After King County Elections tallied up 87,500 more ballots in the 2023 August primary, progressive candidates have a little more reason to celebrate. As expected, the late votes leaned left, particularly in Districts 1, 2, 3, and 4, which cover West Seattle, central Seattle, and the South End. 

That trend should continue in Friday afternoon's more decisive count, which will likely include everything but challenged ballots and some straggling mail. The amount of ground the progressive candidates ultimately gain will determine how many zeros big business will need to add to their checks, and, in turn, who will need the most help on the ground. 

Let's run through the results real quick. 

County 

After this afternoon's ballot drop, former Northwest Immigrant Rights Project Director Jorge Barón increased his lead over Assistant Attorney General Sarah Reyneveld by 1.5 points. He now leads 50% to 29% in the race to replace King County Council Member Jeanne Kohl-Welles in King County Council District 4. 

In the race between Seattle City Council Member Teresa Mosqueda and Burien Mayor Sophia Aragon to replace King County Council Member Joe McDermott in District 8, Mosqueda added a little more than a point to her tally today. She's now up 19 points, 57% to 38%.

City

In West Seattle's District 1, former tech worker Maren Costa substantially added to her lead over tech lawyer Rob Saka, which now stands at 33 to 24. Yesterday she was only up by four. Phil Tavel still trails Saka by four points. 

Over in South Seattle's District 2, incumbent City Council Member Tammy Morales blew past 50% of the vote share and now leads Chinatown-International District advocate Tanya Woo 52% to 43%, a gain of four points. 

Up in District 3, which covers Capitol Hill and the Central District, former Transportation Choices Coalition Director Alex Hudson trails cannabis business owner Joy Hollingsworth by a mere 161 votes. Hollingsworth now only leads 37% to 36.5%. Hudson will likely overtake Hollingsworth in tomorrow's drop.

Continuing north up to District 4, Urbanist Father Ron Davis now leads allegedly bad boss Maritza Rivera 45% to 32%, a gain of three points for him. Will be interesting to see how close he can get to 50%. 

Former judge Cathy Moore still leads in north Seattle's District 5 with 31% of the vote. Stranger-endorsed equity consultant ChrisTiana ObeySumner continued to improve their lead over community advocate Nilu Jenks for second place. Yesterday they led Jenks by 483 votes, 22% to 19%. Today they lead by a pretty decisive 1,200 votes, 24% to 19%. Just after 5:30 today, KUOW reported that Nilu Jenks conceded, so ObeySumner will go on to face Moore in the general election. 

Heading west to Ballard's District 6, incumbent Seattle City Council Member Dan Strauss regained the size of his election-night lead over Fremont Chamber of Commerce Director Pete Hanning. His commanding lead increased 52% to 29%, up from 51% to 30% yesterday. 

Ending up in downtown Seattle's District 7, City Council Member Andrew Lewis's lead over Bob Kettle grew by a point. He now leads Kettle 43% to 32%. 

School Board

District 1 Director Liza Rankin added a point to her lead over Debbie Carlsen, making the race 61% to 22.5%. 

And in District 3, Evan Briggs added two points to her lead over Ben Gitenstein. She now leads 40% to 31.4%. Christie Robertson holds steady at 28%.