Ethan Hunter is ready to jumpstart his political career and become the Doogie Howser of local politics. He voted in his first election in November, he just turned 19-years-old a month ago, and he’s running for the District 4 seat of Seattle City Council. He says he cares about affordable housing, he hates bike lanes, and he doesn’t support a statewide income tax.
He knows he’s young—quit bringing it up, Nathalie.
NG: What got you interested in the race?
EH: Even at a young age, I was always into politics. It was always politics and sports.
I’d always said I wanted to start my political career by running for City Council. I don’t think anyone took me seriously but people around me could tell that I was serious about making a difference in people’s lives. During these last midterms, which was the first time I was able to vote, I remember watching the results on TV and deciding this was something I wanted to do.
What is it about City Council specifically that attracts you to the role?
For people my age, there’s a sense that there’s not enough representation. People who are elected are—to put it bluntly—old motherfuckers. There’s nothing wrong with that, there are plenty of people who are 35 and older and 50 and older who are doing great things. I’m not advocating that the Council be made up of 20-year-olds, but I’m just saying that maybe there should be one person who can represent District 4. I mean, UW is part of it, there are so many younger people. But, I’m running to represent everyone.
What is it about you that equips you to meet the needs of constituents who have issues and life experiences that you just haven’t had yet?
I work 40 hours a week, I go to school, and I’m running for City Council. I know what it’s like to be swamped, work and balancing things. I have to pay my bills. I haven’t had the life experience many have had, I’m not raising a family, I’m not in any serious relationship, but I’m not sitting on my parents’ couch doing nothing. I live alone and I work my ass off. I hear the problems the people I work with are having—
Where do you work?
A local public eatery in South Lake Union. I’m working with people making minimum wage. Too many people we have elected to public office are wealthy. They can say they understand the working class all they want, but how much do they really understand?
If you were elected would you have to drop out?
I would. It’s a four-year term. I would drop out of school and leave my other job, obviously. I’m not going to take taxpayer money to be multi-tasking. It’s quite the salary—$130,000 a year. That’s not why I’m in it. It’s helpful. That’ll be my only job. Perhaps in the future going back to school will be something that I look at. At this point in my life, what I want to do is better the lives of people in Seattle, construct policy, and be an activist in government for people.
Is there an issue in District 4 you’re really passionate about?
I’d say when I talk to people the biggest issue, not just in the 4th district, is the homelessness issue. What I’m advocating for is the balance between, you know, there’s a lot of talk about whether we should be taxing big businesses with the head tax to fund affordable housing. The issue seems to be you can either be pro-homeless and pro-affordable housing or you’re for big business and you’re against any kind of public funding and taxing of businesses to get money for affordable housing. It’s not an either/or issue.
Did you support the head tax?
No. If we had the votes for it in city council, you could use it for leverage against, let’s just say Amazon, and say, ‘Alright, if you don’t put this much money back into the community for cleaning up the streets, for getting these needles off the streets, and helping out our most vulnerable citizens, we have the votes to pass the head tax.’ Obviously, we’d need to have the votes in city council to do that.
So you’re saying the city council misplaced their hand? (As readers will remember, they did, in fact, have the votes.)
Yeah. I would’ve approached it differently… Amazon is doing great things for the city, they’re supplying high-paying jobs. I work right next to their headquarters, so their employees, in a sense, are paying my bills. At the same time, Bezos is earning how much money per day? I don’t think there should be a statewide income tax, I oppose any statewide income tax. I’m just saying he needs to invest money back into the community for affordable housing and cleaning up the streets.
Again, what issues do you think are pressing for District 4?
Obviously, the issue around affordable housing, especially since some of the residents are at UW and looking to stay in the area. That’s an issue that I would approach.
The housing issue is just the biggest. And, I’ll just add, not just in District 4, but the issue of climate change and what we can do around public transportation in dealing with climate change.
I’m running to succeed Rob Johnson whose major thing was the bike lanes. I mean, what was it, the Cascade Bicycle Group that got him elected? That’s ridiculous. Not just that they got him elected but that his main thing was building fucking bike lanes.
Why do you think he did that?
Because he’s beholden to the people who got him elected.
Are you familiar with the issue on 35th Ave and the bike lanes there?
Yeah.
Do you support putting in those bike lanes or—
No.
Can you expand on that?
When we talk about bike lanes in general, there aren’t enough people riding bikes to make it worthwhile. There’s too many cars on the road. It’s unrealistic to say we’re going to put in bike lanes, but there aren’t enough people riding bikes. What are we gonna do? Tell everyone to go out and buy a bike? How many people are going to do that?
I’m also opposed to giving everyone a free Orca card.
You’re opposed to it?
There’s some people who can afford Orca cards, there are some who can’t. I think we need to help out low and middle income people who rely on King County Metro to get from place to place. We should be helping them out with their transportation costs—free and reduced Orca cards. Especially for students.
How do you feel about bike share?
I think it’s great. I think it’s great that you can download an app on your phone and for a relatively fair price you can rent out a bike. And they’re doing that thing with the scooters.
I think that might still be illegal here.
Oh, it might still be? But again, the people who are riding those are typically the people who are already riding public transit or walking. That’s great. I don’t know if it’s really helping with the climate issue or getting people off the road. The biggest thing we can do is incentivize people to use public transit.
How do you feel about your competition?
It’s going to be tough. I think my age is going to play a factor. One of the things I like to tell people is in Seattle we have 99 problems but my age ain’t one. This campaign is about making sure that everyone in District 4 is represented in City Hall.
On election night where will you host your party since you’re not 21?
Somewhere that’s all ages in District 4. I’ll let you know.
