Sunsetting on very blue Everett.
Sunsetting on very blue Everett. cpaulfell/shutterstock.com

The county results for the depression-inducing 2016 presidential race make it clear that Washington State is not deep blue just because of Seattle, the center of King County. The cities of Tacoma (the center of Pierce County) and Everett (the center of Snonomish County) also made huge contributions to the state's unmistakable political character.

It is important to recognize these contributions because it brings the three cities closer. We are more alike than different. And what this means is that anyone who is in one of these cities should feel at home in the other two. Also, if you live in the rural areas and are young and want to get out, do not just consider Seattle, which is becoming too expensive (an even more pressing issue, now that we have entered Trump's America), but also Tacoma and Everett. These places are very much with it.

They have their problems, for sure. Tacoma, for example, needs to make vast improvements on its public transportation system (and indeed the city is making real progress in that direction), and Everett needs to find more progressive ways of dealing with homelessness and street drunks (and it too is making progress in that direction). And we all need to reform the way we are policed. The thing that's needed for what will be a very challenging period for reasonable citizens in this urban corner of America is an expanded inter-city sense of our political and cultural values.

The structure of feeling for Everett, Seattle, and Tacoma should be that of one big city. And this feeling will in the future have its physical form in the expanded light rail system we voted into existence. We share the same basic values, we live in the America that will not be represented in any way by the next resident of the White House.