2023 Seattle City Council election
The 2023 Seattle City Council election is scheduled to be held on November 7, 2023, following a primary election on August 1. The seven district-based seats of the nine-member Seattle City Council are up for election; the districts were modified based on the results of the 2020 census. Four incumbent members of the city council did not seek reelection.

Background
The Seattle Redistricting Commission approved a new map for the city council districts on November 8, 2022. The 2023 election cycle is the fourth to use Seattle's democracy voucher program. At least 16,000 people utilized the democracy voucher program during this election.

District 1

Campaign
Incumbent councilor Lisa Herbold, first elected in the 2015 election, announced on December 9, 2022, that she would not seek reelection. She stated that she did not want the election in the 1st district to repeat the 2021 Seattle City Attorney election in which Ann Davison, a Republican, was elected against a divided progressive field.

Preston Anderson, a social worker and unsuccessful candidate in the 2019 Pierce County Council election, and Maren Costa, a leader of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice that National Labor Relations Board ruled to be illegally fired by Amazon, announced their campaigns in January 2023. Rob Saka, a lawyer for Meta Platforms who was a member of the King County Districting Committee and the committee that selected Seattle Police Chief Adrian Z. Diaz, announced his campaign on February 14.

Phil Tavel, an administrative law judge who unsuccessful ran against Herbold in 2019, announced his candidacy on February 28. Stephen Brown, the co-owner of Eltana Bagels, announced his campaign on March 7, and stated that he considered running for office "during the height of the Black Lives Matter, George Floyd protests, and CHOP occupancy". Lucy Barefoot, Jean Craciun, and Mia Jacobson also ran while Michael Auger conducted a write-in campaign. AnnaLisa LaFayette withdrew from the campaign.

Campaign finance
All of the candidates are participating in the democracy voucher program.

Brown's significant usage of billboards, which cost $1,000 per week, and mailers placed him above the $93,750 fundraising threshold for the democracy vouchers program. Brown told the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission that the advertisements were meant for his business and not his campaign. Costa and Saka also exceeded the fundraising limit, but the SEEC lifted their limit. Elliott Bay Neighbors Committee has spent $40,000 in support of Saka.

Candidate forums

Endorsements

Primary results

District 2

Campaign
Incumbent Tammy Morales announced her reelection campaign on February 1, 2023. Tanya Woo, an activist who opposed the expansion of a homeless shelter in the Chinatown–International District and is a member of the Chinatown International District Community Watch, announced her campaign on February 16, 2023. Green Party steering committee co-chair Margaret Elisabeth is also running. Seattle Parks Sustainability and Environmental Engagement manager Chukundi Salisbury had been named as a potential candidate, but he did not run.

Isaiah Willoughby, a withdrawn candidate, did not gain traction or raise funds, but got attention due to his 2021 pleading guilty to charges of arson committed during the events of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest.

Campaign finance
All the candidates are participating in the democracy voucher program.

Endorsements

Primary results

District 3

Campaign
Incumbent Kshama Sawant is not running for re-election.
Running for the seat are:
 Shobhit Agarwal, retailer
 Ry Armstrong, genderqueer actor
 Andrew Ashiofu, Seattle LGBTQ+ Commission co-chair
 Alex Cooley, cannabis business co-founder
 Bobby Goodwin, public defender
 Joy Hollingsworth, cannabis business co-founder
 Efrain Hudnell, deputy prosecutor in the King County Prosecuting Attorney's office
 Alex Hudson, Executive Director, Transportation Choices Coalition
 Asukaa Jaxx, perennial candidate (write-in)

Campaign finance
All of the candidates are participating in the democracy voucher program.

Candidate forum

Endorsements

Primary results

District 4

Campaign
Incumbent Alex Pedersen announced on January 4, 2023 that he would not run for re-election.

Entrepreneur Ron Davis announced his campaign for the seat on January 31, followed on March 10 by deputy director of the Department of Arts & Culture Maritza Rivera. George Artem and engineer Kenneth Wilson, runner-up in the 8th district in 2021, also ran for the seat. State representative Gerry Pollet was reportedly considering a campaign, but he did not run.

University of Washington graduate student Matthew Mitnick launched his campaign for the seat on November 15, 2022, but on March 30, 2023, ten former campaign members published a formal statement containing serious allegations against him. Mitnick withdrew from the race on April 14.

Campaign finance
All of the candidates are participating in the democracy voucher program. The SEEC lifted the fundraising limit for Davis.

Endorsements

Primary results

District 5

Campaign
City Council president Debora Juarez is not running for re-election. Running for the seat are:
 Boegart Bibby
 Lucca Howard
 Nilu Jenks
 Shane Macomber
 Retired King County Superior Court judge Cathy Moore
 Social equity consultant ChrisTiana ObeySumner
 Tyesha Reed
 Justin Simmons
 Bobby Tucker
 Rebecca Williamson, candidate for the 9th district in 2021

Campaign finance
All of the candidates are participating in the democracy voucher program.

Endorsements

Primary results

District 6

Campaign
Incumbent Dan Strauss is running for re-election. He is being challenged by Fremont Chamber of Commerce executive Peter Hanning, Dale Kutzera, Jon Lisbin, Victoria Palmer and attorney Shea Wilson.

Campaign finance
All candidates save for Lisbin are participating in the democracy voucher program.

Endorsements

Primary results

District 7

Campaign
Incumbent Andrew J. Lewis announced that he would run for reelection on January 15, 2023, the first incumbent councilor to do so. He is being challenged by Isabelle Kerner, who ran for this district in 2019, Queen Anne community councilmember Robert Kettle, Seattle Police Officer Aaron Marshall, businesswoman Olga Sagan and Wade Sowders.

Campaign finance
All the candidates save for Marshall are participating in the democracy voucher program.

Endorsements

Primary results

Notes

References

Works cited

External links
Official campaign websites for 1st district candidates
 Preston Anderson for City Council
 Lucy Barefoot for City Council
 Stephen Brown for City Council
 Maren Costa for City Council
 Jean Craciun for City Council
 Rob Saka for City Council
 Phillip Tavel for City Council

Official campaign websites for 2nd district candidates
 Margaret Elisabeth for City Council
 Tammy Morales for City Council
 Tanya Woo for City Council

Official campaign websites for 3rd district candidates
 Shobhit Agarwal for City Council
 Ry Armstrong for City Council
 Andrew Ashiofu for City Council
 Alex Cooley for City Council
 Robert Goodwin for City Council
 Joy Hollingsworth for City Council
 Efrain Hudnell for City Council
 Alex Hudson for City Council

Official campaign websites for 4th district candidates
 George Artem for City Council
 Ron Davis for City Council
 Maritza Rivera for City Council
 Kenneth Wilson for City Council
Official campaign websites for 5th district candidates
 Boegart Bibby for City Council
 Lucca Howard for City Council
 Nilu Jenks for City Council
 Shane Macomber for City Council
 Cathy Moore for City Council
 ChrisTiana Obeysumner for City Council
 Tyesha Reed for City Council
 Justin Simmons for City Council

Official campaign websites for 6th district candidates
 Pete Hanning for City Council
 Dale Kutzera for City Council
 Jon Lisbin for City Council
 Victoria Palmer for City Council
 Dan Strauss for City Council
 Shea Wilson for City Council

Official campaign websites for 7th district candidates
 Isabelle Kerner for City Council
 Robert Kettle for City Council
 Andrew J. Lewis for City Council
 Aaron Marshall for City Council
 Olga Sagan for City Council
 Wade Sowders for City Council

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