Founded by a group of Seattle theater janitors, SEIU Local 6 became one of the original locals of the Service Employees International Union in 1921. Today SEIU6 Property Services NW represents more than 7,000 janitors, security officers, airport passenger service workers and allied industries workers in Washington state.
Depending on the county district you live in, you may have the following races on your ballot.
Ubax Gardheere came to King County as a refugee 25 years ago and has since spent her time organizing for better housing, health, and sustainability outcomes for all. She currently works as the director of Seattle's Equitable Development Initiative (EDI). The project was established in 2016 as a community-led way to support and fund equitable work in Black and brown neighborhoods facing displacement. Some of their funded projects include transitional and affordable housing, programming for youth, seniors, and refugees, local gardens, and the redevelopment of cultural centers. She was also previously a program director at Puget Sound Sage, where she focused her efforts on community-based planning and bringing racial justice to policymaking.
In our interview, Gardheere stated that she wants to increase community land trusts, which would create more permanently affordable housing and protect property from speculation and bidding wars on the open market. Hand-in-hand with these policies, she would advocate for more parks and open space development, as well as green infrastructure, to help neighborhoods mitigate the effects of climate change. Finally, she believes that a criminal justice system focusing on putting people in jail has damaged our communities, and would increase investments to address issues like food scarcity and community-based alternatives to policing.
Gardheere has the experience of managing a team that has moved over $50 million into marginalized communities, empowering them to make decisions that are right for their unique needs. Her demonstrated experience organizing inside communities and in government, along with the collaborative model that she has fostered, speaks well of her potential as a King County Council member.
Ubax Gardheere came to King County as a refugee 25 years ago and has since spent her time organizing for better housing, health, and sustainability outcomes for all. She currently works as the director of Seattle's Equitable Development Initiative (EDI). The project was established in 2016 as a community-led way to support and fund equitable work in Black and brown neighborhoods facing displacement. Some of their funded projects include transitional and affordable housing, programming for youth, seniors, and refugees, local gardens, and the redevelopment of cultural centers. She was also previously a program director at Puget Sound Sage, where she focused her efforts on community-based planning and bringing racial justice to policymaking.
In our interview, Gardheere stated that she wants to increase community land trusts, which would create more permanently affordable housing and protect property from speculation and bidding wars on the open market. Hand-in-hand with these policies, she would advocate for more parks and open space development, as well as green infrastructure, to help neighborhoods mitigate the effects of climate change. Finally, she believes that a criminal justice system focusing on putting people in jail has damaged our communities, and would increase investments to address issues like food scarcity and community-based alternatives to policing.
Gardheere has the experience of managing a team that has moved over $50 million into marginalized communities, empowering them to make decisions that are right for their unique needs. Her demonstrated experience organizing inside communities and in government, along with the collaborative model that she has fostered, speaks well of her potential as a King County Council member.
Ubax Gardheere came to King County as a refugee 25 years ago and has since spent her time organizing for better housing, health, and sustainability outcomes for all. She currently works as the director of Seattle's Equitable Development Initiative (EDI). The project was established in 2016 as a community-led way to support and fund equitable work in Black and brown neighborhoods facing displacement. Some of their funded projects include transitional and affordable housing, programming for youth, seniors, and refugees, local gardens, and the redevelopment of cultural centers. She was also previously a program director at Puget Sound Sage, where she focused her efforts on community-based planning and bringing racial justice to policymaking.
In our interview, Gardheere stated that she wants to increase community land trusts, which would create more permanently affordable housing and protect property from speculation and bidding wars on the open market. Hand-in-hand with these policies, she would advocate for more parks and open space development, as well as green infrastructure, to help neighborhoods mitigate the effects of climate change. Finally, she believes that a criminal justice system focusing on putting people in jail has damaged our communities, and would increase investments to address issues like food scarcity and community-based alternatives to policing.
Gardheere has the experience of managing a team that has moved over $50 million into marginalized communities, empowering them to make decisions that are right for their unique needs. Her demonstrated experience organizing inside communities and in government, along with the collaborative model that she has fostered, speaks well of her potential as a King County Council member.
Lawyer and community activist Nikkita Oliver is running for Seattle City Council, Position 9. Oliver, who uses they/them pronouns, works with numerous local groups including Urban Impact, the Urban Youth Leadership Academy, and the Union Gospel Mission’s Youth Reach Out Center. Oliver also serves as executive director of Creative Justice and is a member of coalitions like Decriminalize Seattle, Free Them All WA, and No New Youth Jail.
Their forward-looking platform is centered around economic, social, racial, and environmental justice – including ensuring the concentration of power among the wealthy gets redistributed. Affordable housing for everyone, redirecting police funding to make investments in communities, and bringing a Green New Deal to Seattle are among Oliver’s top priorities. If elected, Oliver would pursue policies to make sure everyone living in Seattle can thrive, like closing our wealth gap, preparing for disasters like wildfire season that disproportionately impact Black, brown, and Indigenous communities, and providing municipal broadband internet for all.
Oliver previously ran for mayor of Seattle in 2017. Their campaign is prioritizing mutual aid and community-based care, demonstrating their commitment to addressing the many issues facing Seattle equitably with the support and involvement of community members.
Lawyer and community activist Nikkita Oliver is running for Seattle City Council, Position 9. Oliver, who uses they/them pronouns, works with numerous local groups including Urban Impact, the Urban Youth Leadership Academy, and the Union Gospel Mission’s Youth Reach Out Center. Oliver also serves as executive director of Creative Justice and is a member of coalitions like Decriminalize Seattle, Free Them All WA, and No New Youth Jail.
Their forward-looking platform is centered around economic, social, racial, and environmental justice – including ensuring the concentration of power among the wealthy gets redistributed. Affordable housing for everyone, redirecting police funding to make investments in communities, and bringing a Green New Deal to Seattle are among Oliver’s top priorities. If elected, Oliver would pursue policies to make sure everyone living in Seattle can thrive, like closing our wealth gap, preparing for disasters like wildfire season that disproportionately impact Black, brown, and Indigenous communities, and providing municipal broadband internet for all.
Oliver previously ran for mayor of Seattle in 2017. Their campaign is prioritizing mutual aid and community-based care, demonstrating their commitment to addressing the many issues facing Seattle equitably with the support and involvement of community members.
Lawyer and community activist Nikkita Oliver is running for Seattle City Council, Position 9. Oliver, who uses they/them pronouns, works with numerous local groups including Urban Impact, the Urban Youth Leadership Academy, and the Union Gospel Mission’s Youth Reach Out Center. Oliver also serves as executive director of Creative Justice and is a member of coalitions like Decriminalize Seattle, Free Them All WA, and No New Youth Jail.
Their forward-looking platform is centered around economic, social, racial, and environmental justice – including ensuring the concentration of power among the wealthy gets redistributed. Affordable housing for everyone, redirecting police funding to make investments in communities, and bringing a Green New Deal to Seattle are among Oliver’s top priorities. If elected, Oliver would pursue policies to make sure everyone living in Seattle can thrive, like closing our wealth gap, preparing for disasters like wildfire season that disproportionately impact Black, brown, and Indigenous communities, and providing municipal broadband internet for all.
Oliver previously ran for mayor of Seattle in 2017. Their campaign is prioritizing mutual aid and community-based care, demonstrating their commitment to addressing the many issues facing Seattle equitably with the support and involvement of community members.
Victoria Woodards is running for re-election to be the mayor of Tacoma. She had a long track record of public service before becoming mayor in 2017. Woodards supports working families and is committed to maintaining safe and healthy neighborhoods across Tacoma. She also crucially understands the importance of addressing institutional racism and has a demonstrated history of working within communities of color and building diverse coalitions to address the problems facing Tacoma. In her time on the Tacoma City Council, Woodards worked on establishing Tacoma’s Office of Equity and Human Rights.
While Woodards previously supported the proposal to build a highly polluting liquefied natural gas facility in Tacoma because it would have created jobs, she has since emphasized she does not support any new fossil fuel facilities in the Tideflats.
Also in this race are Jamika Scott and Steve Haverly. Scott has worked as a domestic violence advocate at YWCA Pierce County and mentored students with AmeriCorps at Peace Community Center. She is also a co-founder and organizer with the Tacoma Action Collective and a board member with the Tacoma Public Library Foundation Board of Directors. Scott is very progressive and her platform includes advocating for rent control, bringing a restorative justice model to Tacoma, and meeting the transportation and social service needs of people experiencing homelessness. Haverly is a first-time candidate who works in construction and land management. Haverly does not have a strong or progressive campaign platform and while he claims to be non-partisan, what little campaign information he does have available demonstrates his priorities would not align with what Tacoma's communities need as we come together to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Woodards has earned broad support from our Progressive Voters Guide partner organizations and numerous elected officials. Woodards is the best choice for mayor of Tacoma.
Victoria Woodards is running for re-election to be the mayor of Tacoma. She had a long track record of public service before becoming mayor in 2017. Woodards supports working families and is committed to maintaining safe and healthy neighborhoods across Tacoma. She also crucially understands the importance of addressing institutional racism and has a demonstrated history of working within communities of color and building diverse coalitions to address the problems facing Tacoma. In her time on the Tacoma City Council, Woodards worked on establishing Tacoma’s Office of Equity and Human Rights.
While Woodards previously supported the proposal to build a highly polluting liquefied natural gas facility in Tacoma because it would have created jobs, she has since emphasized she does not support any new fossil fuel facilities in the Tideflats.
Also in this race are Jamika Scott and Steve Haverly. Scott has worked as a domestic violence advocate at YWCA Pierce County and mentored students with AmeriCorps at Peace Community Center. She is also a co-founder and organizer with the Tacoma Action Collective and a board member with the Tacoma Public Library Foundation Board of Directors. Scott is very progressive and her platform includes advocating for rent control, bringing a restorative justice model to Tacoma, and meeting the transportation and social service needs of people experiencing homelessness. Haverly is a first-time candidate who works in construction and land management. Haverly does not have a strong or progressive campaign platform and while he claims to be non-partisan, what little campaign information he does have available demonstrates his priorities would not align with what Tacoma's communities need as we come together to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Woodards has earned broad support from our Progressive Voters Guide partner organizations and numerous elected officials. Woodards is the best choice for mayor of Tacoma.
Victoria Woodards is running for re-election to be the mayor of Tacoma. She had a long track record of public service before becoming mayor in 2017. Woodards supports working families and is committed to maintaining safe and healthy neighborhoods across Tacoma. She also crucially understands the importance of addressing institutional racism and has a demonstrated history of working within communities of color and building diverse coalitions to address the problems facing Tacoma. In her time on the Tacoma City Council, Woodards worked on establishing Tacoma’s Office of Equity and Human Rights.
While Woodards previously supported the proposal to build a highly polluting liquefied natural gas facility in Tacoma because it would have created jobs, she has since emphasized she does not support any new fossil fuel facilities in the Tideflats.
Also in this race are Jamika Scott and Steve Haverly. Scott has worked as a domestic violence advocate at YWCA Pierce County and mentored students with AmeriCorps at Peace Community Center. She is also a co-founder and organizer with the Tacoma Action Collective and a board member with the Tacoma Public Library Foundation Board of Directors. Scott is very progressive and her platform includes advocating for rent control, bringing a restorative justice model to Tacoma, and meeting the transportation and social service needs of people experiencing homelessness. Haverly is a first-time candidate who works in construction and land management. Haverly does not have a strong or progressive campaign platform and while he claims to be non-partisan, what little campaign information he does have available demonstrates his priorities would not align with what Tacoma's communities need as we come together to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Woodards has earned broad support from our Progressive Voters Guide partner organizations and numerous elected officials. Woodards is the best choice for mayor of Tacoma.
Depending on where you live, you may have one of the below races on your ballot.
Monique Taylor-Swan is running for King County Hospital District 1, Commissioner Position 4. Taylor-Swan is a community leader who serves as a board member of the Caregivers Union SEIU 775 and a member of the Renton Inclusion Task Force. She currently works as a home care aid with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.
Taylor-Swan is running for commissioner in order to work towards more accessible, quality care in Renton. She wants to focus on proper staffing and making pay more equitable between the highest-paid executives and underpaid nurses and staff. If elected, Taylor-Swan will use an inclusion and equity lens to make sure that everyone who needs it can access culturally competent care at Valley Medical Center.
Taylor-Swan faces several candidates in this race, including incumbent commissioner Lawton Montgomery, who first assumed the role after being elected in 2015. Montgomery also works as a captain with the Kent Regional Fire Authority. In this race, he has not shared any campaign priorities and does not have a notable presence.
There are four more candidates in this race. Winter Cashman is a software engineer and technology consultant who serves as the founder and president of the Renton LGBTQIA+ Community group. Cashman has progressive priorities in this race and has earned the endorsements of some local Democratic groups. Katie Bachand is a birth and postpartum doula who is also hoping to serve as a hospital commissioner. Like most of her challengers, Bachand is running to restore decision power to the elected commissioner seat, as opposed to this power sitting with University of Washington-appointed trustees. Max J. Heller III is a ramp service worker and Democratic precinct committee officer who wants to fix equity and staffing problems at the hospital but lacks clear policy recommendations or experience. Finally, real estate broker Parminder Bhatti is running with a vague platform to fix the health care industry.
In this crowded race, we recommend Monique Taylor-Swan because of her direct background in health care and her clear, progressive vision for the role.
Monique Taylor-Swan is running for King County Hospital District 1, Commissioner Position 4. Taylor-Swan is a community leader who serves as a board member of the Caregivers Union SEIU 775 and a member of the Renton Inclusion Task Force. She currently works as a home care aid with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.
Taylor-Swan is running for commissioner in order to work towards more accessible, quality care in Renton. She wants to focus on proper staffing and making pay more equitable between the highest-paid executives and underpaid nurses and staff. If elected, Taylor-Swan will use an inclusion and equity lens to make sure that everyone who needs it can access culturally competent care at Valley Medical Center.
Taylor-Swan faces several candidates in this race, including incumbent commissioner Lawton Montgomery, who first assumed the role after being elected in 2015. Montgomery also works as a captain with the Kent Regional Fire Authority. In this race, he has not shared any campaign priorities and does not have a notable presence.
There are four more candidates in this race. Winter Cashman is a software engineer and technology consultant who serves as the founder and president of the Renton LGBTQIA+ Community group. Cashman has progressive priorities in this race and has earned the endorsements of some local Democratic groups. Katie Bachand is a birth and postpartum doula who is also hoping to serve as a hospital commissioner. Like most of her challengers, Bachand is running to restore decision power to the elected commissioner seat, as opposed to this power sitting with University of Washington-appointed trustees. Max J. Heller III is a ramp service worker and Democratic precinct committee officer who wants to fix equity and staffing problems at the hospital but lacks clear policy recommendations or experience. Finally, real estate broker Parminder Bhatti is running with a vague platform to fix the health care industry.
In this crowded race, we recommend Monique Taylor-Swan because of her direct background in health care and her clear, progressive vision for the role.
Monique Taylor-Swan is running for King County Hospital District 1, Commissioner Position 4. Taylor-Swan is a community leader who serves as a board member of the Caregivers Union SEIU 775 and a member of the Renton Inclusion Task Force. She currently works as a home care aid with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.
Taylor-Swan is running for commissioner in order to work towards more accessible, quality care in Renton. She wants to focus on proper staffing and making pay more equitable between the highest-paid executives and underpaid nurses and staff. If elected, Taylor-Swan will use an inclusion and equity lens to make sure that everyone who needs it can access culturally competent care at Valley Medical Center.
Taylor-Swan faces several candidates in this race, including incumbent commissioner Lawton Montgomery, who first assumed the role after being elected in 2015. Montgomery also works as a captain with the Kent Regional Fire Authority. In this race, he has not shared any campaign priorities and does not have a notable presence.
There are four more candidates in this race. Winter Cashman is a software engineer and technology consultant who serves as the founder and president of the Renton LGBTQIA+ Community group. Cashman has progressive priorities in this race and has earned the endorsements of some local Democratic groups. Katie Bachand is a birth and postpartum doula who is also hoping to serve as a hospital commissioner. Like most of her challengers, Bachand is running to restore decision power to the elected commissioner seat, as opposed to this power sitting with University of Washington-appointed trustees. Max J. Heller III is a ramp service worker and Democratic precinct committee officer who wants to fix equity and staffing problems at the hospital but lacks clear policy recommendations or experience. Finally, real estate broker Parminder Bhatti is running with a vague platform to fix the health care industry.
In this crowded race, we recommend Monique Taylor-Swan because of her direct background in health care and her clear, progressive vision for the role.
