As election results trickled in late into the night on November 5, Alexis Mercedes Rinck watched with bated breath. The following day, it was clear that her grassroots city council campaign was a success: Rinck defeated incumbent Tanya Woo to become the next member for Position 8.
"I am truly honored," Rinck told the SGN. "I'm proud of the base we've built including laborers, the entire Democratic Party, advocates from transportation, housing, immigrant rights, and LGBTQIA2S justice."
Throughout her campaign, Rinck laid out clear goals for her time on the council and earned recog-nition from several interest groups for her detailed plans to improve housing disparities and trans-portation and advocate for citywide protections for LGBTQ+ people. Rinck believes her on-the-ground efforts, like connecting face-to-face with her neighbors, set her apart from her opponent.
"I tried to stay focused on the task at hand, which was talking to our neighbors and listening to what people were saying," she said. "We were out [knocking on] doors, we were at farmers mar-kets, we were at community events, not just sharing our message but also continuing to listen to what our community was saying and hearing the messages about affordability, concerns around a Trump presidency, a desire to address climate change locally, building transit infrastructure that works for everybody all of these pieces were things we continued to hear about."
The housing crisis
Once she takes office in January, Rinck plans to address housing concerns she heard about from many Capitol Hill residents. "The comprehensive plan is a really exciting opportunity for us to think about where we're building housing, how much housing can be built, and pushing for a strong urbanist agenda to ensure we have more housing in every neighborhood," she said.
Rinck aims to bring costs down by voting to invest in affordable housing programs, restore funding to tenant protection services, and expand rental assistance programs.
Another concern Rinck is ready to address on day one is Seattle's homelessness crisis. "A really important way that we can prevent our homelessness crisis from getting worse is by preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place, and that means an expansive rental assis-tance program," she explained. "Right now, we are not meeting the need. Last I checked, 5,000 folks are on United Way of King County's Rental Assistance Program waitlist. Being able to expand rental assistance is a priority for me."
The current city council is working with Mayor Harrell to approve next year's budget, and rental assistance programs are one of the proposed cuts. "That's something I was critical of. I'm hoping it will be restored," Rinck said.
Behavioral health services
City Council Position 8 represents all areas of Seattle, rather than just one district, and Rick said she's excited to address citizens' most significant needs, like expanded behavioral health ser-vices.
"We know that the introduction of fentanyl and meth into our communities ─ two of the most ad-dictive substances on the planet ─ has been so tremendously challenging and deadly for too many," Rinck said.
She plans to address the city's substance use problem by partnering with state and county de-partments to introduce more comprehensive treatment programs, especially ones aimed at help-ing those struggling with substance use disorders and mental health disorders.
Rinck also wants to look into how county funds are allocated and lobby the state legislature for long-term care funding.
"Our city lacks those long-term behavioral health settings for folks who are particularly high acui-ty, [such as those] struggling with psychosomatic disorders like schizophrenia," she said.
Fighting Trump's anti-LGBTQ+ agenda
Through all the excitement of her electon win, Rinck acknowledged that the presidential results have left many afraid for the future. Rinck said she's committed to protecting Seattle's most vul-nerable from the next administration.
"In running in this race, I wanted to be very clear with the public about my commitment to stand by and protect our rights and liberties within the city of Seattle and partner with our different levels of government, especially state government, and make sure we are protecting the rights of women, LGBTQIA neighbors, immigrants and refugees, and people living with disabilities," she said.
Rinck predicts that Seattle, like many progressive cities in blue states, will experience a popula-tion boom as red states become increasingly hostile toward immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and those with disabilities. "People will look to cities like Seattle as a safe haven where we celebrate human rights, liberties, and diversity," she said. "We need to be prepared for an increase of peo-ple moving into our city; we need to have legal protections in place to ensure that folks who come in are welcome and protected here too."
Rinck is committed to ensuring that the city council partners with King County Public Health, UW Medicine, and Planned Parenthood to safeguard gender-affirming care and reproductive health rights.
"Also [I stand] with Queer leaders in this community when we're talking about what could be at-tacked on our fundamental rights," she added.
Rinck will fight for Seattle to remain a sanctuary city and do whatever she can to keep ICE out. "There are a lot of unknowns as it stands, and since election day, I've been working to partner with folks in the community to figure out how we [use] organizing apparatuses, so we can figure out [quickly] what will be coming down and what we should be doing," she said. "There's a lot of work to be done, and it's something that I'm just really focused on doing for the sake of all of the neighbors that have found safety and refuge here, myself included."
With more threats facing LGBTQ+ citizens at the federal level, Rinck is determined to protect the rights of all of Seattle's marginalized communities, so the city remains a safe haven no matter what happens in DC.
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