King County

Elected in 2014, financial manager Nancy Backus is the first female mayor of Auburn. Prior to her first term, she served on the Auburn City Council for 10 years as Chair of the Finance and the Planning & Community Development committees, among other roles. In 2016, she served as president of Sound Cities Association (SCA) and was the first board member from Auburn to be elected to the Sound Transit board. Backus' first term is backed by an impressive list of accomplishments. Unemployment in Auburn is among the lowest in the state. Backus has made economic development a priority, including welcoming new small businesses to the downtown area, launching a downtown facade improvement program, and seeking additional expansion from Boeing. In 2016, the mayor led the charge for a homelessness task force and the city is currently working on 40 of the 56 recommendations issued by the task force, including extending availability at the emergency shelter. Backus' leadership has earned her another term.

Karol Brown is the founder of World One Law Group, a law practice that helps businesses and families handle their immigration affairs. She chaired the 41st District Democrats and is also the former Policy and Advocacy Director at OneAmerica. Her campaign is focused on keeping Bellevue affordable for working families, improving transit, and public safety. She wants to establish a $15 minimum wage in Bellevue.

Brown is running against Heidi Chiat, a Democrat Socialist who is not running a competitive campaign, and Jared Nieuwenhuis, the marketing director for Her Interactive, Inc. who is backed by the conservative members of the current Bellevue City Council. Brown is the strongest progressive candidate in this race.

Pedro Olguin is an Organizing Coordinator with Teamsters Local 117. As an advocate for workers, Olguin's campaign has focused on the lack of family wage jobs and affordable housing that disproportionately impacts women, children, and people of color. He supports alternatives to arresting people for being homeless and wants to improve relationships between the police and community groups.

Pedro Olguin is running against Libertarian Charles Schaefer, Gary Wood, Robert Richmond III, who is running on an energy/homelessness platform, and Joel Manning, who advocates for aggressive anti-homeless policies. Olguin is the best choice in this race.

Jimmy Matta is running for Position 3 with a deep understanding of the struggles of working families. His family immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala, and by the time he was a teenager Matta had dropped out of high school to support his family in the fields. He later started a construction business, and went on to become a representative for the Carpenters Union for over 20 years. If elected, Matta wants to create dedicated positions in the city to support local businesses and to assist with the homelessness crisis and connect people to existing services. He would also work on issues of affordable housing and developing community policing programs.

Matta is running against Austin Tucker, who is not running a competitive campaign, and conservative incumbent Debi Wagner, who has voted against sanctuary city status. Matta is the best choice in this race.

Incumbent Nancy Tosta is serving her first term on the Burien City Council and has served as Deputy Mayor for two years. She has served on a multitude of local government and policy groups, including the King County City Climate Collaboration, the Burien Ad-Hoc Social Services Funding Committee, and as a South Correctional Entity (SCORE) administrative board member. Her campaign emphasizes funding social services, implementing block watches and other community methods of public safety, and improving youth programs and parks. In the last four years, Tosta has worked on non-arrest solutions for homelessness, advocated for more transportation options, and voted to increase investments in social services.

Tosta is running against a slate of similar candidates who are running on a conservative anti-crime platform: Jill Esau, Darla Green, and Mary Russell. Tosta is the most experienced and progressive candidate in this race.

Krystal Marx is running for Position 7 on a "Burien for All" platform that focuses on social equity and community-based crime solutions. She promotes the Housing First approach to homelessness and would seek involvement and feedback on community issues from the most-impacted groups. She is a former nonprofit Operations Manager and community educator. Marx is the best choice in this race.

Jim Ferrell is running for a second term as mayor of Federal Way. A Former King County Prosecutor and a Republican for 20 years, Ferrell switched parties to become a moderate Democrat in his last run for mayor. Ferrell wants to continue the development of Federal Way downtown core, as well as maintaining the police department (he added nine new officers to the force). Ferrell has banned homeless encampments on public property and endorsed cleaning sweeps through the Homeless Encampment Services Initiative.

Ferrell's opponents are Mark Greene and Susan Honda. Honda is a current councilmember. Elected in 2011, Honda currently serves on currently on the Finance, Economic Development & Regional Affairs Committee, and is the president of women's organization Soroptimists International and incoming co-president of the local Kiwanis Club. Honda is focused on hiring a city administrator to run the day-to-day governmental needs of Federal Way.

While Ferrell is not the most progressive candidate, he has earned the most support from our partner organizations and is the best choice in this race.

Sharry Edwards is a licensed practical nurse who is running for Federal Way City Council Position 4. Her platform includes creating more I-5 access points, fully staffing the police department, enacting business-friendly tax policies, and protecting parks. Her main opponent is Republican Diana Noble-Gulliford. Jack Stanford and Hoang Tran are also running for this position. Edwards in the best choice in this race.

Debra Srebnik is a human services program manager at the University of Washington. She has served on the Kenmore Planning Commission, and is a member of Friends of St. Edwards State Park and the Northshore School District nutrition and fitness advisory council, among other community organizations. She supports shoreline and habitat restoration in local parks, reducing industrial pollution, and downtown growth. Her opponent, Bob Black, is running on a conservative platform. Srebnik is the best choice in this race.

Current Kent City Councilmember Dana Ralph is active in many local nonprofits, including as council liaison of the Kent Arts Commission, chair of the Drug Free Communities Coalition, and board member of Kent Kiwanis Club. On the council, Ralph sits on the Public Works Committee and Public Safety Committees and is the Chair the Operations Committee.

Ralph is running against Jim Berrios, Elizabeth Albertson, and DeLon Lewis. Berrios is a former Kent School Board member and current city council member who brings an impressive resume of community service. Albertson sat on the council between 2006 and 2013 and left her position on the council for a run for the 33rd Legislative District House seat. Albertson is running again in opposition to the decision to give a tax break to the development across from the Par 3 golf course. The fourth candidate, DeLon Lewis, is not running a competitive campaign.

Ralph has earned the most support from our Progressive Voters Guide partner organizations and is the best choice in this race.

Satwinder Kaur is an IT professional and a former city council executive assistant. She has been deeply involved with local community organizations, including as chair of the Kent Cultural Communities Board, steward of Green Kent Parks, member of the Kent International Festival Steering Committee, board member of the Kent Historical Society, and member of Living Well Kent. Her platform includes ensuring safe neighborhoods, fiscal transparency, traffic reduction, and making the police force more diverse.

Also in this race is Libertarian Paul Addis, as well as Elizabeth Peang and Jeff Piecewicz, neither of whom are not running competitive campaigns. Kaur is the clear progressive choice in this race.

Tye Whitfield has a long history of civic activism and serving our community. She was the chair of the Puget Sound Service District and a Parks and Recreation commissioner, and has worked with local businesses to create community events like the Taste of Kent. Whitfield is also a small business owner who is running to bring more jobs to Kent and keep it a great place to raise a family.

Whitfield is running against Kent Civil Service Commissioner Ronald Johnson and conservative-leaning PTSA president Toni Troutner. Whitfield is the best choice in this race.

Benson Wong has served one term on the city council and is seeking re-election in 2017. In his first term, Wong worked on Mercer Island's library renovation and worked to identify and fix the city's water contamination issues. He is running on a platform of mitigating mobility issues due to light rail construction, keeping the budget balanced, and improving the Town Center.

Jeralee Anderson is the executive director of the Greenroads Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes and rates sustainable transportation infrastructure. A civil engineer by trade, she has been internationally recognized as a sustainability leader for Greenroads' rating system and won a Champion of Change award from the Obama White House in 2013. Anderson's platform focuses on green, resilient transportation systems, STEM education, and attracting new small businesses to Redmond. She is running against realtor Roy Captain and software engineer Jason Antonelli. Anderson is the best choice for Redmond City Council, Position 6.

Lifelong Renton resident Armondo Pavone was elected to the Renton City Council in 2014. Pavone was the past president of the Downtown Renton Association and is a board member of the regional Economic Development Council. Pavone's priorities on the council are supporting local businesses and maintaining city services. His opponent, Max Heller, does not appear to be running a competitive campaign.

Minal Ghassemieh is an immigration attorney and the Board Chair at API Chaya, a domestic abuse and sexual assault/trafficking assistance organization. She also serves as a pro-bono attorney for Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Ghassemieh's city council campaign is focused on alleviating traffic, developing strong educational and after-school programs, and balancing growth with infrastructure improvements. She places special emphasis on making Sammamish safe and inclusive for all. She is running against marketing consultant and progressive Karen Howe and Karen Moran, commissioner of the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District. Ghassemieh is the best choice in this race.

Rituja Indapure is a Senior Analyst at Costco. She has served in the community as Treasurer at Challenger Elementary, co-president of the Beaver Lake PTSA, and a United Way volunteer. Indapure is seeking cost-effective transportation solutions and sustainable growth that protects parks and the environment. She also seeks ways to improve emergency response times, specifically services deployed in natural disasters, and to decrease language barriers between the police department and the community.

Indapure is running against attorney Ryika Hooshangi and conservative Chris Ross. We recommend Indapure in this race.

Pam Stuart is a Senior Manager in Customer and Partner Advocacy at Microsoft. Her campaign principles include balancing growth with environmental sustainability, investing in parks and senior services, and improving transportation options to reduce traffic.

She is running against Melanie Curtright, Republican John Robinson, and Roger Chapanis. Chapanis has dropped out of the race due to health problems. He will still appear on the ballot, but has stated that he will not take office if elected. Curtright is a program and project management consultant. As council member, she would vote for the city to buy and preserve wetlands and green spaces, create a standing Health and Human Services Commission, keep teens engaged and supported with targeted programs, and hold developers accountable for building infrastructure to support increased density. We lean toward Stuart in this race because of her support from progressive advocates.

Incumbent Kathryn Campbell was recently appointed to the National League of Cities' Energy, Environment and Natural Resources committee, where she will work on national and regional environmental policy. Campbell has been an advocate for community gardens, increased police patrols, and restoration of the Green/Duwamish river basins. She is running against parking enforcement officer Terry Farden and retired businessman Joel Wachtel. In this relatively weak race, we'd recommend a vote for Campbell.

Shaunie Wheeler is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 77's Political Action Director. She also serves as a board member of South King County Votes, Win With Women, and as the president for Washington Young Emerging Labor Leaders. If elected, Wheeler will focus on public safety and economic development that creates family wage jobs.

She is running against conservative Pam Pollock and Clyde Fuzz Hill. Wheeler is the best choice in this race.

Lorena González has been a truly impressive leader in her two years on the Seattle City Council. González is a civil rights attorney who runs a bilingual legal clinic for low-income residents and is the President Emeritus of OneAmerica, a Seattle-based immigrant advocacy organization. She supports comprehensive police reform, paid parental and family leave for all workers. She also supports much of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) for more equitable housing policy and as a part of the solution to homelessness in the city. If re-elected, González wants to create a legal defense fund for immigrants and to continue working on fixing our city's upside-down tax code.

González is being challenged by six candidates: Ty Pethe, Pauly Giuglianotti, Ian Affleck-Asch, David Preston, Eric W. Smiley, and Pat Murakami. However, none of them are mounting a viable challenge. González is the clear choice in this race.

Shoreline Planning Commissioner Susan Chang is running for Shoreline City Council Position 5 against Democratic precinct committee officer Carol Ahlgreen and social worker Bergith Kayyali. A civil engineer by trade, Chang is also a volunteer with Richmond Beach Community Association Board and Richmond Beach Advocates. Her priorities are a balanced budget, regional solutions to affordable housing, public safety, and preservation of the city's tree canopy. She has also emphasized the need for traffic and congestion improvements in rezoned areas like Aurora Ave.

Eden Mack is the co-founder of Washington’s Paramount Duty, a relatively new group that has rapidly become a major force in Olympia advocating to fully fund public schools. Prior to that, Mack was the Legislative Chair of the Seattle Council of Parent, Teacher, and Student Associations. Mack is now running for Seattle School Board in District 4 on a platform of giving every school, teacher, and student the support and resources they need to succeed. She has three kids in Seattle Public Schools and is focused on ensuring schools keep up with the city’s rapid growth. Mack is running the strongest campaign and has earned the broadest support from progressive advocates in this race.

Megan Locatelli Hyska is another good candidate in this race. Hyska has earned the endorsement of the Seattle Education Association and has shown a strong commitment to addressing racial disparities in Seattle schools. Other candidates include Herbert J. Camet, Jr., Lisa Melenyzer, Darrell Toland, Jennifer Crow, and Sean Champagne.

Omar Vasquez is a young lawyer at Davis Wright Tremaine who wants to increase oversight and accountability on the Seattle School Board. He also brings a strong focus on equity and recently served on the Mayor’s Education Advisory Council to identify policy solutions to close the opportunity and achievement gap.

Andre Helmstetter is another good candidate in this race who received the endorsement of The Seattle Weekly and some local Democratic organizations. Also running for Seattle School Board Director in District 5 are Candace Vaivadas and Alec Cooper.

Chelsea Byers is a former 7th grade math teacher who was inspired to run for office after the 2016 election. She holds a Master’s Degree in Qualitative Analysis Political Science and wants to put her skills to work improving the district’s finances and budgeting. She is also committed to improving graduation rates and closing the achievement gap for students of color.

Also in this race is Tony Hemphill, who is not running a viable campaign.