Tag Archives: district 3

After the race for District 3, Hudson continues advocacy work and sees hope in Seattle’s big 2024 goals: an equitable comprehensive plan and an ambitious new transportation levy

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Hudson making a 2023 campaign stop before her new path with Commute Seattle (Image: @AlexHudsonforSeattle)

It is very likely the voters in the Seattle City Council’s District 3 could not go wrong in November. Though Central District born and raised Joy Hollingsworth reached a solid victory, First Hill neighborhood and transit champion Alex Hudson also would have brought a strong fight for the needs of Seattle’s core neighborhoods to City Hall.

After the election, Hudson has spent the past few months finding a new path to helping the residents of First Hill, the Central District, Capitol Hill and the entire city resting up from the long campaign, sorting out her new priorities, and moving forward in her new role as executive director at Commute Seattle.

“Running for office is an incredible experience and a grueling task,” Hudson told CHS. “I was grateful for the opportunity, especially right after the election, to take a little break—spend some time with my family, catch up on much needed sleep, unwind my brain, and thank people and reflect on the experience.”

She also snatched up the leadership position at Commute Seattle, a nonprofit that works towards making the city more walker and bicycle friendly, while centering those disproportionately impacted by transportation costs.

Hudsons calls her new role the “perfect fit”and is “still very much doing the work that I love and that I’m committed to around transportation, transit and mobility, and doing that in service of the people of the City of Seattle.”

Running for D3 has changed Hudson, she said, by helping her come to appreciate the community’s experiences and real concerns around safety. From her campaign team canvassing a total of 18,000 people during her campaign, Hudson listened to residents’ genuinely held concerns that were backed up by numerous negative experiences, and holds a well of compassion and empathy for those who are struggling in society.

“I think it has helped to crystalize so many of the values that I had walking in—that people deserve a government that works for them,” Hudson said. “People deserve to have a government that invests in opportunities that spreads that fairly, that has meaningful and specific plans for making life better here in the City of Seattle. I feel more committed to making that possible than I did before.” Continue reading →

Hollingsworth holding 23rd & Union Public Safety Meeting over area gun violence

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An image from Hollingsworth’s first newsletter of the councilmember with Victoria Beach who recently retired as chair of SPD’s African American Advisory Council

Newly elected District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth will host “a candid conversation about community safety in the Central District” Tuesday night.

Hollingsworth announced the “23rd & Union Public Safety Meeting” during a Monday briefing of the Seattle City Council.

23rd & Union Public Safety Meeting With Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth

Come join Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth at the intersection of 23rd Avenue and E. Union Street for a candid conversation about community safety in the Central District.

Tuesday, January 30th 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Midtown Square
2301 East Union Street

The session was organized following this nighttime Wednesday, January 23rd shooting incident that sent one person to the hospital and bullets flying into at least two nearby apartment windows at the Midtown Square mixed-use development on the southeast corner of 23rd and Union. Continue reading →

With Madison RapidRide G work wrapping up this year, Eastlake RapidRide J ready to dig in

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Sen. Patty Murray delivered the big check to Seattle (Image: City of Seattle)

Eastlake will be the next area neighborhood to get the RapidRide treatment. This week, Seattle officials are celebrating a $64.2 million grant to help pay for it.

The RapidRide J route will connect the University District to Southlake Union via the core of the Eastlake neighborhood in a construction project expected to begin this summer and be completed sometime in 2027.

“Americans depend on fast, affordable, and safe transportation options to get to work, pursue their education, and come home every day to their families” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said about the grant. “Bus rapid transit is the fastest-growing transit mode for a good reason, and the Biden-Harris administration’s $64.2 million investment will build out Seattle’s RapidRide J Line to provide faster, more efficient service that benefits the greater Seattle area.”

The full project including two new miles of bus priority lanes and 3.7 miles of “protected bike facilities” has a $128 million cost estimate. Continue reading →

Councilmember Hollingsworth building her District 3 team — and priorities — at Seattle City Hall

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(Image: City of Seattle)

In her first days at Seattle City Hall, Joy Hollingsworth is meeting with everybody who makes the building tick and assembling a core team who will staff her office and help her lead District 3 with what she says will be a dedication to transparency including office hours, newsletters, and regular community meetings after a decade of leadership under Kshama Sawant and Socialist Alternative.

It has been a mostly enjoyable start to her political career in Seattle. The newly sworn-in District 3 representative on the Seattle City Council is beginning her four-year term with honest to goodness cheering in City Hall’s chambers from a group of constituents who have felt alienated from the recent years of Seattle process. Her mandate — help save Seattle — might be a long-term political challenge, but she can’t do much wrong in these early days. Her message is the right thing at the right time during the city’s push to clean up its streets and revive its core.

“I’m still the same Joy. I’m just a kid from the Central District. What we ran on was being transparent with folks, having access,” Hollingsworth said.

That transparency and access will be built around her team. Like Mayor Bruce Harrell who endorsed her, Hollingsworth’s career as a high school and collegiate athlete colors her language and outlook. Her anecdotes include stories from the tutelage of legendary hoops coach Lenny Wilkens. She is building her team with a strong D3 bench.

Her chief of staff will be Anthony Derrick an experienced political communications expert who has handled the Seattle City Attorney’s office and worked as the press secretary under Mayor Jenny Durkan.

Another first pick was former District 3 candidate and Hashtag Cannabis owner Logan Bowers as policy director. Continue reading →

New Seattle City Council president promises ‘reset in tone’ with talk of increased police spending, criticism of JumpStart tax on large employers

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Selfie! Teresa Mosqueda got a last group selfie with her colleagues including new council president Sara Nelson, far right (Image: Seattle City Council)

Newly placed Seattle City Council president Sara Nelson says the new makeup of the city’s legislative body including new District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth should align with efforts to increase spending on public safety and salaries of Seattle Police officers while also somehow stepping away from “our reliance on new revenue (taxes) to pay our bills.”

“My vision as council president boils down to good governance, which is the foundation of sound public policy,” Nelson wrote in an op-ed published this week in the Seattle Times that took aim at the city’s JumpStart tax on its largest employers in addition to laying the groundwork for increased spending on police. “I believe that if we change the way we operate, starting with coming in to work in person, Seattleites can expect to see a major reset in tone and direction at City Hall.”

“Judging from the mood in chambers on Tuesday, the audience clearly agreed,” Nelson writes. Continue reading →

‘The fundamentals’ — Hollingsworth begins serving District 3 as Nelson named to lead Seattle City Council

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One wrinkle for Hollingsworth at the inauguration was the D3 councilmember’s shirt — the pattern caused a Moiré pattern during the Seattle Channel broadcast

The Central District’s Joy Hollingsworth was one of five new faces — along with a familiar new leader for the group — Tuesday at the Seattle City Council’s 2024 inauguration ceremony.

“The fundamentals of our city have to be prioritized for us to continue to grow,” Hollingsworth said Tuesday as told a story about her experience with legendary basketball coach Lenny Wilkens. Hollingsworth thanked supporters and family, “a powerful village” that helped her through school, her storied career as an athlete, and her career, and into her new role in public office. She then listed her priorities including after school programs for kids, food banks and services for seniors, support for small businesses owners, daycare providers, and the “artists and creators of Capitol Hill.”

“I love the values of Seattle,” Hollingsworth said. Continue reading →

How Joy Hollingsworth flipped City Council District 3, Seattle’s most progressive district

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By Andrew Hong, special for CHS

Despite a close primary contest, Joy Hollingsworth won the November general election for Seattle City Council District 3 by a 6-point margin against Alex Hudson. Her victory marks the first time a moderate, Seattle Times-endorsed candidate will represent District 3, which comprises Capitol Hill, the Central District, Madison Park, Montlake, and Eastlake.

Her victory is notable because she had one of the widest margins of victory in the city despite District 3 being the most progressive district in Seattle-wide elections (ex: 2021 Mayoral Election). Furthermore, she flipped this seat from Kshama Sawant, the most left-wing Seattle City Councilmember who held the seat for a decade before deciding to step aside this year to shift her focus to the creation of a new national political party.

Hollingsworth’s win is a part of what can be seen as an ideological shift in Seattle City Hall, represented by a shift from the previous 6-3 left-leaning majority to a new, veto-proof 7-2 moderate majority on the council with vacating Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda’s likely-moderate appointed replacement set to join the new group early next year.

2023 ELECTION

So, how did the relative moderate and business-backed Hollingsworth win the most progressive district in Washington’s most progressive city?

Precinct-level maps showing results and turnout for the neighborhoods of District 3 reveal the results of a friendlier citywide political environment, lower turnout in progressive areas of the city, and crucially, large gains in the historically-Black Central District were at the core of her victory. Continue reading →

D3 Election Update: Hollingsworth declares victory, says ready to build on family legacy of three generations in the Central District by giving ‘everyone a voice’

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Hollingsworth with Mayor Bruce Harrell on Election Night

UPDATE 11/10/2023 9:00 PM: In a statement, Joy Hollingsworth thanked voters Friday night. “I am humbled and honored to be chosen by District 3 voters to represent our communities on the Seattle City Council,” Hollingsworth said. “As someone whose family has called this neighborhood home for three generations – raised in our district and grew up in its schools, community centers, and parks – I cannot wait to start serving you.”

In her declaration of victory, Hollingsworth said every neighborhood of D3 will have her ear at City Hall.

“From Capitol Hill, First Hill, Central District, Madrona, Eastlake, Montlake, North Capitol Hill, Madison Park, Madison Valley, Judkins, Leschi, Mt. Baker and Portage Bay — Everyone will have a voice,” she said.

With turnout reaching 45% in Friday’s count, Hollingsworth is set to finish with around 53% of the vote. Hudson appears to have done best with very late and Election Day voters — she tallied around 57% of the 6,600 or so ballots counted in Friday’s update.

The Friday 11/10 update

Candidate Hudson meeting the residents of D3 earlier in the campaign (Image: CHS)

UPDATE 11/10/2023 11:00 AM: Alex Hudson has conceded the race to Joy Hollingsworth.

“This morning, Seattle City Council District 3 candidate Alex Hudson called opponent Joy Hollingsworth to formally concede the race in Seattle City Council District 3, which includes Capitol Hill, First Hill and the Central District,” an update sent by the Hudson campaign reads.

“They had a short but friendly conversation during which Hudson congratulated Hollingsworth on her victory and offered her support and assistance going forward as Hollingsworth joins the City Council. Hollingsworth was gracious in accepting the concession and thanked Hudson for running a classy and substantive race.”

“This was a hard fought campaign, but also a civil and substantive one, and I want to publicly congratulate Joy on her victory,” Hudson said in the statement. “Of course it hurts to lose, but Joy ran a stellar campaign, and I have no doubt she will be a strong and effective representative for the people of District 3.” Continue reading →

D3 Election Update: Hudson shows late voter strength but barely dents Hollingsworth’s commanding lead

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Hollingsworth on Election Night at 14th Ave’s First AME Church

The second count of ballots in the District 3 race for the Seattle City Council knocked out a smaller chunk of the collected ballots than expected but the updated numbers have helped provide an even more clear look at where this race is likely to finish. Joy Hollingsworth has a commanding, probably insurmountable lead.

CHS reported here on the Election Night triumph for the Hollingsworth campaign that saw the Central District and Mayor Bruce Harrell-endorsed candidate post a 17-point lead.

There have been no declarations of victory or concessions yet but Wednesday’s second day of ballot counting showed Alex Hudson’s expected strength with later, more progressive voters as she narrowed Hollingsworth’s lead to a just under 15-point gap, claiming the lion’s share of the more than 1,400 D3 ballots counted in the second update. Continue reading →

One District 3 candidate has powered through Seattle’s political fundraising cap, the other isn’t far behind — but the $ totals are nowhere near D3’s last election battle

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Already endorsed by Mayor Bruce Harrell, Hollingsworth has also added an endorsement from King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay to her roster. The Hudson camp, meanwhile, is hoping to max out on democracy vouchers to keep up

The Alex Hudson campaign says spending in the race for the District 3 seat on the Seattle City Council has reached a new level with her opponent opting to be released from the limitations of the city’s Democracy Voucher program

“We just got word yesterday that the City of Seattle has lifted the fundraising cap for our opponent,” the email sent by the Hudson campaign Tuesday afternoon reads. “That puts us at a significant financial disadvantage,” the fundraising pitch continues.

The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission says candidate Joy Hollingsworth has been released from the “general spending limit.” The change makes the Hollingsworth campaign ineligible to receive any additional funding from Democracy Vouchers but the candidate is allowed to continue collecting vouchers “as a sign of support.” Collecting the certificates can also help kneecap an opponent’s fundraising.

The change comes as the candidates have been close to neck and neck in campaign contributions with Hollingsworth reporting around $187,000 in contributions and Hudson, $157,000 through the latest reporting. Continue reading →