Kevin Nichols (Issaquah City Council Position 6, Washington, candidate 2025)

Kevin Nichols

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Nonpartisan

Candidate, Issaquah City Council Position 6

Elections and appointments

Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

Bachelor's

Cornell University

Other

University of Chicago

Personal

Profession

Scientist

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Kevin Nichols is running in a special election to the Issaquah City Council Position 6 in Washington. He is on the ballot in the special general election on November 4, 2025.^[source]

Nichols completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Kevin Nichols provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on October 6, 2025:

• Bachelor's: Cornell University
• PhD: University of Twente, Netherlands
• Other: University of Chicago
• Gender: Male
• Profession: Scientist
• Incumbent officeholder: No
• Campaign website
• Campaign endorsements
• Campaign Facebook

Elections

General election

The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.

Special general election for Issaquah City Council Position 6

Kevin Nichols and Katia Zakharoff are running in the special general election for Issaquah City Council Position 6 on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Kevin Nichols (Nonpartisan)
		Katia Zakharoff (Nonpartisan)

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	Incumbency information for this election was not available.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Endorsements

Nichols received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Nichols's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

• International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, District Lodge 751

Campaign themes

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Kevin Nichols completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Nichols' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm Kevin Nichols, a PhD scientist and father of two kids in Issaquah schools. My family has lived here for over a decade, and we love this community. My professional background has given me unique preparation for public service. I've spent years bringing different groups together to solve big problems. During the pandemic, I led the team that developed one of the first FDA-approved COVID tests. We had to get government agencies, private companies, and public health experts all working together fast. When people could finally test at home, that happened partly because of work I helped lead. This taught me something important: you have to work with all kinds of people to get things done. I'm an active volunteer with my kids' schools and on multiple local committees and commissions. I'm running for council to find real solutions that help families afford to stay in Issaquah.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Fix Traffic: traffic is stealing time from families every single day. Here's something crazy: our traffic lights don't even talk to each other. They could, they should, and we can absolutely fix this. I want to get our signals coordinated, work to get transit through Issaquah, and address our own problem intersections. But here's the bigger picture: 20,000 people drive into Issaquah for work every day because they can't afford to live here. That's 20,000 extra cars on our roads. If we help people live closer to where they work, we tackle traffic and housing together.
• Address Our Housing Crisis: you need to earn $120,000 a year just to rent an apartment in Issaquah. A new teacher making $75,000 can't afford it. A firefighter making $85,000 is priced out. The people who keep our city running have to live somewhere else and drive here. I'll work to unblock housing development and cut through red tape that's preventing affordable homes from being built in Central Issaquah where we already have infrastructure. When we help our workforce live where they work, we solve two problems at once: housing affordability and traffic congestion.
• Issaquah can't fix its biggest problems alone. We need partners. My whole career has been about getting unlikely groups to work together, whether that was government agencies and tech companies during COVID or public health groups and researchers at Gates. I'll do the same on council. We need to team up with other cities on traffic, work with the school district to find good spots for new schools, and protect our environment. I'm already backed by the majority of our current council, our state representatives, leaders from nearby cities, and groups ranging from the Sierra Club to Master Builders. Getting people to work together isn't optional anymore. It's the only way forward.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Housing and making sure businesses have the workforce they need, because these issues are connected. When teachers and firefighters can't afford to live here, when people who work in our shops and restaurants have hour-long commutes, everything gets worse: we have more traffic, weaker community ties, and businesses that can't find workers. I also care deeply about tracking what actually works. If we're not measuring the right things, how do we know if we're helping? I want clear tracking that shows if we're creating housing people can actually afford, if we're speeding up permits, if our economic development efforts are working. We need to prove we're making life better, not just hope we are.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

First, you have to listen and learn. Talk with residents to understand what they're really dealing with, not what you assume their problems are. Once you understand their concerns, you can understand how different issues connect: how housing affects traffic, how school locations shape growth, how business success depends on workforce availability. You also need intellectual honesty. When the data tells you something unexpected or shows your idea isn't working, you have to admit it and adjust. And communication goes both ways. You need to explain decisions clearly so busy families understand them, but you also need to keep listening and learning from the community. If you think you have all the answers already, you're not ready to serve.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

I've built a diverse coalition including the Sierra Club, Washington Housing Alliance, WA Bikes, Transportation for Washington, and all Democratic organizations at the county and city levels.

Elected officials supporting me include the majority of the current council (Council President Lindsey Walsh, Councilmembers Kelly Jiang, Tola Marts and Zach Hall), State Representatives Lisa Callan and Zach Hall, King County Councilmember Sarah Perry, School Board members Matt Coyne and AJ Taylor, and city leaders from Bothell, Newcastle, and Sammamish. Community leaders like Dave Kappler from the Issaquah Alps Trails Club and KayLee Jaech from The Garage. This broad support shows I can bring people together to get things done.

Candidates hear many personal stories from voters. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching or memorable?

While doorbelling, I talked with someone on their porch who runs a local nonprofit helping vulnerable community members, particularly those who are undocumented. They looked exhausted but kept working. They told me they'd been overwhelmed lately and were even caring for someone's dogs because that person was no longer here to take care of them. What really struck me was that despite doing critical work for our community, they don't have enough space. This conversation opened my eyes to how important city support for nonprofits really is. These organizations operate on tiny budgets but know their communities intimately and can respond quickly when needs change. If the city tried to provide these services directly, we'd spend far more and do it less effectively. Sometimes the best thing government can do is support the people already doing the work, whether through lease agreements, permit waivers, or just getting out of the way. They're catching people before they fall through the cracks and deserve our full support, even if it's something as simple as helping them find affordable space.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Other survey responses

Ballotpedia identified the following surveys, interviews, and questionnaires Nichols completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.

• VoteWA Profile

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Candidate

Issaquah City Council Position 6

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