Local News

Less than two hours after Seattle City Councilmember Sally Clark dropped her re-election bid Wednesday, Mayor Ed Murray’s legal counsel, M. Lorena González, declared for the seat that Clark had been seeking. Seven of the council’s nine spots are moving to representation by geographic district this year. But two will remain citywide seats, including the…

Update: Read the full story here. Seattle City Councilmember Sally Clark has decided to not seek re-election this year. On the council since 2006 and its former president, Clark has been registered to run for one of two remaining citywide seats as seven of the council’s positions move to election by geographic district in 2015. But…

West Seattle is becoming the Wild West of Seattle politics. Three additional Seattle City Council hopefuls announced 1st District bids Wednesday, upping the total number of candidates in the race to seven. The new entrants are Brianna Thomas, Shannon Braddock and Lisa Herbold. The 1st District includes West Seattle’s, with all of its various neighborhoods, Delridge and…

Jonathan Grant wants to be the new Nick Licata. Grant, executive director of the Tenants Union of Washington State, announced his Seattle City Council candidacy Tuesday with a tip of his hat to the longtime, lefty council member. Licata said last month he won’t pursue re-election. “With Nick Licata announcing he will not run again, I decided to…

Mercedes Elizalde thinks the race to represent the Seattle City Council’s 5th District will be won or lost on neighborhood doorsteps. Elizalde is the most recent candidate to launch a campaign in the North Seattle district as the council moves to geographic representation this year for seven of its nine seats. The 28-year-old, who rents an…

Mike O’Brien won’t win re-election without a fight. When the current Seattle City Council member announced last week that he would seek the council’s 6th District seat, he was the only candidate in the race. Not anymore. Catherine Weatbrook, a Ballard community leader who co-chairs the City Neighborhood Council -– the elected, citizen-led advisory group that coordinates city…

They have other duties, but Seattle City Council members primarily go to meetings – a lot of meetings. There were 48 full council meetings and more than 200 committee meetings in 2014, according to a review of council meeting attendance by The Seattle Times. And most of the time, the council members showed up. Members are required to attend each…

Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien will seek the council’s 6th District seat in this year’s elections, he said Monday. O’Brien, in office since 2010, considered pursuing one of the council’s two citywide positions. But that would have likely meant campaigning against either Council President Tim Burgess or Councilmember Sally Clark. Councilmember Nick Licata made O’Brien’s decision easier…

Longtime Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata, an ardent progressive who led the council’s ultra-liberal wing for many years, is bowing out. In office since 1998, Licata won’t seek re-election this year, he announced Wednesday at City Hall, saying he wants to continue to work against inequality not only in Seattle but in other cities. “I’ve been lucky to have…

Seattle’s socialist City Council member, Kshama Sawant, has picked up a second opponent in her 2015 campaign to represent the council’s super-liberal 3rd District. Morgan Beach, who works for the American Red Cross, volunteers with Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and serves on the Seattle Women’s Commission, said Sawant’s bark is more impressive than her bite. “She’s been…