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The State and Local Tap: Seattle City Council candidates set for November election

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August 17, 2019Issue No. 172

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Week in review
On tap next week

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Here's what happened in State and local politics last week.

State Politics: The Week in Review

Ballot Measures Update

2019:

  • Twenty-three statewide measures are certified for the 2019 ballot so far in Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington.
  • Four of the 26 states with a process for citizen-initiated measures allow for ballot initiatives or veto referendums on ballots in any odd-numbered years: Colorado, Maine, Ohio, and Washington.
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2020:

  • Thirty-eight statewide measures in 18 states have been certified for the 2020 ballot so far.
    • Four of the 38 certified 2020 measures are citizen-initiated measures. Thirty-three are legislative referrals. One is an automatic constitutional revision commission question.
    • Proponents of one measure, an initiative in California to establish a split-roll property tax structure, announced that they would start signature gathering over with a revised version.

Tuesday, August 13

Third-place finisher endorses runner-up in Mississippi’s Republican gubernatorial primary runoff

  • State Rep. Robert Foster endorsed former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. in the August 27 Republican gubernatorial primary runoff.
  • Foster finished third in the August 6 primary with 18% of the vote. Waller was second with 33%. First-place finisher Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves received 49% of the vote. Because no candidate received a majority, Reeves and Waller advanced to a runoff.
  • At a news conference announcing his endorsement, Foster said, “In the end, we each just have one vote, or we can stay home. But if you don’t want to see Jim Hood win in November, I encourage you to join me in voting for Bill Waller."
  • Reeves and Waller both began airing new ads this week. Reeves' ad criticized Waller for supporting Medicaid expansion in Mississippi and backing an increase in the state gas tax. Waller's ad said that while Reeves was focused on attacking him, Waller was focused on proposing solutions to the challenges facing Mississippi.
  • The most recent campaign finance reports show Reeves with $5 million cash on hand to Waller's $118,000. The next campaign finance reporting deadline is August 20—one week before the runoff.
  • The winner of the Republican primary runoff will face the Democratic nominee—Attorney General Jim Hood—in the general election November 5. Ronnie Musgrove was the last Democrat elected governor of Mississippi. He defeated Rep. Mike Parker (R) 49.6-48.5% in 1999.
  • In order to win election as governor of Mississippi, a candidate must both win the statewide popular vote and carry a majority of the 122 state House districts. If no candidate does both, the state House decides the winner.

Special Elections

  • So far this year, 72 state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 24 states. Special elections have been held for 50 seats so far; heading into those races, Democrats had previously controlled 30 of the seats while Republicans previously controlled 20. Four seats have flipped from Democratic control to Republican control. One seat has flipped from Republican control to Democratic control. One seat has flipped from Republican control to an independent officeholder.
    • In special elections between 2011 and 2018, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats nationally each year.
    • An average of 91 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past four odd years (2011: 94, 2013: 84, 2015: 88, 2017: 98).
    • An average of 55 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five even years (2010: 26, 2012: 45, 2014: 40, 2016: 65, 2018: 99).

Upcoming special elections include:

August 20

August 27

September 3

Local Politics: The Week in Review

  • In 2019, Ballotpedia is providing comprehensive coverage of elections in America's 100 largest cities by population. This encompasses every office on the ballot in these cities, including their municipal elections, trial court elections, school board elections, and local ballot measures. Ballotpedia is also covering all local recall elections as well as all local ballot measures in California. Recent and upcoming local ballot measure elections are listed below:
    • August 6 - One measure each approved in King County and Seattle, Washington.
      • Proposition 1 in King County authorized the county to levy for six years a property tax of $0.1832 per $1,000 in assessed property value to replace an expiring tax. The tax is subject to annual increases, and revenue is earmarked for parks, recreation, open space, public pools, zoo operations, and aquarium capital improvements.
      • Proposition 1 in Seattle authorized the city to levy for seven years a property tax of $0.122 per $1,000 of assessed value. The tax is subject to annual increases of up to 1%, and revenue is earmarked to fund library operations, materials, and maintenance and capital improvements.
    • August 27 - Two measures in Phoenix, Arizona
      • Proposition 105 would end construction of light rail extensions and redirect funds to infrastructure improvements in Phoenix.
      • Proposition 106 would
        • require annual assessments of the city's pension debt,
        • limit budget growth if pensions are not 90% funded,
        • earmark revenue over the budget limit to paying down pension debt, and
        • require city officials to reimburse the city for pension benefit employer contributions.
    • August 27 - Three local parcel tax measures in California
      • Voters in the Templeton Community Services District in San Luis Obispo County will decide Measure A-19, a $180 parcel tax measure with no automatic expiration.
      • Voters in Bolinas-Stinson Union School District in Marin County will decide Measure B, a five-year $318 parcel tax measure.
      • Voters in Inverness Permanent Road Division No. 2 will decide Measure C, a measure to establish a parcel tax of $1,417 per improved parcel and $708 per unimproved parcel annually for 10 years and $400 annually thereafter (adjusted for increases in the CPI).

Saturday, August 10

All three Seattle City Council incumbents advance to general election after primary

  • Media outlets, including The Seattle Times, projected the top two finishers of Seattle’s seven nonpartisan city council elections held on August 6. All three incumbents running for re-election advanced to the November 5 general election. Seattle conducts its municipal elections by mail and results will be certified August 20.
  • Incumbents Lisa Herbold in District 1 and Kshama Sawant in District 3 will each face a candidate endorsed by the local Chamber of Commerce's political action committee in the general election, while District 5 incumbent Debora Juarez was herself endorsed by the group.
    • Herbold in District 1 will face attorney Phil Tavel.
    • In District 3, Sawant, who is a member of the Socialist Alternative Party, goes up against Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce Director Egan Orion.
    • Juarez faces attorney Ann Davison Sattler in District 5.
  • Between seven and 14 candidates filed to run in each of the four open-seat council races. One candidate backed by the Chamber of Commerce and one endorsed by the King County Democrats advanced to the general election in each race.
    • In District 2, community organizer Tammy Morales will face Seattle Police Department Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon.
    • Alex Pedersen, who worked as a legislative aide for former councilmember Tim Burgess, is facing journalist Shaun Scott in District 4.
    • In District 6, Dan Strauss, who is policy advisor to councilmember Sally Bagshaw, is running against Heidi Wills, who served on the city council from 1999 to 2003.
    • And finally, in District 7, Assistant City Attorney Andrew Lewis is up against former Police Chief Jim Pugel.
  • The Chamber of Commerce backed Solomon, Pedersen, Wills, and Pugel. Morales, Scott, Strauss, and Lewis were endorsed by the King County Democrats.
  • The elections are taking place a year after the city council passed and then repealed a head tax proposal designed to fund affordable housing programs for the homeless. The city council voted unanimously to pass the head tax in May 2018 and then repealed it by a vote of 7 to 2 the following month after it was opposed by the city’s business community, including the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Amazon. Sawant and another councilmember not up for re-election in 2019 were the two votes against repeal, and Herbold was a main supporter of the initial proposal.
  • Amazon contributed $250,000 to the Chamber of Commerce's political action committee, which spent more than $350,000 supporting endorsed candidates and opposing Herbold and Sawant ahead of the primary. Overall, the seven primary races featured $874,000 in independent expenditures which was more than was spent in the primary and general elections combined in 2015—the last time these same seven seats were up for election.

Tuesday, August 13

Lee defeats Lundquist in Los Angeles City Council special election

  • Former city council staffer John Lee defeated university professor Loraine Lundquist 52-48% in a special election for a vacant seat on the Los Angeles City Council. Lee and Lundquist had advanced from a primary field of 15 candidates June 4.
  • The city council vacancy was created when—who was the only Republican on the city council—resigned his seat in December 2018 to work for a sports and entertainment firm.
  • Lee is Englander’s former chief of staff and is described by the Los Angeles Times as a Republican. He was endorsed by the L.A. Jobs PAC, which is sponsored by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Lundquist—who was endorsed by The Los Angeles Times and Our Revolution—describes herself as a Democrat.
  • Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the U.S. by population.
WHAT'S ON TAP NEXT WEEK

Here's what is happening in State and local politics this week.

State Politics: What's On Tap Next Week

Wednesday, August 21

President Trump to headline fundraiser for Kentucky Gov. Bevin (R)

  • President Donald Trump (R) is scheduled to headline a fundraiser for Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin’s (R) in Louisville. Vice President Mike Pence (R) appeared with Bevin earlier this month in Clay County where he spoke in support of the governor. Bevin faces Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) and John Hicks (L) in the general election November 5. Beshear is the son of former Gov. Steve Beshear (D), who served from 2007 to 2015.
  • Sabato's Crystal Ball rates the race as ”Lean Republican” and The Cook Political Report and Inside Elections rate it as a “Toss-up.”
  • This race will decide the state's trifecta status until at least the 2020 state legislative elections in Kentucky. If Bevin wins, Republicans will maintain their trifecta control of the state, while a Beshear or Hicks victory would result in divided government.

States in session

Five states—California, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin—are in regular session. Ohio is in skeleton session. In a typical skeleton session, a clerk, a presiding officer, and another legislative member are the only people present. The presiding officer will convene the session day and adjourn it minutes later. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are in recess. Forty-one states have adjourned their 2019 legislative sessions.

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

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