Mayor Jenny Durkan’s name won’t be on the ballot this year, but it may as well be. How Seattle votes this November—when seven out of nine city council seats are up for reelection—may determine the success of the second half of Durkan’s first term, and whether she can win a second one.
Will voters elect a city council that continues to antagonize the mayor with veto overrides and ambitious progressive policies that threaten Durkan’s big-business supporters? Or will Seattle elect an Amazon-approved council that is ready to support Durkan’s priorities?
Durkan has grown increasingly active as November’s election nears. But while she busies herself electioneering—endorsing some candidates, smearing one candidate as “another socialist,” and lambasting sitting council members for what she described as poor primary-election performance—she isn’t too interested in talking about it. At least not with Seattle’s largest free newspaper.
