ELECTION RESULTS, DAY 4: Herbold passes 50% in Seattle Council District 1

The last ballot count of the week is out, and it includes a milestone for Seattle City Council District 1 incumbent Lisa Herbold: She now has passed 50 percent of the vote, gaining almost three full points from the Tuesday night count:

Lisa Herbold – 13,243 – 50.61%
Phil Tavel – 8,439 – 32.25%
Brendan Kolding – 4,379 – 16.73%

Turnout in District 1 is now up to 39.94% (10 percent higher than the 2015 primary), with 27,199 ballots counted (out of 68,101 registered voters). With 27,893 ballots received, fewer than 700 remain to be counted (plus whatever trickles in via postal mail).

Herbold is the only one of the three City Council incumbents running for re-election who has hit that milestone; District 3’s Kshama Sawant now has 36.65% of the vote in a 6-candidate race; District 5’s Debora Juarez, who also has 5 challengers, leads that race with 44.98%.

waikikigirl August 9, 2019 (4:44 pm)

WOW I thought from most of WS commenters on here that they didn’t care much for Herbold and for her to be passing 50%???

WSB August 9, 2019 (4:59 pm)

Commenting is by no means a scientific sampling – even if it’s informational commenting (snowstorms, power outages, traffic trouble) it’s still a small percentage of readership. 100 comments is sizable for discussion here but that’s not even 1% of the readership. Similar proportions elsewhere – a hot topic on nytimes.com might generate four-digit comments but that’s out of six-digit readership – TR
Peter August 9, 2019 (6:08 pm)

Online commenters, be they here, on the Seattle Times, or Facebook, are overall much more conservative than the population as a whole, so if that’s one’s basis of judging the feelings of the population as a whole, one will be wrong.

Jon Wright August 9, 2019 (6:05 pm)

I’m just using this race as an example so please don’t come at me with anti-Herbold rants, but would it make sense that if one candidate got more than 50% in the primary to just declare them the winner? That might get people more motivated to participate in the primaries.

Gene August 9, 2019 (6:59 pm)

No
KM August 9, 2019 (11:22 pm)

Why not ditch the primaries all together and go one election with rank choice voting?
- Peter August 10, 2019 (7:50 am)
  
  Ranked choice is unconstitutional. It gives those whose first choice doesn’t win a second vote, which is contrary to the fundamental democratic principle of one person one vote.
  - Andy August 11, 2019 (7:57 am)
    
    Ranked choice voting is one person, one vote: it’s a series of runoff elections in which every voter can participate. It has been found on multiple occasions over the decades to be constitutional, most recently in Maine. RCV changes the definition of “winning” to a higher standard: majority decision, another one of our fundamental democratic principles. It displaces plurality voting, in which there can be a low, low passing grade of 35% of the vote or less.The result is better representation of the voters, better government, and, as it turns out, less negative campaigns.

AMD August 9, 2019 (7:22 pm)

Also worth noting that both levies are passing handily: 70 and 75% yes.

Peter August 9, 2019 (9:12 pm)

There was never any possibility of them not passing.
- Gene August 10, 2019 (12:07 pm)
  
  Peter-you’ve got that right!

Alkimark August 9, 2019 (7:41 pm)

No x 2A lot of people are on vacation and not thinking of primaries

Peter August 9, 2019 (9:18 pm)

Generally an incumbent with 50% in the primary is safe. The bad news: we’re probably stuck with Herbold for another four years. The good news: we’ll probably keep Tavel out if the city council.

Fit2btied August 9, 2019 (11:19 pm)

I’m just glad Kolding is done lying, at least publicly, for awhile.

AlkiMark August 10, 2019 (2:20 pm)

What was he lying about?
- Peter August 10, 2019 (6:30 pm)
  
  The big one is the claim that the city has an “unofficial policy” of not enforcing the law. That was an outright lie that he repeated numerous times. It’s a lie the police made to cover for being too lazy to do their jobs, and Kolding was all in in that lie.
- Foxy_Roxbury August 10, 2019 (9:55 pm)
  
  Google him

mrsB August 10, 2019 (8:04 am)

So in other words another four years of same old, same old, with NOTHING being done about the problems that plague WS (and the rest of the city)!

waikikigirl August 10, 2019 (10:12 am)

And that was exactly what I was wondering, if so many people are unhappy of nothing being done why are the same people getting a majority of the votes to stay in office?
- Olafur August 10, 2019 (3:24 pm)
  
  Sadly, of the people who can be bothered to vote, many still do not educate themselves about the candidates. It’s not just apathy – often it’s simply that most people have incredibly busy lives and have to prioritize other activities, such as working, maintaining a home and caring for children. Unfortunately, that means they end up either voting blindly along party lines or, in the case of a non-partisan position, for the candidate with the most name recognition, which is usually the incumbent.
  - Jon Wright August 10, 2019 (7:32 pm)
    
    Doesn’t agree with me = “uneducated voter”
    - Olafur August 11, 2019 (12:36 am)
      
      Jon Wright, that’s not at all what I said. I didn’t state a position on the race so, as far as you know, I may have voted for Herbold, too (I’m not saying, either way). The point is that many people have a hard time keeping up with the daily barrage of information, on top of busy lives, and end up having to make voting choices with less information than they would like to have. Doesn’t mean they made a right or wrong choice – it’s theirs to make, whether you or I agree with them or not.
- PatsFan August 10, 2019 (3:59 pm)
  
  Because there are a whole lot of people thinking that they’re doing good by taking your money and throwing it at the homeless problem without necessarily holding people accountable for results. Makes them feel better.
- AMD August 10, 2019 (4:19 pm)
  
  The other two options in District 1 are hot messes (each for their own reasons). I don’t hate Herbold. I don’t agree with everything she’s done either. But she is a FAR better choice than the others, even though she’s kind of “meh” on her own. For what it’s worth, only 3 current city council candidates are running again, so there will be new faces on the council no matter what. I don’t understand the idea that we need to turn over all nine positions to see something change. Plus, we’re stuck with an awful mayor for a few more years no matter what the council does. So there’s that.
  - Peter August 12, 2019 (6:43 pm)
    
    I do hate Herbold, but I agree she is far better than the other choices.

Lincoln Park North August 10, 2019 (4:35 pm)

And with the expanded electorate that will come out in the November general—younger, more renter-dense—Tavel will probably get swept away. Good riddance, frankly.

Sorry, comment time is over.