ELECTION 2023: Still deciding on Seattle City Council District 1? Forums ahead

The general election is eight weeks away, and you’ll be able to vote when your ballot arrives two-plus weeks before that. So if you haven’t already made your decision on the biggest local race – Seattle City Council District 1 – you might be wondering about chances to get another look at the candidates who made it out of the primary, Maren Costa and Rob Saka. We’ve recorded half-hour interviews with both in the past several days and will publish them later this week. And the candidate-forum schedule is taking shape – we’ll be presenting a forum with Saka and Costa the evening of Monday, September 25th, at the Senior Center of West Seattle, start time to be finalized soon. If you can’t make it to that one, we’ve heard of at least two others in West Seattle the first week of October (and if you’re involved with an organization that’s presenting one, please be sure to send us the announcement so we can include it on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar).

Derek September 12, 2023 (10:04 pm)

Voting Maren. Liked Lucy Barefoot most and hope she runs again!

Kadoo September 12, 2023 (10:30 pm)

Vote Saka! He would have voted to prosecute public drug use. Costa would have voted against prosecution. Costs supported defunding the police. Saka has my vote.

Brandon September 13, 2023 (2:27 am)

You’d think Costa would not have made it past the primary for those two things alone judging by the current issues of our time… I can’t tell if that says more about the batch of candidates or the electorate.
Derek September 13, 2023 (6:19 am)

All projections here. And after the police instructed someone to “write a check” after hitting a 26 year old with their car, I’m sure defunding is in order.
Lola September 13, 2023 (8:03 am)

Voting with you on Saka. Enough if Enough on this Drug Use and the Defunding of the Police. I am ready for Reform on all levels.

Marcus September 13, 2023 (3:02 am)

The defund police crowd did so much damage to Seattle. I can not ever support a candidate who risks public safety for short term political gain.

PDiddy September 13, 2023 (1:11 pm)

Agreed.
North Delridge September 13, 2023 (4:28 pm)

Are you sure it isn’t the police quiet quitting and being generally antagonistic to any change damaging Seattle? Case in point, the woman that was killed by a cop with zero accountability and they were caught laughing it off. Why should I feel the need to support them?
- SlimJim September 14, 2023 (8:42 am)
  
  Yeah, there’s a bad cop so they all must be bad. So maybe we should get rid of all of them. Great logic.
  - Jeff September 14, 2023 (9:12 am)
    
    SlimJim, the whole tree is rotten. Many of these cops are sticking up for him and also did nothing when he behaved this way costing the city $2 million dollars in damages from complaints against him.
  - K September 14, 2023 (1:53 pm)
    
    If he’s the only bad cop, why aren’t we hearing outcry from other cops to remove him from leadership of the union? Or any backlash from his fellow officers in general? If one of my colleagues was embarrassing my profession that way, you better believe i’s call to have him removed. The rest are quiet because they support it.
  - Replyguy September 15, 2023 (12:52 pm)
    
    One bad cop who happens to have been elected by the majority of his peers to be vice president of their union.
Me mama September 13, 2023 (4:29 pm)

AMEN

K September 13, 2023 (6:52 am)

Not even really a choice this time. Maren is head and shoulders above the other guy, and has a track record of actually doing things.

CeeBee September 13, 2023 (9:44 am)

I have not noticed any candidate forums locally to hear our King County Council position candidates. After Mosqueda’s no vote on the drug law, I’d sure like to hear her describe her specific recommendations and how she will fund them. Is there any information on a forum for that position?

WSB September 13, 2023 (10:29 am)

We are hoping to have the county council candidates the same night – Aragon has confirmed, we’re still waiting to hear from Mosqueda. If that doesn’t work out we’ll at least do video interviews. The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, whose meetings we cover for White Center Now but also include in the WSB calendar, plans a forum with them October 5th – they still meet online only, so it’ll be easily accessible. – TR

SlimJim September 13, 2023 (9:47 am)

Saka by a slim margin for the reasons Kadoo stated. Otherwise it is sort of a choice between Tweedledee and Tweedledum. There was so little candidate diversity in the primary when it came to their stance on issues.

WSCurmudgeon September 13, 2023 (5:18 pm)

The WS Blog “frequent commentariat” thinks, for no good reason that I’m aware of, that hizzoner the mayor and the yes men and women around him represent “change.” Nope. My suggestion: follow the money!https://www.thestranger.com/elections-2023/2023/07/28/79096219/more-than-150000-of-trumper-and-big-business-money-hits-city-council-races

Suzanne September 13, 2023 (7:00 pm)

There’s a very good reason that the remaining candidates unanimously endorsed Maren Costa. I don’t know what it is but this is unprecedented. I was a strong supporter of Saka but in their letter published here on WSB they said that in spite of serious policy differences they were behind Costa. For that reason, I’m voting for Costa — https://westseattleblog.com/?s=saka+endorse+

Kyle September 13, 2023 (8:05 pm)

This also has swayed me greatly. But I want to hear from both candidates again, especially about this.

InformedVoter September 13, 2023 (8:04 pm)

The reason was because Saka is being bank-rolled by far right Trump supporter PAC and big business money while Costa is supported by grassroots volunteers. To be clear to everyone in this thread, Maren Costa has made it very clear that she is not in favor of defunding the police. This is basic publicly available information. She has stated clearly that she believes in hiring more police officers. https://www.marenforseattle.org/issues

Suzanne September 14, 2023 (3:28 am)

Can you confirm this? If not, how do you know this?
Kadoo September 14, 2023 (6:41 am)

I question the article in the Stranger written by a rookie journalist. I asked Saka about it and was satisfied with his answer. He is not a Trump supporter.
- Jeff September 14, 2023 (9:10 am)
  
  Saka is a corporate democrat. Just like the Hollingsworth candidate in D3. There’s no two ways about it. He’s a literally a Dem Think Tank guy. All chummy with the mayor and local developers.
- Jeff September 14, 2023 (10:40 am)
  
  Yeah attack the journalist credentials and not Saka’s poor reputation that has been picked up by senior journalists as well. Cool.
- WS Res September 14, 2023 (10:43 am)
  
  That’s a sexist and ageist comment. If the Stranger published falsehoods they could be sued. You may not like what their journalist’s research turned up, but it doesn’t mean it’s false. And Saka doesn’t have to be a Trump supporter in order to be supported by right-wingers who are strategically investing in centrist Democrats.
Rhonda September 14, 2023 (10:48 pm)

MisInformedVoter, I’m a far-right Trump supporter and I’m no longer supporting Saka. He’s recently come out in favor of too many Authoritarian schemes like speed cameras and humps at Alki. Conservatives don’t have a candidate in this race and with Tavel endorsing Costa, we never did.

Sorry, comment time is over.