The Stranger may already have tanked Costa’s chances, by flogging the dead horse of defund. Costa said this particular rotting equine corpse didn’t smell bad (https://www.thestranger.com/elections-2023/2023/05/12/78988983/seattle-city-council-candidates-pick-sides-on-defunding-the-police-kinda). That may well be political poison in District 1, whose voters were cruelly betrayed by the current occupant on SPD funding, leading to her now leaving ahead of certain defeat. I doubt they’ll show any more tolerance for defund now.

"Costa continues her environmental advocacy at her new job at Microsoft."

Costa left Microsoft in February. Check her LinkedIn profile, Hannah. Pity The Stranger doesn't seem to have anyone left to factcheck stories anymore.

And I agree with what @1 said: there's no way Costa makes it out of the primary after the 'defund' endorsement. Courage of conviction is great and all, but winning elections in order to make real change is even better.

@3: It’s less “courage of convictions,” and more, “show you can learn from failure.” The question put to the candidates was, ‘“Do you believe it was a mistake for the Seattle City Council to pledge to defund the Seattle Police Department by 50%” during the 2020 protests?‘ For several different reasons, all of them excellent, the correct answer to that question is a loud and clear “Yes,” but Costa was the lone candidate in District 1 to say no.

Especially in the southern reaches of the district, and in South Park, citizens want police, police reforms, and police alternatives. Defund denies the first, assumes the second will somehow magically happen, and makes people nervous that the third also means fewer police. It’s a loser all around, and I agree it may cost her victory in the primary.

@5 Herbold no doubt did polling ahead of making her decision and saw that her approval rating (as well as the entire SCC) was in the tank. Herbolds backtracking on SPD funding and waffling on other issues was going to be a huge anchor on her campaign and her path to victory was going to be really small. You may think the current candidates aren't as qualified as her and that may be true but when you are forced to debate your own actions rather than your opponent in an election you aren't going to do very well. I doubt she would have made it out of the primary much less won the general.

@5: “Ever considered going into the fertilizer business?”

That’s rich. Here’s your previous attempts at “she’s quitting means she’s winning”:

“She retires undefeated, on her own terms and no one else's. All you haters might think you can gloat, but she beat you every time, you were impotent to stop her, and that's as much a fact as anything else.”

“She beat you in every election, you dumb fuck. What the hell did you think I meant?”

(https://www.thestranger.com/news/2023/01/19/78821554/seattle-city-council-member-kshama-sawant-will-not-seek-reelection/comments)

“After serving the City Council, as aide and member, for 26 years, she decided enough was enough.”

Yeah, right. Just like Sawant after 10.

You’re not doing anyone any favors by reminding everyone that Herbold trained under the very best Council Member Seattle had in that time (and possibly ever), Nick Licata. I read every edition of his Urban Politics e-Mail newsletter, and so it’s impossible for me even to imagine him writing dreck like this: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/06/30/44008034/we-must-end-the-conditions-in-chop-that-are-leading-to-violence-and-death

Yes, the sitting Chair of the Council’s Public Safety Committee wrote that. In what universe would sane voters return that author to that job?

You might want to take your own advice: “Don't project your fond hopes onto reality.”

@ 6,7:

Well you two have your own realities, and I have mine. Don't expect much representation, let alone any leadership, from whoever prevails out of the sorry lot of dullards who have filed for this seat.

@8:

“Don't expect much representation,”

Citizens of District 3 have gone almost ten years without any district representation of any kind, and that didn’t seem to bother you in the least, so why are you complaining, now that it’s District 1’s turn? (In your case, we might even call this turn of events, “karmic justice.”)

For those citizens of District 1 who voted for CM Herbold on the strength of her promise to fund SPD properly: what “representation, let alone any leadership,” have they enjoyed on that issue, from the Council’s Chair of Public Safety, since Summer of 2020?

“Well you two have your own realities, and I have mine.”

That statement does not mean what you think it means.

@8 it’s amusing that you think the majority of D1 has had representation much less leadership from Lisa “Waffle House” Herbold. She constantly flipped her position based on the flavor of the moment and rarely pushed back on any controversial legislation that as an experienced city official she knew was bad and/or harmful to the greater community.

@10
Do not sully the name of Waffle House by associating it with a politician.

@8: My sad reality has someone who worked for the great Nick Licata limping ignominiously out of office after a mere two terms. Licata was the epitome of the truly progressive pragmatist. He did his homework, analyzed each policy position, chose the best attainable one, and then did the hard work of negotiation and compromise, getting as much as he could, every time. It’s hard to think of behavior which could be more diametrically opposite from jumping on the defund bandwagon. Yet that’s what his long-term protégée delivered. As I wrote, sad.