And They're In: Who's Filed to Run in This Year's Local Elections

By Jean Godden

If you like how the city and county are being run, you’ll probably be pleased over this year’s choices. When filing closed last week, voters received a look at candidates for this year’s local elections; none appeared far from the mainstream. Ballots will be sent July 18 for the Aug. 5 primary.

Seattle voters will decide finalists in five seats: mayor, city attorney and three city races. The mayoral choices are likely to attract the most interest. Mayor Bruce Harrell is running, this time for a second term. If successful Harrell would be Seattle’s first two-term mayor since Greg Nickels left in 2010.

In the mayoral race, Harrell is facing a field of 10 contenders. Most of Harrell’s opponents are ill-funded and inexperienced with a few exceptions. Those exceptions include Katie Wilson, who heads the Transit Riders Union. An outspoken advocate for renter’s rights, she has attracted several hundred backers and a respectable war chest. Also showing signs of life is Ry Armstrong, an actor and artist, who has been active in labor causes. Armstrong who identifies as gender queer worked with a PAC that backed Alexis Rinck over Tanya Woo. If elected, Armstrong wants to focus on mandatory housing for the unsheltered.

One surprising eleventh-hour entry into the mayoral campaign is Joe Mallahan, a name from the city’s recent past. The former T-Mobile executive ran for mayor in 2009. He managed to squeak past incumbent mayor Greg Nickels in that year’s primary. But then Mallahan lost narrowly to Sierra Club activist Mike McGinn.

https://www.postalley.org/2025/05/13/and-theyre-in-whos-filed-to-run-in-this-years-local-elections/