Girmay Zahilay holds slim lead over Claudia Balducci in tight contest for King County Executive

Our polling suggested it could be very close, and so far, it is.

With 292,499 ballots counted so far, King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay has a lead of just 4,345 votes over his rival, King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, in the marquee race to pick a successor to appointed Executive Shannon Braddock, who took over for Dow Constantine last spring after he stepped down to run Sound Transit.

Zahilay and Balducci, both progressive Democrats, were statistically tied in our Civic Heartbeat poll of the King County electorate released nearly one week ago. Tonight, in the first tabulation in the general election, they’re extremely close to each other. Zahilay has the edge, and he may keep it or widen it, but Balducci has succeeded in keeping the race close in the initial count. Here are the Election Night numbers:

Election Night results for King County Executive
Tuesday, November 4th, 2025

Girmay Zahilay | 133,804 votes 50.07%

Claudia Balducci | 129,459 votes 48.44%

https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2025/11/girmay-zahilay-holds-slim-lead-over-claudia-balducci-in-tight-contest-for-king-county-executive.html