You’d be forgiven for mistaking Rachael Savage for a crunchy, queer elder who’s always one kombucha away from launching into a 30-minute tirade against Ronald Reagan. Savage, who owns The Vajra, a “metaphysical boutique” on Capitol Hill, wears jewel-tone lipstick, sports a face tat, pins delightfully gaudy broaches to her coats, and insists, as a longtime Seattle resident, that she’s a “city girl” through and through. 

But her recent introduction to the Seattle political sphere paints a different picture. Savage faced accusations of racist fear-mongering over a short, semi-viral clip in which she almost chickened out of taking Republican Attorney General candidate Pete Serrano on a tour of the Capitol Hill light rail station. She’s also half of the brains behind the newly launched “Savage Citizens” organization that’s leading a campaign to block the construction of a new 120-unit supportive housing building on Belmont Avenue in favor of mandatory treatment and abstinence-only living spaces. On top of that, she is teasing a 2025 mayoral run if Mayor Bruce Harrell, who has already overseen the transition to a tough-on-crime approach to public drug use, fails to call in the US military to bolster the City’s response to the fentanyl crisis. 

 

Her current political trajectory retraces the arc of Seattle City Council Appointee Tanya Woo, whose profile rose after she partnered with the King County Republicans to block an expansion of the SODO services hub in 2022. It also reflects the arc of State House candidate Andrea Suarez, who became a highly polarizing community figure through her work with the controversial organization We Heart Seattle, which conducts encampment clean-ups with a bootstraps attitude. Setting aside her Capitol Hill bohemian exterior, Savage seems more like the latest adherent to the burgeoning tradition of pearl-clutchers who promote a paternalistic, Treatment First NIMBYism that does more to generate poverty porn for television news segments than to actually help alleviate suffering, all in the service of trying to build name recognition with Seattle’s wealthier, whiter, higher-propensity voting bloc ahead of an inevitable run for office.  

The Racist Zoom

Savage introduced herself to many Seattleites in a semi-viral clip posted on Twitter by Republican Attorney General candidate Pete Serrano. The two filmed the video after Savage Citizens invited elected officials and candidates–including Mayor Harrell, gubernatorial hopefuls, and those running for attorney general–to join them for a walking tour of Capitol Hill. 

In the 25-second clip, Savage led Serrano to the main Broadway entrance of the Capitol Hill station. Despite thousands of Seattleites bravely venturing into the depths of the station everyday without issue, Savage appeared to bristle as the two approached the stairs to the mezzanine. 

“Alright, do you not want to go down?” Serrano asked, sensing her fear.

“Well, I’m with you guys, but I, uh, I feel…” she said. 

Then he interjected, “If you’re not comfortable, we don’t have to go. We can turn around.” 

“No, I’ll go with you guys. It’s good. You need to see this,” she said.

During this interaction, the person holding the camera zooms into a Black man sitting on a bench holding a grocery bag, strongly implying that a Black man made the station unsafe for Savage. 

The video sparked outrage online. Capitol Hill resident and local politico Andrew Ashiofu said in a quote tweet, “As a black male you are seen as a danger. I am more scared of running into this lady and her point[ing] me out as a criminal just because I am black.”

The Savage Citizen duo, which includes Joseph Souhara, says they would not have posted that clip as is. 

Savage said she was not afraid of the man in the video.

“I didn’t film it,” Savage told The Stranger. “I think it was unskillful. I think it was the luck of the draw that [the man on the bench] happened to be a man of color. We saw many people on our walk that night using fentanyl, mentally ill, in medical distress.”

Souhara, the other half of Savage Citizens, said he does not believe the videographer had “racist intentions.” He claimed the zoom allowed the audience to see if the man was doing drugs. 

“[Serrano’s team] was unaware of the reaction it would cause—they’re not from here,” Souhara said of the Pasco mayor. 

Serrano did not respond to The Stranger’s request for comment. 

The man does not appear to be using drugs or holding anything that resembles drug paraphernalia, so the suspicion that he may be using drugs in the first place seems predicated on racist stereotypes. But Savage insisted the zoom-in was part of the videographer’s style, not a specific reaction to the presence of a Black man during a conversation about safety. In the 12-minute cut of the footage that the campaign released later, the videographer employed a similar zoom on a Black man and a white man at a bus stop.

Still, Savage stands by her claim that the light rail is dangerous. She pointed to a recent article from KOMO that asserts Sound Transit has seen “a 53% spike in cases of reported passenger assaults, as well as an 80% rise in the number of reported attacks on transit workers.” However, Sound Transit attributes the rise to increased reporting due to added security at stations and on trains. Moreover, as Divest SPD pointed out on Twitter, that dramatic increase to the number of recorded transit-worker attacks may reflect a change in the definition of assault under President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill. According to Sound Transit, “Assaults against a transit worker now include when an agent of the transit system, such as an operator, fare ambassador, or security officer feels threatened by a member of the public. Previously, threats that did not include any bodily contact were categorized as Unlawful Transit Conduct.”

Battle on Belmont

The light rail clip made her local Twitter’s main character of the day, but Seattleites can expect to see more of Savage. 

Earlier this month, she and Souhara launched Savage Citizens to organize around the fentanyl crisis. 

“I thought someone else was going to fix this problem, I didn’t think it was my job,” Savage said in a video message. “And I don’t think anyone’s coming to fix it at this point, so I decided to get off the sidelines and get involved.”

So far, Savage Citizens consists of two members, and they have yet to officially register their organization with the Secretary of State’s Office. Souhara said they are working on it. If supporters click the big “donate” button on their website, the money goes to a “holding fund,” according to Souhara. The two claim Savage Citizens has received $10 in donations so far. 

Right now, she and Souhara are working to block the Downtown Emergency Service Center’s (DESC) upcoming 120-unit supportive housing building on Belmont Ave. 

“We’re for housing,” Savage told The Stranger. “We’re just not for drug-tolerant housing.”

Savage Citizens takes issue with the fact that DESC will not require residents to remain abstinent from alcohol and drugs. DESC Executive Director Daniel Malone confirmed that the building will not have such requirements: “It’s an apartment building, so the tenants have leases… leases typically would not require people to participate in treatment or demand abstinence,” says Malone. 

DESC and Malone believe people want to improve their lives, they just need the foundation to do it. 

“When you provide real, basic support that everybody needs, invariably it is accompanied by significant improvements in people’s lives, whereas simply requiring people to change their behaviors in order for them to have a safe, stable place to live, has not shown those same kinds of outcomes,” Malone says. 

Savage and Malone represent two sides of an ongoing debate that policy wonks see playing out nationally between a “Treatment First” and a “Housing First” approach to the concurrent drug and homelessness crisis. 

Savage wants to send people with substance abuse disorders to mandatory treatment facilities located outside of the city to “seperate” them from drugs. This abstinence-only approach helped Savage and Souhara recover from their addictions. 

But the Treatment First model does not work for everyone. In fact, much of the research shows the Treatment First model is less effective than the Housing First model when it comes to ending homelessness. A study comparing participants of a Housing First model in New York City to those in residential treatment found that after five years 88% of the Housing First tenants remained housed and only 47% of the Treatment First group remained housed.

Souhara argues that the Housing First model simply “warehouses” those dealing with addiction. His logic closely tracks with criticism from conservative commentators who claim that Housing First enables drug use, but research published in the American Journal of Public Health shows decreases in alcohol use among residents in one of DESC’s Housing First programs despite allowing alcohol consumption. 

Besides, the existence of the DESC building does not threaten the Treatment First model. Abstinence-only spaces still exist for those who will thrive in that environment, but Savage Citizens’ advocacy against the building does threaten the housing of at least 120 unhoused people who Malone says would face “indefinite misery” if the campaign is successful. 

Given the public feedback, Malone doesn’t seem very worried about Savage. DESC has seen and survived much larger, much more coordinated efforts to block projects. 

Send in the Troops

As Savage and Souhara continue their campaign to block new, supportive housing on the Hill, they are also pressuring elected officials and candidates to commit to calling in the US military. 

Savage envisions troops coming to Seattle to build field hospitals like they did during the COVID-19 pandemic. “They’re calling it an epidemic. Why don’t we treat it like one and get people the care that they need?” asks Savage. 

Savage also imagines the military bolstering numbers at the Seattle Police Department (SPD). From the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2024, SPD has lost almost 350 net officers despite increased recruitment efforts, according to the department’s latest report to the city council in May. She would also like the military to supplement the jail guard staff to allow for more arrests. 

Though Seattle and every other city has militarized its police force, aspiring officers do need to undergo law enforcement training before hitting the streets. According to a frequently asked questions page maintained by SPD, “Prior military or military police training does not count as prior law enforcement training, and you will be considered an Entry Level candidate.” 

It is unclear if Savage’s proposal would help to alleviate suffering among those with substance abuse disorders. The military has not built and staffed field hospitals to support drug treatment in any other US city, and when Governor Jay Inslee deployed the state National Guard to set up COVID-19 testing and vaccination locations here, they didn’t force everyone to go to them and take the vaccines. And even if the military did construct such a system, it would likely suffer from the shortcomings of the existing Treatment First model, which sees fewer participants housed long-term. And no city has arrested its way out of the drug crisis so far, try as they might. 

Still, the Savage Citizens duo sent a letter demanding such policies to President Joe Biden and other 2024 presidential candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Governor Inslee, the candidates looking to replace him, the attorney general candidates, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and Mayor Harrell. They asked that recipients pledge to call in the military by January 1, 2025. 

When asked about Savage Citizens’ proposal, Harrell’s office told The Stranger, “No, he is not considering this.” His office did not elaborate further. 

Mayor Savage

If Harrell doesn’t change his mind, then Savage says she will challenge him in 2025. Ideally, Harrell would adopt her policies—“I don’t want to do this. I’m busy,” Savage says. But she sees no other option if he fails to. 

In 2021, Harrell carved a lane for himself as the candidate who would more aggressively punish poverty via sweeps and arrests. With a commanding 58.6 percent of the vote, he won the race against former Council President Lorena González, who was haunted by the specter of the recent movement to reallocate police funding to other social services. 

And he seems to have stayed true to his commitments. Under his watch, the City has conducted a historic number of encampment sweeps, re-criminalized public drug use, failed to relieve cops of their all-encompassing duties in the recent Seattle Police Officer Guild contract, and reestablished racist, classist, banishment zones.

But that policing approach is not enough for Savage. She voted for Harrell and had high hopes for him, and she acknowledged his efforts, but she said she didn’t feel enough of a sense of urgency around crime, drug use, and homelessness.

From the progressive perspective, it may feel as if Harrell has done a lot for the Savage Citizen types, but Savage might be onto something. Polling from this spring shows about 43 percent of voters approve of Harrell’s performance as mayor. But a different poll from fall of 2023 shows that, despite high approval rates relative to SPD and to the city council, Harrell’s ratings suffer when it comes to his handling of crime and homelessness, where he sees a 61 and 63 percent disapproval rate, respectively. 

Savage thinks she can tap into that dissatisfaction and win the 2025 election. 

As I already mentioned, Savage’s story reads a lot like those of Woo and Suarez. She said both those women were an “inspiration” to her. Unfortunately for Savage, following in their footsteps may not yield much success, as voters have thus far rejected both of them. 

Woo ran for the District 2 City Council seat in 2023, but she came up short. Luckily for her, the conservatives she ran with secured a majority, their donors told them to pick her for an appointment, and they obliged. She’s so far fared even worse in her second attempt to win an elected position on merit. Her progressive challenger, Alexis Mercedes Rinck, delivered a decisive referendum on Woo, winning a little more than 50 percent of the vote to Woo’s 38 percent. 

As Saurez never lets anyone forget, she’s an elected Precinct Committee Officer in the 43rd Legislative District, but she hasn’t done well with the voters in her run for the State House. She won a measly 20 percent of the primary vote, coming in second to progressive Shaun Scott’s dominant 59 percent performance. 

So far, the Savage Citizen project seems contained. They likely won’t block the DESC building, no one’s responding to their request to send in the troops, and Savage’s electoral chances look slim. But that was one wild Twitter clip, amiright?

Hannah Krieg is a staff writer at The Stranger covering everything that goes down at Seattle City Hall. Importantly, she is a Libra. She is also The Stranger's resident Gen Z writer, with an affinity for...

28 replies on “Who Is Rachael Savage?”

  1. Anyone that disagrees with the Seattle leftist talking points on crime, drugs, homelessness, public disorder, and policing is painted as a Republican. There are very few Republicans in Seattle. You seem to be missing the point that a growing number of people on the left that live in cities are also fed up the progressive agenda on these issues which obviously has failed. No matter how much Hannah and others try to spin it, the quality of life due to street disorder and crime has dropped dramatically on Capitol Hill and Seattle in general. The safety issues are real and many of them are a direct result of progressive ideology on these issues. We need a new approach which includes consequences for crime and anti-social activities and mandatory treatment.

  2. @1 Those crises, though mischaracterized, are real. But progressive ideology does not cause their roots. Their roots are zoning and lack of rent control to make up for it and a lack of sufficient funding for housing to make up for the chasm and a lack of affordable or accessible healthcare for resulting substance use disorder, and a lack of support for disabled Americans who cant afford market rent here since 2013 even if receiving full social security disabiIity benefits (any many dont and must then resort to stealing etc)

  4. Geez – yesterday (as I sat in the Capitol Hill light rail station at about 9pm) a woman sat next to me, while she was holding an open umbrella, and tousled my hair!

    Sure, the city has some unusual folks, but what’s even more unusual is the idea of an actual Republican in Seattle. If the idea of a minority person holding a grocery bag is that upsetting, I don’t know how to help you. For Christ’s sake!

  5. “If you’re this hesitant to ride public transportation in Seattle, then we have some serious work to do”

    Yes, work on yourself. Get professional help to stop being such an irrationally fearful weirdo.

  6. “We’re for housing,”

    Savage told The Stranger.

    “We’re just not for drug-tolerant housing.”

    then let’s put an end to wine fridges*

    everyone knows booze is thee

    Most Dangerous Drug of all

    and you can

    Keep your

    Home.

    *& then there’s

    The Hard Stuff:

    McNaughtons!

    fer Chrissakes!

    & whattabout Stoli!

    Jagerfuckingmeister!

    the Real scourge

    is alcohol. just

    say, “No.”

  7. ‘a minority person

    holding a grocery bag’

    there couldda been

    ANYTHING in that

    “innocuous” bag!

    A smaller

    minority

    Person!

    omfg

    their ptsd’s

    gotta be OFF

    the Charts, Pat_L !

    but, Fortunately,

    Nothing that binge-

    watching FOX (for a Week!)

    AT TIP TOP VOLUME cannot Fix.

    WHAT!?

  9. So just so we’re clear, this woman spoke to a political candidate about her lived experience in Seattle and because she didn’t say the right things TS devotes over 1000 words to a hit piece on her? Hopefully this does the job of silencing anyone else who dares to have an opinion contrary to what they are supposed to think or a woman who has concerns about being alone in the city. This is another new low for this publication. I can only imagine the outcry if someone has written about the damage someone like Paul Chapman is doing. I guess when they go low, we go lower is TS new focus.

  10. @2: Thanks for nicely demonstrating why Seattle’s homeless response has failed so miserably. Seattle has experienced an influx of persons already homeless, often because of substance-abuse or other mental-health issues. The Stranger, and the politicians it has endorsed, has mischaracterized this crisis as one of housing-affordability amongst long-time locals. Treating a public-health crisis amongst recent arrivals as if it is a housing-affordability problem amongst locals has failed so badly, many homeless persons have died of overdoses on Seattle’s streets. (The Stranger deals with this tragic outcome via the simple expedient of ignoring it.)

    Housing affordability is a real issue in Seattle, but it cannot, by itself, explain the size and composition of Seattle’s homeless population.

  11. “Housing First” is such a dumb, bumper-sticker, statement. It’s right up there with “Defund the Police”. Is there a mole on the left who is secretly a Republican, and who makes up these dopey phrases?

    “Housing First” makes it sound like they just shove people in facilities without assessment of what they need. And, judging by the disastrous Renton Red Light experiment, that may be the practice.

  14. It’s MRS Vel-DuRay dear. Please make a note of it.

    I’m sorry I hurt your fee-fees by calling the phrase “Housing First” dopey. (I always forget how touchy Stranger staffers are these days, but it’s been a long time since I was in High School). I’ve actually done some reading on the concept, and seen where there have been success, even here in Seattle. Indeed the national focus on reducing homelessness is following that principle. My irritation is with the bumper sticker/easily ridiculed term of “housing first”. You have to look at every individual, and decided what sort of housing they need first and then place them there (and I’m not talking about “treatment first”. Think of is as “assessment first”). Doing that reduces the chances of having former Red Lions being set on fire.

  15. @14 well it’s no “Make America Great Again” or “Where We Go One We Go All” I’ll give you that. Then again I’m not sure we should be playing to the types of people who get really invested in catch phrases.

    “Housing First” clearly and unambiguously expresses exactly what the policy does: get people housed first, then work on solving whatever issues they may have. And like I wrote this policy is evidence based and it works. So I disagree the policy or its name are “easily ridiculed” except by people who know nothing about it and don’t want to, who again I’m not sure we should be playing to.

  16. Panic and confusion at The Stranger’s staff meeting as they discover at least half of Capitol Hill, their former home, no longer sees things as they do, and that they’ve evolved further and further leftward. And that weirdo alt people such as Ms. Savage now represent an evil Trumpist Other to them. Bad news folx. A majority of Seattle, and possibly even a majority of D3 – wants basic things like public safety and a lack of ongoing drug crime violent threat on our person. Does this make us all Trumpers too? The Progressives’ Dilemma.

  17. Alternatively we could go all in the other direction and call it “Remove Them From The Public And Worry About Their Problems Later” and dipshits like many of the commenters here would lap it up. I apologize Miss Vel-DuRay you may be on to something after all.

  18. @15 housing first may work for people who are homeless but not suffering from other issues. As it turns out putting people with severe addiction and/or mental issues in housing without any type of support or supervision is ineffective for them and other homeless people trying to get on their feet.

    https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-16/mayfair-hotel-was-beset-by-problems-when-it-was-homeless-housing

    https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/06/07/a-28-million-low-income-apartment-complex-descends-into-chaos-in-just-two-and-a-half-years/

  19. @18 ah shoot, better call Biden and the leaders of multiple other countries to let them know they’re doing it all wrong. Nevermind the academic consensus D13 has two anecdotes from the news media!

  20. @19 tl:dr I’ll just bury my head in the sand and cite random studies so I can pretend this is a one size fits all problem and ignore actual results that show different approaches may be needed in some cases.

  21. @20 a thinking person might wonder why outliers are outliers. The Portland building was managed by a for-profit company that was from all accounts entirely unresponsive. The problem wasn’t “housing first” it was a shitty management company–a problem by no means confined to low income housing.

    The LA hotel wasn’t even an example of “housing first” it was emergency shelter during the pandemic where drug use was prohibited.

    I don’t have my head in the sand your anecdotes just do not support your asserted point that housing first “may” work for people without other issues but is “ineffective” for people with addiction or mental health struggles. Your transparently went hunting for examples to support your preconceived belief, and you failed.

  22. thirteen123 dear, sock puppets usually aren’t so defensive. You need to hone your skills.

    Here’s the problem: The average person sees “the homeless” on TV or passed out on Third Ave, and then hears people like you speak piously about “housing first”. Then they hear about stories like District13regugee shared, or the the issues we have had here. They don’t know the nuances that you shared, they just see the whole thing as an expensive boondoggle that no one seems to be able to get a handle on.

    Also, it really doesn’t matter if it’s emergency Covid housing or a “housing first” program, or whether a “shitty management company” (translation: lack of oversight) was involved. There is apparently a lack of assessment prior to placement, with the addicted and mentally ill being thrown in with the economically disadvantaged.

    King County was still paying rent and utilities on the Renton Red Lion after they emptied everyone out of there after a resident set it on fire. Why couldn’t they repair the damage (which was minor) and give it to King County Housing Authority to manage, and fill it with homeless that have been appropriately screened? Why can’t we take a less from KCHA and SHA, who have been operating for decades with very little drama?

  23. @22 what’s your argument, that policymakers working to solve real problems should disregard research and comprehensive evidence in order to pander to people whose opinions are entirely based on select news stories? I don’t think that’s at all likely to result in effective solutions. Although it did result in the election of almost the entire current City Council, so there’s that.

  24. “….to pander to people whose opinions are entirely based on select news stories?”

    Yes, dear. At least to a certain extent. Those people are the ones who have to look at the squalor, and – much more to the point – shell out the tax dollars to support programs and housing. And it doesn’t seem like we’re getting much for those tax dollars, except for a continuation of human misery. Also, there’s a well-funded propaganda campaign to villianize the homeless. If you want to dismiss those voters/taxpayers and not mount a better defense than bumper sticker terms, that’s your right – but remember what happened to the old City Council (I know that gets you upset dear, but the facts are the facts). That could very well happen to all of the social service levies if the people don’t start seeing results.

  25. @24 I dunno SPD do a shit job and they always get more money. I think you’re dramatically overestimating the rationality of people opposed to helping fund housing, probably because you are one of them.

  26. There’s no reason to be pouty about the police, thirteen12 dear, and deflection is the epitome of defeat.

    Here’s the thing: You can cite studies until the cows come home, but you have to have some local success stories to back them up. And those stories are out there if you know where to look.

    That’s how sales work, dear. And you need to be a salesperson if you want to bring people to your side.

  27. In sales you also need to know when to walk away from the table. People like Rachel Savage, you, D13 etc don’t want to be persuaded you just want to confidently express your strongly held but uninformed opinions. And I like to make fun of you on the internet because my brain is also broken.

  28. thirteen12 dear, instead of being pissy because we’re not basking in your brilliance, why don’t you stop and read what I am saying: There are “housing first” success stories, and one of them is right here in Seattle. You either don’t know that, you can’t make the connection, or you feel like you shouldn’t have to, because you’re so smart.

    My point is that you can’t just say “Hi everybody! thirteen12 here, Housing First!!!” and expect that to win over anyone. Most people don’t read studies on homeless people for fun they only know what they see and what they hear in the media. You need examples and you need nuance. Sometimes, it is as simple as getting someone a roof over their head, and then they will engage in harm-reducing activities themselves (hint, hint). But you can’t expect the public to think that you can take someone who is passed out in their own vomit on The Ave, put them in a motel room, and that they’ll be ready for a job at Amazon in the morning. Everyone wants the homeless to have housing based on the individual, and what their condition. I assume that does play a role, and sometimes the people doing the assessment get it wrong, and things go sideways. In that situation, you need to know what happened and explain it, not just get self-defensive and make excuses.

    And again, know your successes. Here’s a hint to one of them: It’s on Eastlake Avenue.

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