A jury-rigged lighting setup helped voters on Election Night on Capitol Hill (Image: Alex Garland/CHS)

Voting continued on an Election Night on Capitol Hill marked again by protest — and the tension of watching a neck and neck presidential vote play out across the country.

Amid the tension, Seattle’s progressive candidates marked unsurmountable leads in the first count of King County ballots Tuesday night.

Alexis Mercedes Rinck on Election Night (Image: @TammyMoralesSEA)

In the battle for Tanya Woo’s citywide seat on the Seattle City Council, progressive challenger Alexis Mercedes Rinck moved out to a significant Election Night lead, tallying 57.3% of the city’s vote. Woo, who has filled the Position 8 seat since her appointment to finish the final year of the term when Teresa Mosqueda left to take the seat she won on the King County Council, tried to make public safety a center of the debate in the campaign, joining leaders like council president Sara Nelson in championing a traditional law and order approach while Rinck has said true public safety requires solutions that address the root causes of crime like social and housing programs.

The progressive 43rd District Democrats endorsed Rinck, a queer, Central District Latina who hopes to fully fund city services and get corporations to pay their fair share in taxes. Rinck has said she is “a living testament” to investments in early childhood support and education, and that she understands the importance of investing in youth and city services as someone whose family needed these resources.

UPDATE: Councilmember Tammy Morales, who will welcome a fellow progressive joining her on the council, celebrated Rinck’s strong showing. “Position 8 going back to a People’s Champion, a renter, a transit rider, a queen Latina, and the youngest person ever to serve on Seattle City Council,” Morales wrote.

Serving only the final year of Mosqueda’s term, Rinck will find herself campaigning again in 2025.

She will be the youngest person ever elected to serve on the Seattle City Council.

As for the 43rd District leadership in Olympia, Shaun Scott appears well on his way to victory. His Election Night totals came in near landslide levels at 67.8%.

“Onto Olympia” — Scott with Nicole Macri, his soon to be 43rd District counterpart in the State House of Representatives. Macri ran unopposed (Image: @Scott43LD)

CHS reported here on the tactics of Scott’s opponent Andrea Suarez in a campaign marked by extreme polarization over social issues and public safety, slick attack ads with the fingerprints of political think tanks all over them, and back and forth accusations tying the opposition to larger, overarching threats to the country and Democracy as we know it, as CHS reported here.

Suarez gained notoriety through the We Heart Seattle organization she started as a neighborhood clean-up and homelessness volunteer group, growing the role into her full-time job. She has touted her connections to Republicans and conservative organizations while also maintaining that she is a Democrat. Her campaign is now endorsed by the Seattle Times — and the Seattle Police Officers Guild.

Scott’s support from Frank Chopp, the Washington political legend and housing champion whose retirement opened the seat. A lobbyist with the Statewide Poverty Action Network who narrowly lost a 2019 race to represent the University District on the Seattle City Council, has focused his campaign on continuing to respond to the issues that drove the Black Lives Matters protests, and the responses to the COVID-19 crisis that forged progressive policies including the creation of a public social housing developer in Seattle.

UPDATE: Suarez conceded the race late Tuesday. Overnight, Scott placed his victory in context of a Trump victory.

“Under President Trump, state legislatures must be a locus of resistance to Republican policies. Washington State’s 43rd LD has spoken loud and clear about the need for a bold progressive agenda funded by taxes on the ultra wealthy,” Scott said. “I can’t wait to get to work in Olympia.”

Scott and Rinck celebrated the results at a crowded Election Night party at Capitol Hill’s St. John’s.

Progressives in Seattle will also be pleased with the first count in the vote on the city’s $1.55 billion transportation proposition which also appears to be a done deal. CHS reported here on the proposed property tax levy and its focus on spending on streets, transit, sidewalk, and bike lanes for the next eight years. The funding and spending plan will replace the $930 million previous levy approved in 2015.

For all King County results, visit the King County Elections site.

You can find the statewide Washington election results here.

Earlier in the night, Seattle Police reported five arrests as it moved in on a group of around 30 demonstrators dressed in black bloc clothing and masks as it marched down the middle of 12th Ave. Police said individuals in the group had damaged property. “We support the First Amendment. Do not interfere with the arrests,” an SPD Community Response Group officer repeated over a loud speaker as the detentions began.

There were reports of tagging and vandalism in Cal Anderson Park from people witnessing the situation.

An arrest on 12th Ave (Image: Alex Garland/CHS)

The group was first reported in the streets near Cal Anderson around 6 PM. By 7:15 PM, SPD reported the group had “dwindled” but was still engaging in property damage.

The King County Sheriff Guardian 1 helicopter repeatedly circled the area to monitor demonstrators.

Earlier in the week, posters went up around the neighborhood announcing a protest gathering. “Let’s express our displeasure in the streets,” they invited.

Election Night in 2020 in Seattle was also marked by demonstrations and protest.

The King County Elections drop box at Seattle Central remained busy with last minute voters throughout the disturbance a few blocks away.

With Washington undoubtedly backing Kamala Harris, their votes would be most impactful Seattle’s spirited race for an empty seat on the City Council and to represent Capitol Hill and nearby neighborhoods in the state legislature.

Voting conditions on Broadway were not ideal — the dark area around the drop box was being illuminated by a jury-rigged floodlight — but it was a peaceful affair. A 911 report of demonstrators near the drop box turned out to be representatives from The Washington Bus political advocacy group.

There were other issues on the night. The Capitol Hill Community Council’s Election Night watch party had to be cancelled due to technical difficulties at the SIFF Egyptian on E Pine. The group made the best of things by moving to join the festivities at nearby bar Life on Mars.

The first count of King County ballots is expected sometime after 8 PM

You might want to settle in for what could be a long night — and week. In 2020, the final counts delivering defeat to Donald Trump weren’t delivered until Seattle’s Saturday morning.

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