2025 Candidates We Support
for effective policies to improve quality of life for residents.
Livable Seattle Coalition supports the following candidates for their track records of implementing moderate, pragmatic and effective policies to improve quality of life for residents.
- Mayor: Bruce Harrell
- City Attorney: Ann Davison
- City Council Position 9: Sara Nelson
- King County Executive: Claudia Balducci
Mayor: Bruce Harrell
Since taking office in 2021, Mayor Harrell has implemented policies that have successfully reduced homeless encampments, rebuilt the police force, and revitalized downtown.
- Homelessness: Mayor Harrell’s administration has brought a significant reduction in tent and RV encampments, focusing on keeping public spaces clear of encampments while offering shelter. He understands that Seattle’s parks and neighborhoods must be safe, clean, and vibrant for residents and businesses to thrive.
- Public Safety: Mayor Harrell’s policies emphasize traditional law enforcement while recognizing the public health challenges of the addiction crisis. He is rebuilding the police department, and he has created the CARE department to address addiction and behavioral health issues on our streets.
Harrell’s opponent, Katie Wilson, champions an expansion of emergency housing and shelter, but opposes encampment removals. Without enforcing standards of public safety, Seattle risks perpetuating encampments in our streets and parks. Wilson has called for defunding the police and reducing the number of police officers. Her insistence on diverting police from “nonviolent crises” may sound noble, but the reality is it leaves neighborhoods vulnerable to unchecked dangerous behavior.
“It is clear: Bruce Harrell has delivered results in challenging times and deserves the opportunity to continue the work of revitalizing our city.”
The Seattle Times endorsed Harrell:
City Attorney: Ann Davison
Ann Davison became City Attorney in 2021. She was elected on a platform of change: holding people accountable for the misdemeanors that impact quality of life in Seattle. Her approach is clear: laws must be enforced if they are to matter.
Davison’s leadership has contributed to Seattle’s property crime returning to pre-pandemic levels and a downward trend in violent crime, signaling real progress that voters should want to continue.
During her time in office, Ann Davison has
- Created the High Utilizer initiative to target repeat offenders
- Cleared a massive backlog of misdemeanor cases
- Proposed and passed SODA (Stay Out of Drug Area) and SOAP (Stay Out of Prostitution Area) laws to disrupt open-air drug markets and human trafficking zone
- Launched a drug prosecution alternative court, offering treatment pathways but with stricter conditions than previous community courts.
Erika Evans’ platform is emblematic of an ideologically driven approach that undermines the rule of law and public order. Evans supports policies that de-prioritize prosecuting low-level misdemeanors like shoplifting and trespassing—crimes that directly impact residents’ quality of life. Her argument that prosecuting these offenses is “expensive and ineffectual” ignores the real impact such crimes have in fueling disorder. This kind of leniency is precisely what emboldens repeat offenders and contributes to the visible chaos on our streets.
City Council Position 9 (City-Wide): Sara Nelson
Since joining the Council in 2021, Sara Nelson has championed public safety, addiction recovery, and economic revitalization.
- Policing: Prioritized police hiring, including hiring bonuses and competitive salaries for officers.
- Homelessness: Supports Mayor Bruce Harrell’s approach to cleaning up homeless encampments after offering people somewhere else to go.
- Economic development: Revitalized downtown and reduced barriers to small businesses by streamlining permitting processes. Has opposed a new business tax to fund social housing and a city-level capital gains tax.
- Addiction: Championed dedicating 25% of new public safety tax revenue to addiction treatment and behavioral health services.
“An effective lawmaker, Nelson challenges conventional Seattle thinking and champions underdogs. Sara Nelson has proven fortitude and solid priorities. She is the right leader for this moment and deserves reelection to Position 9.”
The Seattle Times endorsed Nelson:
Nelson’s opponent, Dionne Foster, opposes encampment removals and would deprioritize crime enforcement. In a word of warning to voters, the Seattle Times wrote, “Foster too easily fits the mold of a Seattle council member circa 2020 — a return to an era voters ought to want to avoid.”
King County Executive: Claudia Balducci
Claudia Balducci has served on the King County Council since 2015, and before that served as Council Member and Mayor of Bellevue.
Balducci offers a proven, pragmatic approach to addressing our quality of life challenges that balances compassion with results.
- Homelessness: Supports expansion of Washington’s successful Encampment Resolution Program, a program to connect people living in encampments with housing and services.
- Public Safety: Balducci focuses on prevention and upstream investments while supporting law enforcement and public defenders with balanced funding.
In contrast, Girmay Zahilay’s platform emphasizes progressive ideology rooted in the misguided belief that crime is merely a symptom of societal issues like poverty and mental health, and that the solution is to dramatically reduce police involvement. Most troubling is Zahilay’s ideological alignment with the Democratic Socialists of America, which signals a commitment to defunding and fundamentally weakening our law enforcement institutions.
