Kara Ceriello
Kara Ceriello ran for election to the Seattle City Council to represent District 6 in Washington. Ceriello lost in the primary on August 6, 2019.
2019 battleground election
This section is adopted from City elections in Seattle, Washington (2019). To learn more, click here.
The city of Seattle, Washington, held nonpartisan general elections for seven city council districts on November 5, 2019. Four races were open, and three incumbents ran for re-election: Lisa Herbold (District 1), Kshama Sawant (District 3), and Debora Juarez (District 5). All three incumbents won re-election.
The 2019 races saw a record-breaking $4.2 million in satellite spending through November 5.[1] In 2015—the last time the seven district seats were on the ballot—satellite spending totaled $785,000.[2][3]
The elections occurred a year and a half after the repeal of the 2018 head tax proposal, which would have required businesses grossing at least $20 million to pay $275 per employee in order to fund affordable housing programs for the homeless. The city council voted to pass the head tax 9-0 in May 2018 but then repealed it by a 7-2 vote in June 2018 after running into opposition from the city’s business community, including online retailer Amazon. Sawant and Position 8 At-large Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda cast the two votes against repealing the tax. Juarez and Herbold voted with five others to repeal it.[4]
The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce opposed the head tax.[5] The Chamber's political action committee, Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE), reported spending around $1.8 million supporting endorsed candidates and opposing Herbold, Sawant, and Dan Strauss.[6]
CASE received $1.5 million from Amazon.[7] New York Times technology correspondent Karen Weise wrote, "Four years ago, Amazon gave just $25,000 to the PAC."[8] GeekWire's Monica Nickelsburg wrote, "It’s a sign that local politics can have a big impact on this global corporation and an example of Amazon’s newfound appetite for civic engagement at all levels of government."[9]
Civic Alliance for a Progressive Economy (CAPE), a PAC formed in 2019 by several groups including Working Washington, endorsed five different candidates than CASE in the general election (the group did not endorse in Districts 5 or 7).[10][11] The group reported spending around $350,000 supporting and opposing candidates. Political action committees affiliated with labor group UNITE HERE! spent more than $700,000 in support of District 7 candidate Andrew Lewis.[12]
Candidates endorsed by CAPE and/or UNITE HERE! won in five council races. Candidates backed by CASE won the other two (Districts 4 and 5).
Heading into the election, four of the nine sitting city councilmembers had been backed by CASE in previous elections, and seven were backed by UNITE HERE! Local 8. The groups had endorsed three councilmembers in common. In 2015, four of the seven district candidates who received CASE endorsements won election. Three remained on the council as of the 2019 election: Bruce Harrell (District 2), Juarez (District 5), and Sally Bagshaw (District 7).[13][14] Harrell and Bagshaw were also endorsed by UNITE HERE! Local 8 in 2015. A total of five district candidates endorsed by the group won in 2015, including Herbold, Sawant, and Mike O'Brien (District 6).[15][16] In the 2017 elections for the two at-large seats on the council, CASE backed Position 9 winner M. Lorena González, and UNITE HERE! Local 8 endorsed González and Position 8 winner Mosqueda.[17][18]
Six candidates completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey: Phil Tavel (District 1), District 3 candidates Egan Orion and incumbent Kshama Sawant, Shaun Scott (District 4), Ann Davison Sattler (District 5), and Andrew Lewis (District 7). See below for their responses.
Positions 8 and 9 on the council, at-large seats held by Mosqueda and M. Lorena González, respectively, were not up for election until 2021.[19]
Across all seven elections, 56 candidates filed to run. Primary elections were held August 6, and the top two candidates advanced from each race.[20] In 2015, 37 candidates filed for the same seven seats.
This was the second election in which a voter voucher program was being used to provide public funding to campaigns. It was also the second election since the early 1900s in which councilmembers were elected by district; from 1910 to 2013, all Seattle councilmembers were elected at large.
Elections
2019
See also: City elections in Seattle, Washington (2019)
General election
General election for Seattle City Council District 6
Dan Strauss defeated Heidi Wills in the general election for Seattle City Council District 6 on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Dan Strauss (Nonpartisan) | 55.7 | 23,868 |
 | Heidi Wills (Nonpartisan) | 43.8 | 18,799 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 221 | ||
| Total votes: 42,888 | |||
 = 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Seattle City Council District 6
The following candidates ran in the primary for Seattle City Council District 6 on August 6, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dan Strauss (Nonpartisan) | 34.1 | 11,328 |
| ✔ | | Heidi Wills (Nonpartisan) | 21.2 | 7,048 |
| Sergio García (Nonpartisan) | 14.3 | 4,730 | ||
| Jay Fathi (Nonpartisan) | 13.2 | 4,367 | ||
| Kate Martin (Nonpartisan) | 3.4 | 1,137 | ||
 | Jon Lisbin (Nonpartisan) | 3.2 | 1,063 | |
| Jeremy Cook (Nonpartisan) | 2.5 | 829 | ||
| Melissa Hall (Nonpartisan) | 2.5 | 820 | ||
 | Ed Pottharst (Nonpartisan) | 1.8 | 599 | |
| John Peeples (Nonpartisan) | 1.4 | 452 | ||
| Joey Massa (Nonpartisan) | 0.9 | 299 | ||
| Terry Rice (Nonpartisan) | 0.9 | 287 | ||
| Kara Ceriello (Nonpartisan) | 0.4 | 146 | ||
| Bobby Miller (Nonpartisan) | 0.0 | 0 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 67 | ||
| Total votes: 33,172 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Kara Ceriello did not complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2019 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "Breaking down Seattle races that could yield a ‘split council,’ with political consultant Monisha Harrell," October 26, 2019
- ↑ Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, "2019 Independent Expenditure Committees," November 7, 2019
- ↑ In 2017, when there was an election for mayor and the two at-large council seats, satellite spending totaled $1.3 million.
- ↑ Geek Wire, "Seattle repeals head tax 7-2 in dramatic reversal that leaves city divided over homeless crisis," June 12, 2018
- ↑ Seattle Times, "Seattle’s business lobby sees opportunity to unseat the City Council’s progressive majority," May 12, 2019
- ↑ CASE's website said it was "a political organization representing diverse local businesses of every size and sector." Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy, "About," accessed October 18, 2019
- ↑ GeekWire, "Amazon gives $1M to group seeking to upend Seattle City Council in upcoming election," October 15, 2019
- ↑ New York Times, "The Week in Tech: Amazon Muscles In on Seattle Election," October 18, 2019
- ↑ GeekWire, "Amazon gives $1M to group seeking to upend Seattle City Council in upcoming election," October 15, 2019
- ↑ Civic Alliance for a Progressive Economy, "Candidate Ratings by Race," accessed November 5, 2019
- ↑ CAPE's website said it was created "to combat the unlimited corporate dollars flooding into local campaigns." Civic Alliance for a Progressive Economy, "About CAPE," accessed October 18, 2019
- ↑ UNITE HERE! Local 8's website said that it represented about 5,000 hospitality industry workers in Oregon and Washington as of the election. UNITE HERE Local 8, "About Local 8," accessed November 13, 2019
- ↑ Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, "Election Results Encouraging For Seattle’s Future," November 19, 2015
- ↑ Rob Johnson, who was elected to represent District 4 in 2015, resigned in 2019 to take a position with a National Hockey League franchise. Abel Pacheco was appointed to complete his term.
- ↑ UNITE HERE! Local 8, "UNITE HERE Local 8 City of Seattle Primary Endorsements," July 29, 2015
- ↑ Harrell, Bagshaw, and O'Brien did not seek re-election in 2019.
- ↑ UNITE HERE! Local 8, "UNITE HERE Local 8’s 2017 November General Election Endorsements," accessed November 13, 2019
- ↑ Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, "Political organization sponsored by the Seattle Metro Chamber announces endorsements for Mayor, County Executive, City Council races," May 30, 2017
- ↑ Seattle.gov, "Find Your Council District," accessed May 20, 2019
- ↑ The Stranger, "Here’s Who’s Officially Running for Seattle City Council, Let's Place Bets on Who the Chamber Will Try to Buy with Their Amazon Gold, and More City Council Election News," May 17, 2019
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