-Okay. -When do...
-I feel like we're switching a little bit away
from what we were talking about with the Trump Administration.
But I do want to get into that
and maybe I can ask a question, Rachael,
that'll get us in this direction.
Because you began a signature gathering campaign in July
for a public camping ban ordinance in Seattle.
I feel like this is a congruent issue here.
That ordinance hasn't qualified for the ballot, as of yet.
Can you tell me where you are in that process
and why you're proposing that?
-One way or another, I will, on the City Council,
move to make public camping illegal in our city,
and through the voice of the people.
I think people are tired in Seattle,
our citizens in Seattle,
are tired of not having police to back them up.
If somebody pitches a tent in your front yard,
today, guess what? No one can do anything about it.
There's no backup.
So I think the citizen initiative,
such a powerful thing that we have in our city.
That can give the citizens a voice
if the City Council isn't going to do what needs to be done
about camping and residing on the sidewalks
and public places in our city, making it unsafe for everyone.
-Okay.
Response to this idea of a camping ban.
What do you think about it?
-Having worked in human services and homelessness policy
for a number of years,
I think it's really important that we fund what we know works.
And this is why I've been a huge proponent
for the encampment resolution model
as championed by through the state Right of Way initiative.
And this is a model that works over the course of a month
with individuals who are living in encampments,
developing a service plan meeting them where they are,
understanding their needs.
There's a lot of reasons
that someone could be experiencing homelessness
and we see co-occurring behavioral health conditions
or physical health conditions.
But spending that time by, over the course of a number of weeks,
developing a plan
and then placing that person into housing,
that is a program
that has successfully cleared encampments.
But not just doing that, actually houses that person.
And now we have two years of data on that program
that shows it has a 72% success rate.
That's what works.
That's something we can point to
and say there is success from this program.
We should be finding ways to scale this.
We have seen in evidence and studies time and time,
again, that sweeps don't work.
And I think from my conversations
with our neighbors,
they're recognizing that sweeps just simply push people
from different parts of the city.
It doesn't get to the core of the problem,
which is we need to house our neighbors.
We need to find ways to also meet people
where they are and broadly treat the conditions
that they may be experiencing.
-Sweeps don't work, a rejoinder to that.
-Well, it depends on what your goal is.
Her goal, it seems,
is to give drug addicts that are using drugs
and severely mentally ill apartments in the city
without the proper care that they need.
So what's happening in these tents is horrific.
We just saw a little girl,
someone get arrested for attempting
to molest a five-year-old girl.
There's kids living in these tents.
The law enforcement needs to be restored.
I don't understand
why you're against arresting people for committing crimes.
The goal here seems to be just having people housed,
not stopping crime,
not treating drug addiction with long-term treatment,
not treating severe mental illness.
Your goal seems to be putting them in a house
and then all the neighborhoods that these homes are in,
these housing first buildings,
which sounds nice but it's not nice.
Because they commit crimes.
They die in their overdose.
They steal from the stores.
Kids have to walk on the... walk in danger.
-Okay.
Can I ask for a response to that?
Thirty seconds and I do want to move on, please.
-I think it's important to note
that a lot of our permanent supportive housing programs
are moving towards,
if they do not already have, co-located services.
Such as partnerships with Harborview
or other behavioral health service providers.
That's something that they're offering.
We can always do better.
We should be making sure that we are holding
our providers up to the standards that...
especially if they're receiving public funding.
But here's also the reality
that we're facing right now with the changes from the Big,
Beautiful Bill and the impacts to Medicaid billing.
Many of our permanent supportive housing providers
that are currently housing folks
who have co-occurring behavioral health disorders
and other conditions.
Or have been experiencing chronic homelessness,
many of those behavioral health services...
pardon me, permanent supportive housing providers.
Rely on Medicaid reimbursement to make their model work.
The city does not fund them in full.
We're looking at a reality of losing ground
on the bit of progress
that we've made actually being able to bring
those folks inside.
That is the reality that we are facing.
-Because of Medicaid cuts?
-Because of Medicaid cuts, things that are...
were included in the big betrayal bill
passed by Congress. There's a lot in that bill
that has really harmful impacts
for our city to be able to scale services,
to be able to address some of these issues.
But I want to also touch on one final point
which is the fact that we have many kiddos
and young people experiencing homelessness.
We don't want to see our kids in encampments
and we know that the family shelter intake line operated
by Mary's Place cannot place an average of 50 families a night.
So we're talking about families
that are trying to get access to shelter,
that are calling to get help,
and we have nowhere to point them to
in our entire countywide family shelter system.
Those are real issues.
So homelessness, we know, is layered, complex.
There are many reasons someone could experience homelessness.
-I definitely want to talk about
who's supporting your campaign.
Councilmember Rinck, you won the primary
with more than 78% of the vote.
As of mid-September, you've raised about $263,000.
Tell us about the top endorsers of your campaign
and what that should tell voters.
-Absolutely.
Well, I am proudly supported by the MLK Labor Council,
which represents 220,000 important frontline,
essential workers doing the work every day
to take care of our city.
I'm endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates
because of my commitment for upholding
and protecting reproductive healthcare access.
And I'm also endorsed by every legislative district
Democratic Party organization in the city.
I think it tells voters
that we've built a really broad coalition from having Democrats,
our partners in labor, to also a number of advocates
in terms of protecting our civil rights.
This really sends a message that we are a campaign
that wants to build a broad coalition
to uphold the values of our city and take care of working people.
-Thanks for that.
Rachael, you won just under 13% of the vote in the primary.
And as of mid-September,
you've raised about $9,500 for your campaign.
Who's supporting your campaign?
Who's endorsing your campaign?
What should voters understand about that?
-Well, I recognize I'm an underdog,
but I believe that in the city of Seattle,
an open Republican getting to the primary
is a miracle, actually.
So first, I have the King County Republicans endorsing me.
This group that endorses the builders,
the common sense policy, law and order.
I also have the Seattle Police Officers Guild endorsement
and I'm proud of that.
And I still want to follow up on this question
about you believing or not believing
that arresting people for crime is appropriate in our city
to make sure that the citizens are safe.
So I'm very proud of the Police Officers Guild endorsement.
I am a pro-police candidate.
I want to rebuild our law enforcement.
And finally, Pastor Russell from Pursuit Church
endorsed me and I'm proud of that.
This is a group that had a worship service in the park
that she called a hate group. -Okay.
-And so I'm proud that this group that's free speech,
that stands for what they believe in, has endorsed me.
-A few issues to respond to there, if you'd like.
I know there was an accusation
about you not taking crime seriously.
There's this endorsement that Rachael was talking about,
as well, from this religious group.
Where do you want to go with that?
-Yeah, I mean, let's talk about public safety
and something that I have always been speaking to.
Which is a matter that we need to building
a public safety system that has quick responses
and right responses to given scenarios
that are happening across our city.
Scaling and right-sizing our first responder workforce
is tremendously important to that
and I've been on ride-alongs, I've been on our 911 dispatch.
I've also ridden along with the North Precinct
to see first-hand how our response system is working.
And at this point,
I think it's important to note where we've been.
I know there's been increases to police hiring
and we're in a mode where we have
not fully empowered alternative responses, yet.
We're in right now a system where there is dual dispatch.
We have this amazing CARE team that has seen significant...
-Community Assisted Response and Engagement.
Keep going. -Thank you.
Thank you, Brian.
We have this CARE team that is empowered.
I've ridden along with CARE team, as well.
They're ready to respond to a number of things
that I think residents are experiencing,
folks that are in need of additional support,
any type of domestic disputes, and so on.
But right now, we're in a system
where residents can't directly call the CARE team.
That's something that I have heard
from the Downtown Community Council.
They want to be able to directly call the CARE team
because they recognize
that a officer is not necessarily the best person
to be responding to a scenario.
And so being able to work to be able to actually empower
alternative response
so we can have officers responding to crimes,
violent crimes and solving crimes.
That's what I want to be working towards.
-I think that we need to restore our police department.
We need police arresting for crime,
and I didn't hear that you agree with criminals
should be arrested, by the way.
I believe misdemeanor crimes, crimes associated with drug use,
using drugs in public, shoplifting,
selling stolen merchandise.
These should be crimes that people are arrested for
and then we can offer them jail or treatment.
And my...
I propose long-term residential treatment
for severe drug addiction
and long-term residential treatment for the mentally ill.
Then we're not going to need counselors ministering
to the mentally ill
and to the severely addicted on the sidewalk.
I think the citizens of Seattle are sick of seeing that.
They want people that are suffering from addiction
and mental illness to get care with dignity
away from our streets and out of our city neighborhoods.
-Thank you.
I need to switch gears, if I could,
because another topic that's very important here.
Councilmember Rinck, your proposal to overhaul Seattle's
business tax structure.
This is Seattle Shield.
It's also on the ballot this November.
Also something we're going to debate here on Seattle Channel.
Keep an eye out for that.
We'll take up the question of voting for or against it, later.
But I did want to talk about what this measure would do,
why you championed it.
-Absolutely.
So we know already that there are major changes
in terms of federal policy and threats
to our local funding
that really impact our ability to meet the needs
of our residents.
So we developed this proposal
and worked alongside a number
of small business advocacy organizations,
small businesses, themselves.
To engage and understand
how B&O taxes were impacting their business,
what kind of a level of relief,
what that could mean for their business.
And I know that in my conversations
with small businesses,
of course, I'm hearing some of the points
that my opponent has raised about safety,
about being able to address needs.
But the big thing that we know is also facing small businesses
is just the cost to do business in this city,
whether it be insurance rates going up.
Whether it also be just continuing being the cost
of now these tariffs that are coming in, and so on.
So having this conversation
how do we make it easier to be able
for a small business to operate without sacrificing
on good wages for their workers.
And so coming up with this proposal
by being able to what I think is a rightful balancing
of our local taxes.
We know that Washington State has the second
most regressive tax in the country.
What does that mean? It's upside down.
Working people pay disproportionately more
of their incomes into our tax system,
so taking steps to try and balance our local B&O taxes.
But the last thing I note
is then really focusing these investments in the areas
that matter right now that are being hit hardest the most.
Where even our small business owners are recognizing
that these are the investments
that also help mitigate some of the challenges
that they're seeing in front of their businesses.
-All right, Rachael, you're a small business owner.
Some thoughts about Seattle Shield.
-Well, I don't like the idea of any more taxes
for business at all.
And the money that's going to be saved for small businesses
and be put on big businesses, it's not enough.
It's not that big of a deal, actually, when you...
when the city isn't providing the basic services.
Public safety, getting drug addicts off the street,
getting criminals off the street, arresting for crimes.
This is what big business and definitely small business wants.
You don't have the experience of business.
I've had to stand behind the counter every day
while severely mentally ill people threaten me
and my neighboring businesses, drug addicts steal.
I've had...
we don't have any more drug stores
on Capitol Hill on Broadway.
We've lost three drug stores and a grocery store.
Why? Because the crime is not being...
criminals are not being arrested.
And then we can encourage them to go to treatment.
They'll have to go to either jail or treatment.
So I want to say one more thing about the Shield tax.
-Briefly, please.
-President Trump put out an executive order
to solve the crime and disorder in our city.
This Shield tax,
you're blocking these federal funds
from helping the citizens of Seattle.
I have a problem with that and I think the voters do, too.
-Okay, a quick rejoinder to that, if you would.
Thirty seconds before closing statements.
-Who do we sacrifice along the way to get that federal funding?
And to date,
I've yet to see any jurisdiction get a swath of funding,
even as much as they may be caving to the desires
of this Administration.
But I think the matter of Seattle Shield
is also there should be some recognition.
That community investments make it a good place
for large businesses to be able to have
their workers work in a healthy community.
These are important investments back to the city.
We're asking them to invest back into the city
where they've been able to build their wealth.
And I think it's also important to note,
yes, the loss of grocery stores in our community
is traumatic for many. This is a concerning matter
and we know from our partners in UFCW 3000
that has been talked about.
We know that these large-scale grocery stores are seeing
record profits, actually, record profits.
Some of these losses in our local infrastructure
with grocery stores and pharmacies are due to
on the large corporate-level mergers.
And wanting to use profits from one line of business
to subsidize other lines of profit...
or other lines of business.
-Okay.
We've covered a lot of good ground here.
I'm sorry we need to wrap up but we're out of time.
Rachael, you'll get a final statement here.
Why should voters be selecting you?
I can give you 30 seconds.
-Well, my opponent, Alexis,
won't even admit that the grocery stores
and the business loss in our city has to do with crime,
and disorder, and the fentanyl epidemic,
and the mental illness epidemic.
And the lack of police. This is ridiculous.
I think our citizens of Seattle
are tired of not getting the basic needs, basic safety.
I think the business owners are tired of
not having the protection they need
and I think the big businesses don't want to be taxed
and have to leave our city.
I will, on the City Council, amend the drug use law,
allow the police to arrest for misdemeanor crimes and drugs...
crimes associated with drug use. I will build a temporary,
long-term residential treatment center for the mentally ill,
and the addicted, and our own Seattle city jail.
This is practical. This is reasonable.
And what you're doing with housing first
and the lack of law enforcement, this is downright dangerous.
-Okay.
-You should resign.
-Okay. Thank you for that.
Closing statement for you,
if you could keep it to less than a minute, please.
-The policies my opponent supports are outdated
and outright dangerous.
But I know that we've built a strong coalition
that stands against this kind of rhetoric
and these kind of policies that dehumanize people.
This is the campaign
that Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates trust
is going to protect reproductive healthcare access.
This is the campaign
that is supported by unions representing frontline workers,
our healthcare workers, our bus drivers,
our carpenters that are building.
They trust that we're going to fight tirelessly
for working families.
This is the campaign supported by the Working Families Party.
This is the campaign supported
by every single Democratic Party organization in the city
because they know we're going to uphold
core Democratic Party values.
You know, I was just honored by Real Change
as the Changemaker of the Year because we have taken
the past ten months to really work hard to deliver
on what voters have asked us for.
And I'm asking for people's support.
I'm asking for your vote
so we can join together to fight against the politics of fascism
and build a Seattle that works for everyone.
-Thank you both and we will be right back.
What are people saying online about the race
for Seattle City Council Position 8?
One person writes,
"I really want to vote for Alexis Mercedes Rinck,
a progressive, safe, and clean Seattle is what we all want."
Another says,
"Our city desperately needs Ms. Savage on City Council,
someone who actually has common sense
and wants to make this city safe and prosperous."
We'd like to know what you think.
Send us an e-mail at contact@seattlechannel.org
or find us on social media. Good to have that input.
Rachael Savage, Councilmember Rinck, thanks for being here.
We'll see you next time on "City Inside Out."
♪♪