Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? Nikkita Oliver

Why? I think that she really empowers the underrepresented communities that are in Seattle that are kind of getting not heard properly. I think that she knows out of the bounds of a normal mayor, so I have high hopes of her. Everything I’ve read, everything I’ve seen, even her rapping at [Candidate Survivor], I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you just get it. You’re for the people, by the people.’

As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? Affordable housing. Homelessness is a huge one. I know a lot of people have been talking about that, but I work in Pioneer Square so I see it every day and it really breaks my heart. It’s a huge issue. Just being able to make the city livable for everyone.

Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? Bob Hasegawa

Why? He’s a local guy. He’s from up in Beacon Hill. He’s an Asian guy. He has experience. He’s a union guy. He’s pro-worker. I know he’s been involved in some of the labor negotiations, maybe not with the city, but I know with Boeing, so I think he’s an experienced guy. When it was all said and done, it was a hard decision but I ended up going with Bob.

As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? There’s a lot of issues. I think they’re all obvious. Transportation, homelessness, housing, obviously. I work for the city, so I see the impacts of it all. I work with plan review. I see all the new construction that happens within the city limits. So those are the big things. And then the arena—that’s probably the only thing I disagreed with Bob on. He thought it should be at the Longacres site. I’m kind of pro-Sodo… but I’m OK with that. It’s still to be decided.

Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? Cary Moon

Why? I actually read The Stranger’s piece on who to vote for and I watched the debate and I thought she brought up some good points. I think there were a couple candidates that I could have gone either way.

As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? The price of living here—rent prices keep going up—and trying to keep prices affordable.

Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? The mainstream candidate.

Jenny Durkan? Yes, thank you.

Why? I liked her background as a federal attorney. I liked also the fact that she had worked in the mayor’s office. [Ed. note: Durkan has not worked in the mayor’s office.] There were probably five or six candidates that I could have supported but I thought, unfortunately, Washington—as in D.C.—sort of influenced some of my choice. I thought that she would be in the current environment a good mayor.

As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? I think the mayor is a local politician, not necessarily a national politician, but unfortunately national politics influenced this. So I felt that her positions on various local issues were good enough or adequate and that her standing in more national related issues was probably superior to that of her competitors.

So you’re talking about standing up to the Trump administration? Yes, safe sanctuary city and all that stuff, yeah.

Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? Bob Hasegawa

Why? We don’t need an extremist in the mayor’s office. Too many of these people take positions that are really extreme and it’s been enough trauma going on right now with Murray. I think [Hasegawa] is a stable, right down the middle type guy, working class.

As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? Affordability of the housing here. The rents are going sky high. The drug problem. You see a lot of people strung out on drugs around in the neighborhood. Crime. That sort of thing.

Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? Jenny Durkan

Why? I know that as a U.S. attorney, she has executive experience. She’s got a really good head on her shoulders. I feel like we share a lot of the same progressive values. I also had a chance to meet her at a candidate forum and asked her about community safety and criminal justice reform, which are big issues for me. I thought she had the most nuanced, best answer, which is that you can’t see those as two separate silos. You have to work on them together. I thought it was really insightful. She also just seemed very personable and down to earth.

As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? Probably those two intertwined, which is probably why I identified with her answer so much because those are hugely impactful for the work that I do.

Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? [In the Federal Way mayoral race] I voted for the incumbent, Jim Farrell. I think we had five candidates out there and he’s the only one who actually made the time to walk by my house and go to the door. I was able to have some conversations with him about some of his policies, in particular around what he was doing around equity and social justice in the city of Federal Way and what his solutions were around addressing some of the issues that were happening in the city as far as the growth and diversity increasing and then some of the recent activity that has happened in the educational system. He entertained my conversation, he gave me contact information, he was willing to have dialogue around it. So I could respect that. All the other candidates, the most I ever got was a phone call from one of their campaign folks. He personally came to my door.

I wish I could have voted in the Seattle mayor’s race because I think that politics in the city of Seattle influence the area and they’re a big player, a big tax revenue base. I think the direction of Seattle lends for the potential to influence all the other jurisdictions around. So, when you think about whoever is the point person in that position, they’ve got a significant role in our region.

Who would you have voted for? I would have voted, at this point in time, for Nikkita Oliver as another person who’s made a personal reach. I’ve met her in person and was able to actually dialogue with her. That makes it real for me. Reading a pamphlet, newspaper articles, online tools, that’s all great and dandy, but that real deal thing that resonates with me is having the ability to have an in-person dialogue and be able to actually ask those probing questions. If they give me a nonsensical response, I can kind of probe and get to put them in a corner. And some politicians will BS their way through that and others are authentic, like Nikkita. In my experience with her, she was real about it. She understands some of the things that are going on. I know she has kind of a liberal platform that some might consider on the extreme liberal end, but I think at this point in time we just need to be authentic and real about some of the issues that Seattle is confronting, whether it’s around race relations, economic development, educational infrastructure, transportation. These are the things that are real and I feel like there are some inequities in all of those areas.