📌 We’ve lint-rolled the ashy remnants of Eastern Washington off our slacks, we’ve taken a fat rip from the office’s Simply Orange gravity bong (we’re smokemaxxing), and we’re ready to raid the buffet tables at candidates’ respectable election night parties.
Where will we be? None of your business! You should be busy voting, especially if you’re a young whippersnapper under the age of 65. Here is our primary endorsement guide, our cheat sheet, and, if you’re more lost than Mr. Odysseus, here are instructions for how to vote and where to drop off your ballot.
JAMIE PEDERSEN IS GRATIFIED
9:22 p.m.
Pedersen called us from whatever mysterious location he was having his family and friends get together tonight. We were in our car, about to flee a different party, when the phone rang. We turned off our car and chatted. “I’m feeling good,” he says. “It’s hard to complain about 71 percent.” Of course, that final vote share “will shift,” he says. This is the first serious campaign Pedersen has had to run in 20 years. Challenger Hannah Sabio-Howell pushed him to actually fight for his seat and made him sweat. “I took her seriously, I took the race seriously and knocked on 4,740 doors so far and raised a bunch of money and did a lot of communicating and learned how to use Instagram,” Pedersen says. We have asked Pedersen to send us a photo, but we are not certain he is going to do it. He seemed flummoxed by the request. Oh, there it is! Not horizontal like we asked, but we will not try again.
Jamie and his campaign manager.
WHO SAID 13 IS AN UNLUCKY NUMBER?
9:16 p.m.
Waiting for King County to drop the election results felt interminable and we finished off our wine a bit too quickly. Everyone at the Jenks-Farivar party congregated around the winery’s glass-topped barrels that stood in for tables, excessively tapping their phones while the candidates did nervous turns around the room.
We were in the middle of discussing our favorite Godzilla films with a fellow partygoer (natch) when, suddenly, one of Jenks’s associates yelled from the back hallway: “49 percent to 36 percent!!!!!!!!!!!!” The first drop showed that Jenks nabbed 49 percent of the vote, trouncing rival Julie Kang by 13 points. The room erupted into happy screaming, and the crowd started chanting “NILU! NILU! NILU!” as a clearly emotional Jenks wiped away happy tears and hugged her family, campaign manager, and various supporters.
Farivar—who easily beat her competition with 88 percent of the vote—took the stage first. Her speech was brief, but emphasized the importance of having folks in government who can navigate us through the literal hellscape of our modern times. “How cool is it that we’re going to be able to say that two progressive Iranian-American women represent the same area during a war?” Farivar said. Pretty cool, we thought.
When Jenks took the mic, she said she was “overwhelmed” but excited that the people of District 5 showed that progressives can win in North Seattle and address the lack of grocery stores, affordable rent, and navigable sidewalks.
“It’s really important that Democratic, blue cities show that they can deliver and meet people’s needs without turning to conservative solutions,” she said.
As the crowd began to thin out, the jubilant vibe compelled us to consider another expensive glass of wine. However, the idea of navigating Lake City Way’s wretched sidewalks (or lack thereof) home even a little tipsy set us straight. Here’s to hoping Jenks can deliver on making District 5 a more infrastructurally sound district for us all.
SALDAÑITES ENJOY A SUGAR-FUELED ECSTASY
9:15 p.m.
On the Full-Tilt patio, supporters erupted into applause, cheers and a couple shouts of “fuck yes” after finding out Rebecca Saldaña had a clear early lead with 52 percent of the vote. Her closest competitor, Toshiko Hasegawa, secured 39 percent, while third-placed candidate Miriam Mboya won nine percent.
The result smashed the Saldaña campaign’s modest expectations, with later ballots expected to widen her lead.
Seattle City Councilmember Dionne Foster addressed the crowd, praising Saldaña’s progressive track record in the legislature.
“[She’s] somebody who has the ability to bring together this kind of a community—multiracial, cross-class, multi-generational—and show up and fight for the values we all have,” Foster said.
Saldaña spent her speech highlighting the importance of mentoring at-risk youth to prevent violence like the recent Seattle Center shooting.
HANNAH SABIO-HOWELL PROMISES TO CONTINUE TO FIGHT
9:10 p.m.
When the results of the first drop hit, the air left the room. With 53 percent of the votes counted, it looks like a blowout for Jamie Pedersen, who claimed 71.06 percent of the votes. Sabio-Howell claimed only 17.86 percent. It was not easy to see so many low faces.
“I really thought it would be much higher. Around 40 at least. But 17. Fuck. I did not see that coming,” said a person near me. Mayor Katie Wilson showed up after the results were released, and had the expression of a person who’s had a long day. Sabio-Howell’s speech didn’t mention the results; instead she stuck to the progressive goals of her campaign. She was eloquent and composed. But there was no getting around the hard result.
SERIOUSLY, WHAT WAS THAT NOISE
9:04 p.m.
Sawant’s speech was predictably long. The vibe was deflated, and everyone looked a bit damp, but she encouraged the thinned crowd not to leave tonight demoralized.
“We ran one hell of a fucking campaign. It is very, very important that we are clear that in the long arc of the fight against capitalism, yes, guess what? There will be setbacks…”
Once it moved into the “known hater” portion, it gave us a lot of time to ponder how AOC, Mamdani, and Sawant are all Libras.
At 9:04 p.m. an insane noise (a drill? A failing blender?) started, mid-speech, from what sounded like inside the bathroom. The SECB is once again wondering What It All Means.
A BAD NIGHT FOR RON
8:54 p.m.
How many of you have seen Ted Lasso?” asked Ron Davis, who stood on the Skee-Ball ramp. “You know that scene, this really moving scene, where he says, ‘Being sad sucks, but the only thing worse than being sad is being sad and alone.’”
“We can be a little sad tonight. The results are not amazing across multiple progressive races. We also have the lowest early turnout we’ve ever had, so we will probably see the biggest swing we ever had. Enough to take a bite out.”
“It’s not super likely, but let’s wait till Friday to make any full decisions about our emotions.”
Davis thanked his family, and his two “best absolute volunteers.” He said he’s probably not winning, but in this race he made a choice to go negative so “at least one of the progressives in the race”—himself or Pollet—would win. “I went negative, that was a hard choice to make… I know that hurt some, and that’s okay. I really believe to do the work we have to do, some of us are the battering rams that get crunched up a little bit, and some of us rush in after.”
SMITH’S MIA AND SCHRIER’S TOO BUSY TO TALK TO US
8:52 p.m.
Adam Smith may not be here, but Yaz Kader, an Uncommitted Movement delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, sure is. As an anti-Zionist Palestinian, Kader stands all but alone in his keffiyeh and anti-genocide shirt among the supporters of the Smith, DelBene, and Schrier campaigns.
“I’m still a member of the Democratic Party,” he tells us, “and I try to advocate for Palestine anywhere I go.”
Kader points to Washington Democrats overwhelmingly voting at the party convention in June to “opposing and condemning” further integration of the US and Israeli militaries, which he says Smith supports.
“Adam Smith, Kim Schrier, and Suzan DelBene are not listening to the majority of Democratic voters,” he says.
After talking with Kader, a Smith campaign volunteer in a tie-dye campaign shirt and a Star of David necklace, flagged us down to talk.
A self-declared Zionist, Aaron McCloud says he supports Smith because of the congressman’s role in the House Armed Services Committee, which he would likely become chair of should Democrats retake the House in November.
“I don’t believe Israel is committing any of the atrocities being talked about by Ro Khanna or any candidates,” McCloud says.
After asking for our position on the war, and discovering we oppose the US starting it and do believe Israel is committing atrocities (a shocking revelation to readers) McCloud demanded we censor what he told us and hand over our notes. We declined.
Then the results came in. As expected, DelBene and Shrier are cruising to victory with over 60 percent of the vote each.
Smith is nowhere in sight, but looks to be sitting pretty with 50 percent of the vote, with Sawant and Chaudhry splitting the remaining left votes to put Republican candidate Basler in second place. So far, a disastrous result for local anti-Zionists.
DelBene gives a speech, the usual vague platitudes, Dems have to take back the House, etc, but says little about her own race. She’s dominant enough she doesn’t really have to.
She introduces Shrier, who brings up the fires in Chelan County and across Eastern Washington, and calls for more resources to fight them, including more “tree thinning,” the latest politically correct euphemism for logging.
Asked by The Stranger for comment, she declines, ushered away by a campaign staffer, “Sorry, we were just about to leave,” the staffer says.
The children leave with the remaining pizza.
BIG NEWS FROM BEACON HILL
8:51 p.m.
Kelabe Tewolde got 46 percent of the vote in the first ballot drop. Since younger and more progressive voters tend to vote later, it’s possible he could pass 50 percent when all is said and done. There hasn’t been a ton of media attention on the 37th District, but that may change, cause we got a race here.
Before that ballot drop, Kelabe got a pair of high-profile hype people to raise expectations. First up was King County Executive Girmay Zahilay (he provoked a little cheer when he walked in), who noted the similarities between himself and Kelabe—both children of refugees who faced hard times growing up and ran longshot campaigns. Zahilay compared Kalabe’s run to his own 2019 King County Council race. He also emphasized that Kelabe had campaigned with respect and didn’t sling mud at incumbent Sharon Tomiko Santos.
Then Dawn Mason, a local icon who used to represent this district, took the mic—and she had jokes. She had backed Santos when Santos was first elected, Mason said, and “What I brought in, I’m responsible to take out.”
“Everyone go home and pull out the donate button,” she added.
Kelabe’s own speech was heartfelt. At one point he called his “aunties, uncles, and older cousins” up to the front so he could thank the “dopest village ever” for helping raise him. He told the SECB he was going to head to Capitol Hill later to celebrate and catch up with close ally Hannah Sabio-Howell. As for us, we’re headed back for more wings.
WE ARE LIBBING OUT AT SEAPINE BREWING
8:47 p.m.
King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal are feeling prettyyyy comfortable after the initial ballot drop with 63 percent and 83 percent respectively. “We are in incredibly challenging times right now, and we are focused on fighting back,” Mosqueda says. “We are pissed off as hell.” The two are taking the initial vote count as a good sign. “I don’t know, Teresa, you think we’re going to win the general?” Jayapal says. The crowd cheers. Dow Constantine is here. So is Seattle Public School Board member Joe Mizrahi. And state Rep. Brianna Thomas. Jayapal thanked the voters, saying, “The positions I’m taking are so challenging for some people,” she says, “I want to thank the voters for believing in what’s possible and for believing in fighting for what we need across the country.” We are inspired! Also ready to get out of this hot, sweaty, smoky brewery.
POLLET TAKES THE LEAD
8:42 p.m.
A small but enthusiastic group of Pollet heads had assembled at Project 9 Brewing, where the candidate arrived just after 8 p.m. following a string of block party stops, an itinerary a source close to the candidate described as “ambitious,” and having been present for two of these stops, we agree. On the other hand, three dinners for the price of one! (Free ninety-nine!)
Perched over a laptop, Pollet’s daughter Eileen had been refreshing the King County elections website as the candidate got a beer. Her mom Janet introduced herself. She knows our dad. Seattle is a small town. 8:15 came and went with no results, and the vibe was one of semi-frustrated anticipation that would be familiar to any journalist who’s ever covered election night, but with a side of tacos and IPAs, not newsroom pizza inhaled gracelessly over a keyboard. Janet announced that the results were in, but it was a joke, and she was quickly admonished by her children. We could see both sides. We chatted with school board member Liza Rankin, who said she didn’t appreciate the negativity of Pollet’s opponents.
At last! The results are finally in! “Gerry is at 54 percent!” said Eileen gleefully, to much clapping. The cheering reached a fever pitch at the news that Ron Davis had only pulled in 13 percent of the vote so far.
“I think they probably like a progressive person who prioritizes education,” said Pollet. He called the numbers “quite a nice statement of confidence,” since his opponents spent a combined $300,000 to pull in just 43 percent of the vote. Also, he said, he had some neighbors in attendance celebrating their 43rd anniversary. Good for them!
MEANWHILE, AT RON DAVIS’S PARTY
8:31 p.m.
“Oh, shit,” someone says. The results are in, and a hush falls on the room.
Legislative District No. 46 Representative Position No. 1: Gerry Pollet at 54.34 percent, Will Dreher at 30.96 percent, and Ron Davis at 13.69 percent.
“Oh, jeez, bad,” a woman says.
“Turn out 20 percent,” a man says.
“Man, I fucking hate that,” he says.
“How much was Katie behind?” she says.
RSLTS ARE IN
8:30 p.m.
STOP LOOKING AT US, BACKPACK
8:29 PM
We’re starting to wilt, and we do not want to be passed a clipboard again. Our mind is wandering as the speeches start to meander a bit about donating and fighting and contributing. We know that’s what it takes, we get it, but this part is not riveting. And there’s a person in front of us with a backpack that looks like a geometric cyberpunk mask that keeps changing eye shape and color via LED. The speaker asks if anyone can donate $500. No news about the ballots yet. The SECB has to know about this backpack. It may be this one? The SECB can’t wait to be advertised this for the rest of our lives. Capitalism really does fucking suck.
WHILE WE WAIT FOR THE RESULTS, LET’S CHECK IN WITH WILL DREHER
8:24 p.m.
Dreher is eating pizza at Zeeks after knocking on doors until about 6 p.m., he tells us via text. He’s treating his staff and interns to a gluten-free, vegan, cherry bomb, veggie lover, and pepperoni pizzas. He’s drinking cider and beer.
“I’m feeling great,” Dreher says. “When you’re running for a cause instead of yourself, it matters less whether you win than that you tried.”
When we asked him for a picture, he asked if he could send a picture of the floor. We said no. He sent a real picture. Thank you, Will.
WE WAIT, WE WAIT, WE WAIT, WE WAIT
8:10 p.m.
It’s 100000 degrees at Sawant’s party, so they have opened one of the garage doors. A woman offers us a spot to stand slightly outside, but with a good sightline. We appreciate this. The SECB is wondering how the smoking-car guy is doing.
“What we need is class war,” says Calvin Priest, Sawant’s campaign manager and partner (couple goals?), doing a decent job of an inspirational speech combined with a “but we have to deal with the fact that we won’t always win…” and “most likely tonight will be inconclusive…” speech.
We’re wondering how hot the red wine next to the t-shirt table is at this point.
NOBODY DOES IT LIKE THE SOCIALISTS
7:56 p.m.
The speeches are heating up, and honestly nobody does it like the socialists. The cheers fighting the rich!), the jeers (the rich!).
“We need fighting leaders like Kshmama,” said Justin Smeltzer, an electrician with a nice Jay-from-Clerks aura. “The rich are pummeling us from all angles. They’re making our lives hell, and it’s time we turn the tables on these fuckers and fight to bring down the whole system of capitalism. Solidarity!”
THE MAN OF THE HOUR
7:55 p.m.
Ron Davis hugs his kids when he arrives. He’s brought the EpiPen for his son, and no, that does not mean he can eat as much as he wants.
Davis feels good tonight. His campaign has knocked on 14,000 doors. He doesn’t know how many were his, but his top step count was 44,000.
There’s an elephant in the room with us. The Stranger endorsed Will Dreher over Davis, and he says that made his odds of winning “infinitesimal” at first and made the race “spicier” that he would have liked.
The Stranger may not have been with him this time, but he says the “winds of progressive change” for housing and affordability are, and more than they were in 2023, when he lost his race for City Council. The real question in this race is “who is really going to fight for affordability consistently when the winds aren’t blowing affordability,” he says. He means Ron Davis.
BUS, TAVERN, LIME GLIDER, WINERY, ANOTHER CLUB ANOTHER CLUB NO SLEEP, NO SNACKS!
7:50 p.m.
When we showed up at 6:30 p.m. to Elliott Bay Brewing in Lake City for Seattle City Council candidate Nilu Jenks’s election party, we were greeted by a mostly empty—and honestly, kinda grim—beer tavern. The server informed us that not only was there no Jenks party but that they had canceled a week ago. Ufff! The Stranger HQ did some digging and located a buried email with the real location: Eight Bells Winery just a little over a mile away. Huzzah!
After a genuinely harrowing Lime Glider ride down Lake City Way (Jenks, get some bike lanes on this stretch of asphalt once you’re on the City Council, why dontcha!!!!!), we made it to a bright marine-themed “urban winery” where the District 5 candidate and Rep. Darya Farivar of the 46th LD, were hunkered down for a joint party. We wiped the sweat off our brow quickly and pulled Jenks for a chat.
She told us she was “feeling good” about her chances tonight, and proud of the fact that she knocked on over 14,000 doors during her candidacy. Because of the smoke, Jenks decided to refrain from canvassing today but went to work and took some time to reflect and take in emails and messages from supporters. By our estimation, Jenks seemed a little anxious, but ultimately hopeful about her post-8 p.m. outlook.
“There’s a lot going on in the city,” she said. “I hope we see great progressive wins.”
To our absolute horror, there are no snacks—wasn’t in the budget, said Jenks—and a cash bar. After paying 18-freaking-dollars for a glass of (admittedly pretty good) white wine, we absconded to the patio where we took secret Geek Bar hits and watched Jenks and Farivar supporters slowly trickle in. The vibe is buoyant yet reserved. It’s a waiting game now.
Some choice stickers seen on Lake City Way.
AN ABUELA TAUGHT US HOW TO CRAFT OVER AT SALDAÑA’S PARTY
7:45 p.m.
It’s craft night over at Rebecca Saldaña’s party at City Full Tilt Ice Cream in Columbia City. Artist and proud abuela San Juanita Tovar taught us how to make Mexican tissue paper flowers. Behold!
The campaign is giving every attendee a complimentary scoop of ice cream. Ube in a homemade waffle cone definitely hit the spot.
Ice cream and crafts—sounds like a pretty solid first date. Saldaña’s team has good taste.
Saldaña herself is out doing some last-minute campaigning at a block party in Rainier Beach. Her campaign manager is cautiously optimistic and counting on last-minute voters to bring home the win.
KSHAMA’S COSTCO PIZZA
7:44 p.m.
We arrived outside Casa Latina for Kshama Sawant’s party and the first thing we saw, coming from the parking lot area, was a bunch of smoke—not the regular layer of smoke that’s in the air right now, but, like, billows of smoke. We were wondering if there was a big BBQ underway, but it turned out it was someone’s car. The smoke poured out of the car’s exhaust for longer than seemed like a good idea, and a handful of Sawant-shirt-clad folks came out to assess. We waved at a man who waved back and then drove off. As far as omens go, we weren’t sure what to think.
Inside, the vibe was buzzy and punk inside a standard-issue small community.
Kshama posters everywhere and honestly a very decent punk and electro clash soundtrack. Costco pizzas were balanced on top of an open sink next to not-bad crackers, cheese, and grapes. We were disappointed they had forced themselves to eat an early dinner.
About six minutes in, we immediately wondered why we had chosen to wear a sweater. Even with sandals and no socks, this was a terrible idea. One never knows, though, what with over-air-conditioning being a worse problem?
HANNAH SOBIO-HOWELL’S LISTENING TO THE PHARCYDE
7:41 p.m.
The gathering at Hannah Sabio-Howell’s party at Stoup Brewing is mostly young and, to be honest, positive. The music? Some kwassa kwassa, some reggaeton, some old school disco. But best of all, they played “Runnin’” by the Pharcyde. One of the conversations floating around the lively place concerns the wildfire smoke and how it keeps getting worse and worse year by year. “The Dems cut 50 percent of wildfire funding in 2025,” says Rep. Shaun Scott, who, as always, is dressed to the nines. “That’s $60 million. I pushed a bill that recuperated $35 million.” So, the Dems did us in again.
CHIPALO STREET IS IN DAD MODE
7:25 p.m.
Rep. Chipalo Street is not throwing his own party tonight. In theory, he’s going to Jaelynn Scott’s party, but he’s “still trying to get out the door 😬.” He and his wife ate mushroom tacos for dinner, and now it’s the baby’s turn to eat. Yum!
TOSHIKO HASWEGAWA IS “CHILLEN” WITH HER HUSBAND
7:11 p.m.
The King County Council candidate isn’t having a big party. She’s hanging with her hubby, community members, and the campaign team instead. She’s eating chips and salsa and drinking a whiskey soda with extra lemon… Ope, that’s all! Her tacos just arrived. We want a whiskey sour! Instead we are drinking a “light lager” that we got ID’d for!
A BEAUTIFUL BURGER REPORT WITH GERRY POLLET
7:10 p.m.
Gerry Pollet had planned to spend the pre-ballot drop hours of election night hopping from block party to block party in the 46th—to “swing around a bunch” of them, he said—but his plans were foiled by the worst part of summer in the Pacific Northwest. Many of the parties on the itinerary were canceled due to poor air quality from the fires in Eastern Washington, said Pollet’s daughter Eileen.
But a crowd of about 20 gathered behind Keystone Congregational Church in Wallingford despite the scorched-smelling air. As Pollet worked the crowd, constituents came up to him to discuss health policy and early learning, and a nice lady named Laura explained to us that she had waited until today to make the call about whether to forge ahead with the block party despite all the smoke. “I made the executive decision this morning that we were going to go and I’m glad we did,” she said, whipping out her phone and sharing the good news that the air quality is currently listed at “moderate.” Okay, Laura!
The party was strictly BYOG (bring your own grillable), but there was perfectly good pizza on-hand for interloping reporters. As one neighbor stacked his grilled meat high, Pollet grinned: “That is a beautiful-looking burger,” he pronounced, before returning to a discussion of early learning. A Patty Murray staffer was also in attendance: She doesn’t talk to media, but we can confirm that she does have very cool sunglasses.
KELABE TEWOLDE’S LUMPIA IS DELICIOUS
7:09 p.m.
Kelabe Tewolde’s already a winner in our book because his party unquestionably had the best food. He’s got service industry ties (he used to run a food pop-up), and local restaurant owner Elmer Dulla is a “homie,” so he secured familyfriend, one of Seattle’s hottest restaurants, as his HQ. The lumpia (with some kind of cream sauce) were good, but the wings were AMAZING. They taste like they’ve been dry-rubbed with spices and lemongrass or something?
It was a family-friendly event with what feels like a cross-section of Beacon Hill—every age and race chowing down and half-watching CNN.
Kelabe was circulating the room in a plain white T-shirt as we waited on results, very much the unpolished, authentic newbie candidate. “As a first-time candidate, I don’t know how to feel,” he told us. Anything above 40 percent tonight would count as a win, he added. Since Sharon Tomiko Santos is a 27-year incumbent, that would be a pretty strong showing.
Half-watching Yu-Gi-Oh and eating some incredible wings while waiting for the ballots to drop? There are worse ways to spend a smoky Tuesday evening.
CONNOR WITH WA DEMS UPDATE
7:06 p.m.
We asked Connor how phone banking was going. Err, text banking. “We are hearing a lot from folks who haven’t gotten their ballots in yet but plan to vote before 8pm!” he writes. We did not expect him to reply.
WE ARE SEATED NEXT TO TERESA MOSQUEDA’S DAUGHTER. NOBODY PANIC. AND PRAMILA JAYAPAL FEELS LIKE A COCKTAIL TONIGHT, BUT WE’RE AT A BREWERY.
7:05 p.m.
Teresa Mosqueda’s daughter is very small, wearing a sparkly dress, and is making a paper fortune teller. Perhaps it will tell the fortunes of her mom’s future on King County Council. We assume from the vibe of the party—and the doofuses running against her—that it is going to be positive. She just read our fortune. The result? “Your [sic] the best.” Wow. We feel good about that.
Mosqueda took a break from talking to the union workers about their contract bargaining process (classic!) to tell us that she is thrilled that this is the first even-year election for King County Council. She’s drinking a cider right now, but she might be switching to a sauvignon blanc. “A savvy b for a savvy b,” she says. “And you can quote me on that.”
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal is also here, fresh off a call with Michigan congressional candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He’s up in the returns right now! Jayapal is jazzed. The rest of the country and other candidates she endorsed are already doing well. She feels like a cocktail. But we are at Seapine Brewery in Georgetown. She is going to have the Seapine IPA instead. NO wait, her staffer just told us she picked the Yodeling Coyote, a West Coast IPA. Aren’t we all yodeling coyotes inside?
THE BACKROOMS OF THE WASHINGTON STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
7:00 p.m.
You can tell the Washington State Democratic Party is in touch with the grassroots urban progressive movement because the party’s big primary night election party is being held at an undisclosed location deep in the former Eastside Republican stronghold across from a shopping mall. There may finally be a light rail line to Bellevue, but according to the party invite, it’s a 41-minute walk from the LINK station to the venue (through the vaporized ruins of Spokane). That means that so far tonight there are no members of the public present, just a Children’s Crusade of young campaign volunteers and their consultant-caste majordomos. There’s Pagliacci pizza, which is fine, as well as name-brand soda (!!!). We’re told this was originally planned as a thank-you party for volunteers before being expanded to include press and the public, which explains the church lock-in vibe.
Through a series of Backrooms-esque backrooms, the Party awaits: a mostly empty monument to the region’s oversupply of office real estate, where many of the tables lack tabletops, for some reason. Such banality feels perfectly suited to the Democratic congressmen that moderate suburbanites turned to as the Republican Party lurched hard to the right (particularly after Trump took over the party). That is to say, this is an event for the swagless right wing of the Puget Sound region’s Congressional delegation: Adam Smith, Suzan DelBene, and Kim Schrier.
Washington Republicans are not seriously contesting any of these races. They know their odds are better at toppling sea lion enemy MGP down in Vancouver, they’ve got the party’s only remaining Congressional districts in Eastern Washington to defend, and their attempt to repeal the new Millionaires Tax on the November ballot is their biggest statewide priority. Neither DelBene (net worth ~$120 million) nor Schrier are facing anything like a real election challenge from the left or the right.
Smith, however, is slightly more exposed. Socialist firebrand Kshama Sawant is gunning for him and his AIPAC donors, and the big story tonight is whether she claws her way to a second-place finish to take him on again in November. Melissa Chaudhry, a progressive Democrat who lost badly to Smith in the 2024 general election, could spoil Sawant’s chances by splitting the left vote in a third direction. Chaudhry only made it through last election’s primary because two Republicans split the conservative vote, but with only the self-funded Doug Basler running for the GOP this time around, Chaudhry could pull enough votes from Sawant to send Basler to the general election to get clobbered by Smith.
ALONE!
6:51 p.m.
We’ve arrived at the site of Ron Davis’s election night bash in Roosevelt, and we’re early. Nobody else is here yet, but how could we be bored? There’s Skee-Ball. Ms. Pac-Man. A game where we can shoot a duck, a zombie, a yeti, or the Terminator with a shotgun. Do they deserve it? You have about an hour to vote.
Edit 7:02 PM: Teenage boys have arrived. The thunder of Skee-Ball is all we can hear.
Edit 7:04 PM: The boys have lost interest in Skee-Ball.
THE SMOKE
6:26 p.m.
The SECB is starting to wonder if we belong to a “sensitive group.”
GROUND GAME ON LOCK
6:22 p.m.
On the way to another election party, we ran into two Sawant canvassers, David and Luke, outside the Columbia City light rail station. The guys had been tabling out in the smoke since 7 a.m. and were still enthusiastically preaching the socialist gospel. No one can dispute that Kshama mobilizes volunteers like a General.
WA DEMS BOYS HAVE OUR NUMBER
5:25 p.m.
Before we can scramble out the door, “Connor with wa dems” has texted us. “We’re not here to rage bait, but the Primary is today and voting is a huge green flag.”
“Michael with wa dems” is also on our case. “we need u to lock in and help dems up and down the ballot in todays primary election.” Perfect use of the lingo, guys.
NOBODY WANTS TO VOTE ANYMORE
5:00 p.m.
As of 4 p.m. today, turnout was at 21.7 percent, and, as usual, old people are voting early and often. Data from King County Elections shows the younger the voter, the less likely they are to have turned in their ballots. For example, only 9.1 percent of voters aged 18-24 have returned their ballots. Of the more than 321,000 registered voters 65 and older, 43.6 percent have done the same. This may seem concerning, but the young and progressive are procrastinators.
To bide their time before the 8 p.m. ballot drop, candidates are living it up around town with their dedicated supporters and volunteers. Hannah Sabio-Howell and Rep. Shaun Scott are partying together on Capitol Hill. Ron Davis is in Roosevelt. The bookworms behind Yes on Proposition 1 are drowning their worries at Reuben Brews downtown (a third of the library’s budget depends on the passage of this levy). Rep. Gerry Pollet is jumping between neighborhood block parties.
Not everyone is having a big to-do. Sen. Jamie Pedersen has opted for a quiet night at home with his family. Perhaps he is baking cookies with his four Viking sons. Toshiko Hasegawa and Will Dreher have also said they’re only having parties with family and volunteers.
If you haven’t voted, off with you. And for the love of God, please do not slip your ballot into a mailbox. You may as well shred it because it won’t be counted!
