Today King County Elections dropped 98,000 ballots countywide, including roughly 40,000 from Seattle. After today's posting, the department estimates something like 125,000 to 150,000 ballots left to count countywide and about 65,000 left in Seattle.
As expected, the late ballots leaned left but not far enough left to save the progressives in the Seattle races who needed saving.
Here's where the races stand:
In the mayoral race, former City Council President Bruce Harrell leads current City Council President Lorena González 62 to 38, decreasing his lead to 24, which is plenty enough to secure a win.
Harrell basically declared victory in an email to supporters earlier this afternoon, saying "We did it. While several media outlets called the race for Mayor on election night, yesterday’s release of new ballots confirms the fact that our overwhelming 30% election night margin is as durable as the coalition we built over the course of this campaign."
Shortly after the ballots dropped, González conceded:
With today’s ballot drop, it’s clear that Bruce Harrell will be the next Mayor of Seattle. Earlier, I called him to congratulate him on a hard-fought race and wished him much luck in his efforts to make progress on the challenges Seattle faces.
She thanked her supporters, reminded people that Harrell "made commitments in response to our pressure — to not criminalize poverty, to expand progressive revenue sources, to demilitarize the police and invest in alternative responses to public safety calls, and to rapidly create appropriate shelter and not forcibly sweep the unhoused from public spaces."
She closed by saying she aims to rest, close out her term, and then start "writing the next chapter of my public service."
It'll be interesting to see if González will at least match the numbers Cary Moon put up against Jenny Durkan, who won 56 to 44 in 2017.
Abolitionist City Attorney candidate Nicole Thomas-Kennedy now trails Republican candidate Ann Davison 55 to 44, which narrows Davison's lead from 16 points to 11. A 5-point gain is probably not going to be enough for NTK to come back given the remaining votes left to count. She likely wanted to see between a 6 and 7-point jump.
Fremont Brewery co-owner Sara Nelson now holds a 14.5-point lead over attorney Nikkita Oliver, which represents a 6.5 point jump for Oliver. The total is now 57 to 42. Again, they'd probably like to see something closer to a 10-point jump after trailing by 20 yesterday.
Incumbent City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda increased her lead over bridge guy Kenneth Wilson and is now winning 56 to 43.5. Since Wilson was a quiet bridge builder before this race began, I'm using his total as the current baseline conservative backlash vote in the Seattle elections this year.
Things are looking better for progressives in the port races. Today Hamdi Mohamed leaped over incumbent Stephanie Bowman. Mohamed leads 51 to 49, a standing that should only improve tomorrow. Meanwhile, Toshiko Hasegawa overtook incumbent Peter Steinbrueck by a couple hundred votes yesterday, and she now leads him 51 to 48.
Conservatives will probably regain narrow control of the Burien city council (4-3), though today progressive candidate Hugo Garcia pulled ahead of an evangelical business simp to stop a little bleeding. Mayor Jimmy Matta will likely retain his seat, and progressive Sarah Moore is well ahead of a guy who inherited a gas station from his grandad. Deputy Mayor Krystal Marx, who dropped out of her bid to challenge Rep. Adam Smith in Congress, is trailing conservative homemaker and sales rep Stephanie Mora by 11.
Elsewhere in the county, three-term King County Executive Dow Constantine now only leads state Senator Joe Nguyen 56 to 42.5, which will be plenty for him to keep his seat. And 19-year Republican incumbent King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert is now running 10.5 points behind her Democratic opponent, Sarah Perry, which is weirdly a half-point improvement from yesterday.
