Bruce Harrell is Seattle's mayor
In the race for mayor, Bruce Harrell, former city council president won 65% of the vote over current council president Lorena González, with three-fourths of the ballot counted as of Thursday evening.

He will be Seattle's first Asian American, biracial mayor as well at its second Black mayor. Harrell is a Seattle native, having grown up in the Central District.

KUOW reported Thursday that anecdotal themes among voters at Bruce Harrell's Election Night event who were in their 50s, 60s, and 70s were safety, homelessness, and cleaning up our streets. Contrastingly,�people in their 20s and 30s spoke of more progressive ideals, focusing on equity and advocacy for marginalized communities.�

At press time, Harrell has yet to respond to the SGN's latest inquiries as to what his campaign victory will mean to the LGBTQ+ community.

For more information on Mayor Harrell and his campaign, check out his interview on the Radio SGN podcast, or visit his website https://bruceharrellforseattlesfuture.com/

A tale of two cities
When given the choice between progressive and mainstream liberal candidates, Seattle settled on the latter. With key issues at stake such as the worsening homelessness epidemic, skyrocketing housing costs, and the future of policing, votes unexpectedly turned moderate. This year's election was projected to have a strong voter turnout among young people, but as of Election Night, older and wealthier voters made waves instead.

In several races, voters were given two very different candidates to choose from, and they chose from within their comfort zone. Sara Nelson, co-founder of Fremont Brewing, defeated attorney and activist Nikkita Oliver for City Council Position Number 9.

Oliver feels that their campaign shifted perceptions and opened new possibilities for future campaigning in Seattle, according to a tweet Wednesday. "We raised [money], door knocked and had a strong field program. We also did mutual aid, built policy [with] impacted communities that we will continue to push, and earned previously unattainable endorsements."

Ann Davison, a party-switcher gone nonpartisan for the role of City Attorney, is poised to win against self-proclaimed abolitionist Nicole Thomas-Kennedy. As of Wednesday, Davison has won 85,543 votes, and Thomas-Kennedy only 61,430.

"It appears that Thomas-Kennedy's promise not to prosecute misdemeanor crimes and the inflammatory statements she made about police galvanized Seattle's centrist democrats enough to potentially hand Davison the win," reports Seattle PI.