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Mayoral election in Olympia, Washington (2023)

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2023 Olympia elections
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Election dates
Filing deadline: May 19, 2023
Primary election: August 1, 2023
General election: November 7, 2023
Election stats
Offices up: Mayor
Total seats up: 1 (click here for other city elections)
Election type: Nonpartisan
Other municipal elections
U.S. municipal elections, 2023

The city of Olympia, Washington, held a general election for mayor on November 7, 2023. A primary was scheduled for August 1, 2023. The filing deadline for this election was May 19, 2023.

Elections

Click on the tabs below to show more information about those topics.

Candidates and results

General election

General election for Mayor of Olympia

Dontae Payne defeated David Ross in the general election for Mayor of Olympia on November 7, 2023.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Dontae Payne
Dontae Payne (Nonpartisan)
 
69.5
 
11,197
David Ross (Nonpartisan)
 
30.0
 
4,841
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.4
 
72

Total votes: 16,110
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Olympia

Dontae Payne and David Ross defeated Desirée Toliver in the primary for Mayor of Olympia on August 1, 2023.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Dontae Payne
Dontae Payne (Nonpartisan)
 
65.2
 
8,454
David Ross (Nonpartisan)
 
29.6
 
3,845
Image of Desirée Toliver
Desirée Toliver (Nonpartisan)
 
4.9
 
637
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.3
 
34

Total votes: 12,970
Candidate Connection = 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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Washington elections, 2023

What's on your ballot?
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Candidate profiles

There were no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles would have appeared here as candidates completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Mayoral partisanship

See also: Partisanship in United States municipal elections (2023)

Eighteen state capitals held mayoral elections in 2023, including 11 capitals that fell outside of the top 100 cities.

One state capital saw a change in mayoral partisan affiliation in 2023:

After mayors elected in 2023 assumed office, there were 37 Democratic state capital mayors, six Republican mayors, one independent mayor, two nonpartisan mayors, and four mayors with unknown partisan affiliation.

What was at stake?

Report a story for this election

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Candidate survey

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About the city

See also: Olympia, Washington

Olympia is a city in Thurston County, Washington. As of 2020, its population was 55,605.

City government

See also: Council-manager government

The city government of Olympia utilizes a council-manager system. In this form of municipal government, an elected city council, which includes the mayor and serves as the city's primary legislative body, appoints a chief administrative officer called a city manager.[1]

Demographics

The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.

Demographic Data for Olympia, Washington
Olympia Washington
Population 55,605 7,705,281
Land area (sq mi) 18 66,455
Race and ethnicity**
White 80.1% 73.5%
Black/African American 2.8% 3.9%
Asian 7.6% 8.8%
Native American 1% 1.2%
Pacific Islander 0.7% 0.7%
Other (single race) 1.3% 4.8%
Multiple 6.4% 7.1%
Hispanic/Latino 9.9% 12.9%
Education
High school graduation rate 94.2% 91.7%
College graduation rate 46% 36.7%
Income
Median household income $63,185 $77,006
Persons below poverty level 14.7% 10.2%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


See also

Olympia, Washington Washington Municipal government Other local coverage
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External links

Footnotes