Local News

Update: 3:40 p.m. – Now with interactive, address-searchable map. Click map image for interactive version. We’ve also posted similar breakdowns for Kshama Sawant’s Seattle City Council win, and for Seattle’s ballot measures on District Elections and Public Campaign Financing

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn lost his bid for reelection with diminished voter support through most of the city.

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An analysis of precinct vote returns by the Seattle Times’ Justin Mayo shows a familiar pattern in city politics. Viewed as the marginally more progressive candidate, McGinn carried Seattle’s most liberal inner-core neighborhoods including Capitol Hill, Fremont, Wallingford, the International District and Central District. That’s similar to the electoral base that carried him to victory in 2009.

But Mayor-Elect Ed Murray ate into McGinn’s base even in those neighborhoods. Compared with 2009, McGinn’s support was down everywhere but parts of southeast Seattle.

The sharpest drop was in Capitol Hill, where McGinn’s support tumbled by 8.9 percentage points compared with four years ago. That’s not a huge surprise, as Murray lives on Capitol Hill and represented the 43rd Legislative District for 18 years.

McGinn’s support fell 7.8 percentage points in the University District/Ravenna area and he lost 5 or more percentage points in Ballard, Delridge, Fauntleroy, Lake City, Magnolia, Queen Anne, South Park and West Seattle.

After four years in office, McGinn’s only increased support for his reelection campaign came in the southeast Seattle neighborhoods of Rainier Beach, Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill.

Murray, meanwhile, attracted his strongest support from Seattle’s outer-ring, waterfront-view neighborhoods including Montlake, Magnolia, Laurelhurst, West Seattle and Queen Anne.

Murray ended election night with a double digit lead on McGinn. But the race tightened substantially in later returns. When the election was certified last week, the final result was Murray 51.5 percent, McGinn, 47.5 percent.

Seattle Times reporters for months have analyzed the SeaTac minimum wage initiative, fact-checked campaigns in the race for Seattle mayor, and broken down the science behind genetically engineered food for state Initiative 522.

And that’s just the beginning.

In this post, you can relive our live Election Day coverage as we broke the news and discussed the statewide initiatives and races from Whatcom County, Bellevue, Seattle and everywhere in between.

Washington’s 2013 election has drawn national media attention — and record-setting initiative spending. But voters? They’re not particularly tuned in, elections officials say.

With vote counting beginning today in the all-mail election, Secretary of State Kim Wyman’s office projects 51 percent turnout statewide.

That’s an average turnout for an off-year election, “and we don’t see anything that would have it depart from that,” said David Ammons, spokesman for Wyman’s office. This year’s ballot is “not utterly boring, or scintillating,” he said.

The big-ticket item for political spending is Initiative 522, which would require labeling of genetically engineered foods. Foes of that measure set a state record by raising more than $22 million to defeat it, while the Yes on 522 committee raised about $8 million. Virtually all that cash flowed from outside the state. Voters also are deciding the fate of Initiative 517, which would make it easier to place future initiatives on the ballot.

Higher turnout is expected in Seattle, where voters will decide whether to return Mayor Mike McGinn to a second term or replace him with state Sen. Ed Murray. That race has set fundraising records, too, with more than $2.6 million pulled in by the campaigns and independent expenditure groups.

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Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is up with a new TV ad making a pitch to voters on what he stands for — from “preschool for every kid” to “stopping coal trains” to “plowing snow.”

In the 30-second spot, McGinn, standing in front of a city skyline, faces the camera and makes his case personally. That’s a contrast with Murray’s latest ad, in which he doesn’t speak, relying instead on a pack of high-profile endorsers like former Gov. Chris Gregoire and former King County Executive Ron Sims.

While it’s not a point of controversy in the mayor’s race, McGinn’s reference to “plowing snow” seeks to remind voters the city has not suffered a repeat of the 2009 blizzard — and much criticized city response — that helped doom then-Mayor Greg Nickels.

With voters now filling out ballots, state Sen. Ed Murray has a big lead over Mayor Mike McGinn, according to a new poll.

The poll of 400 likely voters, by Seattle based lobbying firm Strategies 360, shows Murray with 51 percent support to McGinn’s 34 percent. The poll was conducted Oct. 14-16 and has a margin of error of 4.9 percent. It was not paid for by either campaign or any clients of Strategies 360, the firm said.

Perhaps the worst news for McGinn is that even voters who think Seattle is doing pretty well are not supporting his reelection. While 73 percent of those surveyed said the economy in the city was in good or very good shape, 39 percent said Murray would do a better job on the issue compared with just 14 percent for McGinn.

McGinn was rated better than Murray on a narrow range of topics: transit, the environment and bike safety. But Murray was trusted on the economy, education, roads, public safety and “leadership on issues that are important to you.”

The new poll result tracks pretty closely with a KING 5 poll last week that showed Murray leading McGinn 52-32 percent.

Meanwhile, McGinn supporters have been touting a newly released KIRO 7 poll that shows the race much closer, with McGinn trailing Murray by just 4 percentage points (33 to 29 percent).

But that poll was conducted two weeks ago and did not publicly release basic data usually disclosed on reputable polling, including a margin of error. A limited set of details provided by the McGinn campaign said the poll was a mix of phone and Internet responses but did not reveal specifics.

Former Seattle City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck endorsed state Sen. Ed Murray for mayor today.

During a news conference at Cloud City Coffee in Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood, Steinbrueck said he was won over by Murray’s commitment to the city’s industrial sector, gender pay equity and his pledge to involve neighborhoods more in growth planning.

“I have only respect for Mayor [Mike] McGinn. He has led with passion and conviction, but he has left many of us disappointed,” Steinbrueck said.

Repeating a constant refrain of McGinn critics, Steinbrueck said Murray could bring together broader coalitions “rather than polarization and divisiveness.”

The atmosphere at the news conference was celebratory, with Murray leading in the polls and piling up big endorsements. One political operative asked whether a reporter had heard any news about who would serve on Murray’s transition team and administration. But Murray cautioned he was taking nothing for granted in the final weeks of the election.

Steinbrueck, who served on the City Council between 1997 and 2007, placed third in the August primary, taking 16 percent of the vote. City Councilmember Bruce Harrell, who finished fourth just behind Steinbrueck, endorsed Murray last month.

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In another measure of the ideological tightness of Seattle’s “me too” mayoral race, state Sen. Ed Murray called a news conference Tuesday to point out he totally agrees with Mayor Mike McGinn on opposition to coal trains rolling through the city.

Seeking to rebut what he called a “whispering campaign” by McGinn forces, Murray said notwithstanding campaign cash he’s received from some pro-coal train businesses, he’s against the trains, which coal opponents say would disrupt traffic and send coal dust spraying into air and water — in addition to abetting global climate change.

It’s an issue that McGinn has elevated to a top-tier priority in his mayoral campaign. Murray has been more muted on the topic; hence Tuesday’s news conference in which he tried to put to rest doubts about where he stands.

“I have been, since the first day I announced in December, opposed to these coal trains, despite the information you might have gotten from — I guess you could call it the office of misinformation — the McGinn campaign,” Murray said at the news conference next to the train tracks on the downtown Seattle waterfront. As if to reinforce his point about the disruption more trains would cause, Murray’s event was interrupted twice by passing trains at the nearby railroad crossing.

Murray’s mayoral campaign has received donations and fundraising aid from some firms and individuals with ties to proposed new coal ports that would ship Rocky Mountain coal to Asia. (more…)

A mayoral debate sponsored by the Seattle Parks Foundation Thursday night was mostly a genteel discussion of how to pay for and improve city parks. Mayor Mike McGinn floated the notion of a new tax on sugary drinks in Seattle. State Sen. Ed Murray backed the idea of a new taxing district.

But the debate really blew up at the end, when McGinn and Murray tangled over Murray’s legislative record and the alleged embezzlement of more than $250,000 by an employee from a Democratic campaign committee that Murray co-chaired.

McGinn attacked the embezzlement as an example of Murray’s failures, while Murray accused McGinn of taking the race to a “low point” by trying to score points off of personal tragedy.

The exchange showed just how testy the race is becoming as McGinn — after months of listening to criticisms of his mayoral record — tries to turn the tables by putting Murray’s record on trial, while Murray accuses the mayor of resorting to sleazy tactics. (more…)

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is floating the idea of a 1-cent-an-ounce tax on sugary beverages, including canned soda and fountain drinks, as a way to raise money for Seattle parks.

McGinn announced his proposal at a mayoral forum Thursday night sponsored by the Seattle Parks Foundation.

While details were sketchy, McGinn said his plan would raise the city’s business-and-occupation (B&O) tax on businesses that sell sugary drinks. It’s an idea McGinn said his office considered in 2011, but did not publicly propose at that time.

A 1-cent-per-ounce tax could raise between $21 million and $29 million a year, McGinn said, citing estimates developed for his office in 2011.

“This I think would be a fabulous potential funding source,” McGinn told the audience of parks boosters during the forum at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

McGinn said he’s not immediately proposing the new tax to the Seattle City Council. Instead, he said, his staff will present the idea to a committee now examining future funding needs for Seattle parks. The group also is looking at options including a renewal of a 2008 parks levy set to expire next year and a possible new Metropolitan Parks District with independent taxing authority.

A city report last year found Seattle is facing a $20 million a year shortfall in the cost of operating and maintaining parks. In addition, the report said city parks now have a backlog of major maintenance projects exceeding $270 million.

Asked whether his sugary-drink tax proposal would apply to sugar-sweetened coffee and espresso drinks, McGinn said he wasn’t sure and that such details can be worked out later if the plan moves forward. “I think that is one of the things you have to define,” he said.

McGinn’s challenger, state Sen. Ed Murray, was skeptical of the idea.

Murray noted he’d voted in the Legislature for higher taxes on soda, candy and bottled water in 2010 to help close a $4.5 billion budget hole. But voters repealed the taxes that November after an initiative challenge funded by the beverage industry and other businesses.

Murray predicted the soda industry would again fight and defeat any new tax in Seattle. “I don’t think it’s a viable option,” he said in an interview.

Murray said he does support other funding sources for city parks, including renewal of the parks levy and a possible new taxing district.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn pounced today on state Sen. Ed Murray’s attempts to avoid blame for the alleged embezzlement of $250,000 by the director of a Democratic campaign committee Murray co-chaired.

Speaking at a news conference at his campaign headquarters, McGinn called Murray’s response to the thefts of funds from the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee “very, very troubling and a real insight into his character as an executive and a leader.”

The SDCC’s former executive director Michael King was charged this week with eight counts of theft for allegedly writing himself checks from the SDCC coffers and covering his tracks by inventing poll results he said the money had paid for.

While Murray yesterday took some responsibility for failing to notice the thefts, he and his fellow co-chairs also pointed blame at the SDCC’s former treasurer, Jason Bennett, who’d alerted them to the thefts in February.

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