Following retirement announcements from Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Alex Pedersen—and rumors Council President Debora Juarez does not plan to run for reelection—candidates are beginning to declare their candidacies for Council district seats.
This week, Councilmember Andrew Lewis launched his reelection campaign to continue representing the 7th Council district, covering downtown, Queen Anne, and Magnolia. Elected at 29 years old (the youngest Councilmember elected in Seattle history) in 2019, Lewis identified crime as the most important issue for Seattle. He called for fully staffing and funding of the Seattle Police Department. Lewis is the first incumbent to announce their reelection campaign.
In District 3, Councilmember Kshama Sawant drew a serious challenger this week in Joy Hollingsworth, a local business owner and granddaughter of Dorothy Hollingsworth, a prominent education and civil rights advocate. In her announcement, Hollingsworth decried the absence of Black and LGBTQ voices on the Council, pledging to bring both perspectives to the Council. She also committed that “[t]he biggest thing I want to bring is unifying all the neighborhoods, all the voices.”
