Candidates Alex Pedersen and Heidi Wills have won their primary elections to advance to Seattle’s November 5 Seattle City Council general election. Primary winners take on the second-place finishers in the general election.

Washington Retail backed Pedersen and Wills who have competed separately for two of the seven open council seats in this year’s election.

Pedersen is leading in his District 4 race with 43.4% of the votes. The incumbent, appointee Abel Pacheco, has announced he is not seeking election.

Wills has polled 22.3% of the vote for a first-place finish in the District 6. The incumbent councilman Mike O’Brien has decided not to seek re-election.

The association will now reassess each race and the surviving candidates with questionnaires and interviews to determine possible further endorsements.

Logan Bowers, an engineer and Washington Retail member who earned an association endorsement competing in the District 3 race, trailed incumbent Kshama Sawant and challenger Egan Orion with 6.99% of the vote.

The association is supporting candidates it feels are most likely to understand and act in favor of the needs of retailers and other businesses operating in Seattle. The support primarily relates to avoiding unnecessary or costly regulations that threaten the livelihoods of employers, their employees and customers. Click here for more King County primary election results and here to review Washington Retail’s online tracker of the remaining candidates in the City Council races. It includes background on all the candidates that can be useful to weigh before casting votes.