Jenny Durkan had this to say—as reported by the Seattle Times—at Wednesday night's mayoral debate/shitshow:

“We are both very wealthy women, Cary Moon and I,” she said. “I’ve put $400 in. She’s put hundreds of thousands of dollars in,” Durkan said, exaggerating the amount, “that if she didn’t spend, it would probably be Nikkita Oliver and I sitting here.”

In a Facebook post after the debate, Oliver reacted to Durkan's comments by faulting both Moon and Durkan for getting in the race at all: "Neither supported my candidacy (though both had the opportunity to)... Reality is both women entered the race after me and had equal opportunity to support the candidacy of a qualified woman of color."

Back to Durkan...

Durkan was talking about fundraising, yes, but she strongly implied Moon did something wrong by getting in the race in the first place, not just by spending more of her own money. (Oliver has worked hard to delegitimize Moon's win over her and wound Moon in the general by citing Moon's donations to her own campaign. Durkan has done all she can amplify Oliver's gripes—because Durkan wants to win just as badly as Oliver wants Durkan to win.)

But if Durkan feels strongly that Oliver should've been sitting up there with her on Wednesday night—if Durkan thinks Moon should've stepped aside and allowed Oliver to move on to the general (and there's no guarantee that would've happened; it's just as likely Jessyn Farrell would've been sitting up there with Durkan)—wasn't it equally wrong for Durkan to run against Oliver in the primary? That's clearly Oliver's position: It was wrong for Moon to run against her, it was wrong for Durkan to run against her. Both had the "equal opportunity" to back Oliver, both refused to seize that "opportunity." And if it was Farrell who was up there last night with Durkan, Oliver would doubtless be saying the same about her.

Durkan seems to be in agreement with Oliver: Moon shouldn't have run against Oliver and/or Moon shouldn't have run the precisely the way she did against Oliver. But if it was wrong for Moon to run against Oliver in the primary, then it was wrong for Durkan to run against Oliver in the primary too. And if it was wrong to run against Oliver in the primary, wouldn't it be just as wrong to run against Oliver in the general? Oliver and her supporters would no doubt be making that argument if she'd gone through to the general. Would Durkan agree? Would Durkan step aside and allow Oliver to run unopposed?

Bottom line: Oliver is arguing, essentially, that all of the white female candidates who claim to be non-racist should have supported her instead of staying in the race. To do so, those candidates—Durkan, Moon, Farrell—would have to also agree with Oliver that she is as or more qualified than they are to be mayor. Is she? A majority of the SECB didn't think so.