What You Need to Know About the August 5 Primaries
By Jean Godden
In just over two weeks, voters will be voting in this year’s primary, making important decisions about who will compete in November’s off-year elections, and registering a voters’ barometer on the moderate course of recent Seattle politics.
Outcomes of the Aug. 5 primary will offer clues to whether the electorate wants to continue with the city’s moderate approach or return to the left-leaning politics that governed the City Council during the era of post-George-Floyd and defund-the-police. Already there is the anti-establishment focus of The Stranger’s endorsements (Katie Wilson, not Mayor Harrell) versus the more chamber-friendly Seattle Times line-up (stick with Harrell).
In Seattle, voters will make critical decisions picking candidates for mayor, city attorney, two at-large council seats, and for the vacant District 2 position. City voters also will decide whether to continue the Democracy Voucher program. Vouchers have been a way for Seattle residents to make city-paid financial contributions to candidates they support in city elections. The program is funded by a voter-approved property tax, costing the average property owner about $8 a year. Approved ten years ago, the program has been admired around the country and even copied in two cities. Skeptics will wonder whether wily candidates have figured out a way to game the new system.
King County residents will pick candidates for County Executive, all nine council seats, and for the Port of Seattle, where three incumbent commissioners are running unopposed.
https://www.postalley.org/2025/07/19/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-august-5-primaries/