Joy Hollingsworth’s voucher game is strong — the candidate recently paid a visit to Michael Knight’s gym at R3BAR on Capitol Hill (Image: Joy Hollingsworth for Seattle City Council)

Hollingsworth has been fast out of the gate, leading the district — and the entire city — in collected vouchers

Nine candidates have already added their name to the list to replace Kshama Sawant on the Seattle City Council. There could be more by May.

One candidate’s early strong performance in gaining pledges in the city’s publicly funded Democracy Voucher program is a sign of strong support, her campaign said Wednesday:

Joy Hollingsworth for Seattle City Council, running to represent District 3, has received more Democracy Vouchers than any other candidate according to the City of Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission. The Commission, which released the first numbers yesterday since mailing out Vouchers to Seattle voters just two weeks ago, reported 784 Vouchers received by Hollingsworth totaling $19,600. That number is more than any other candidate running for City Council in any district and is more than double the amount received by any other District 3 candidate.

Central District resident and cannabis farming entrepreneur Joy Hollingsworth got a head start on the other D3 candidates with a mid-January launch of her campaign in front of a big crowd at the MLK FAME Community Center in the eastern edges of D3. Later that week, Sawant bowed out and said she would not seek reelection.

Boosted by the open seat and the hopes of the voucher program, there are now nine official candidates registered for the D3 election with plenty of time before the May deadline leading up to the August primary that will determine which two candidates go through to November.

While Hollingsworth is out to a big lead on the Democracy Voucher front, there is still a long way to go. Unsuccessful 2019 Sawant challenger Egan Orion ultimately collected more than 5,000 vouchers and added nearly $130,000 to his campaign’s budget under the program. Sawant refused to participate in the program which includes caps on campaign fundraising and spending. The campaign still ended up one of the most expensive in Seattle history as Amazon poured $1.5 million into the race through an independent campaign effort in support of Orion and unregulated by the voucher program.

ELECTION 2023

• • KSHAMA SAWANT: ‘Workers Strike Back’ — Sawant making ‘Important Announcement Regarding Her Council Office’ — UPDATE: She’s out
  • RY ARMSTRONG: The race for District 3 had to have a Democracy Voucher candidate — Ry Armstrong just might be it
  • ANDREW ASHIOFU: As D3 candidate field crowds, Ashiofu hopes unique perspectives on housing, health, and transit will change the race
  • ALEX COOLEY: ‘Like, the beauty of democracy’ — Judkins Park and cannabis community leader joins ‘conversation’ for District 3 seat on the Seattle City Council
  • JOY HOLLINGSWORTH: With ‘cannabis justice,’ hunger advocacy, and three generations in the Central District, Hollingsworth enters race for District 3 — UPDATE
  • EFRAIN HUDNELL: This District 3 candidate wants to use affordable housing to help save Seattle from a ‘death spiral that we’ve seen in cities that have gone boom to bust in a way that only American cities do’
  • ALEX HUDSON: With her heart on First Hill, Hudson joins race for District 3 with a neighborhood approach to urbanist policy
  • More…

By the way, more than 300 vouchers have been collected for “invalid” campaigns, the city says

This week, CHS talked with one of the latest D3 candidates to emerge — Judkins Park resident Alex Cooley is another cannabis entrepreneur entering the mix and bringing his version of progressive solutions to homelessness, addiction, housing, and transit solutions to the table.

We’ll talk to others including perennial candidate Asukaa Jaxx, self-proclaimed “public safety” candidate Theo Mostert, and South Sound public defender Bobby Goodwin as the race progresses.

The Democracy Voucher program, first used in 2017, is funded by $3 million in annual property taxes raised by the city, which allow each voter to receive four $25 vouchers each election cycle that they can sign over to any qualifying candidate in Seattle to help fund their campaigns.

So far in D3, only Hollingsworth and Transportation Choices Coalition leader Alex Hudson have qualified for the 2023 cycle. Community organizer Andrew Ashiofu is poised to join them. All nine candidates have registered for the program and are working toward meeting the qualifying deadlines that vary for each candidate. Those who fall short may represent the first winnowing of the already expansive field.

Registered voters in Seattle should automatically receive the $100 in vouchers in the mail. Here is how to put your vouchers to work in this year’s election.

As for Hollingsworth, she is not resting on her early voucher success. Her team is holding a Democracy Voucher Kickoff Friday at the Garfield Community Center.

HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE THIS SPRING
🌈🐣🌼🌷🌱🌳🌾🍀🍃🦔🐇🐝🦢🐑🌞🌻 
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.

Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 👍