By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

What the feds won’t do – any more – the locals are going to have to.

That theme emerged in a variety of ways at Wednesday night’s meeting of our area’s largest political organization, the 34th District Democrats, facilitated by the group’s chair Jordan Crawley.

First, the pre-meeting presentation featured the local resistance group West Seattle Indivisible. Then, our area’s County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda touted local government’s support for areas hit by the federal budget ax – housing, worker protections, equity:

Two of Mosqueda’s fellow County Councilmembers spoke too, but in a different capacity – as candidates to succeed King County Executive Dow Constantine, who is not running for re-election. This wasn’t a formal candidate forum; 34th DD meetings often offer the microphone to candidates who want to make their pitch.

First was Councilmember Claudia Balducci from the Eastside, who declared, “I fundamentally believe in the powe of government, especially local government, to make lives better,” before decrying the federal slashing of services and spending. “We can’t do everything, but we can protect the people most at risk,” she said, adding that local government needs to “stand up for our values,” so if the president, for example, threatens to take away funding unless those values are cast aside, go ahead and dare him.

Balducci, a Sound Transit board member, noted that she might be “most famous for fighting and winning the battle of light rail” on the Eastside, and declared, “I can’t wait to push to get light rail to West Seattle!” (That was greeted by a whoop.)

Next was County Council Chair Girmay Zahilay, whose district is in South King County. He declared the KC Executive position to be the “single most important and powerful local office in the entire state of Washington.” He also said he’s running because of the potential of our region, which welcomed Zahilay and his family as refugees from Sudan when he was three years old. He then listed challenges – opportunities on the decline, the Trump Administration “threaten(ing) every value we have,” the housing shortage – and proclaimed that the next County Executive “has to ensure that King County is a beacon of hope and opportunity for the entire nation.”

Balducci and Zahilay were the only two County Executive candidates on Wednesday night’s agenda, but not the only candidates – five others running for election or re-election took the microphone too. Two were Port of Seattle Commissioners running for re-election – and they too spoke about defiance of D.C. Position 1 incumbent Ryan Calkins said that after “mourn(ing) a bit” following the November election, “we doubled down” on commitments such as green energy:

Position 3 incumbent Port Commissioner Hamdi Mohamed also observed that “local elected officials must hold the line” during “unprecedented times”:

Three City of Seattle candidates followed, starting with mayoral hopeful Ry Anderson. They warned of the dangers of hopelessness: “We have to empower the next generation to not give up.” And about services the feds may be abandoning: “The National Labor Relations Board may be (doomed), so we need to pick that up.”

Armstrong also nodded to the civil-rights curtailments of the D.C. administration, suggesting “the best way to give Trump (the finger) is to elect a trans mayor.”

Two candidates for citywide City Council Position 9 were next, challenging incumbent Council President Sara Nelson. First, Dionne Foster told the 34th DDs that all three of the district’s state legislators already support her. She described herself as a “first-time candidate” (but former city policy adviser) and steadfast champion of “progressive values” and “real results”:

Another Council Position 9 candidate, Ray Rogers, also called himself a “first-time candidate” and spoke of people power: “With you, we can get the job done.” He promised he would work tirelessly – “the first one to get there and the last one to leave.”

We won’t know the full primary-election fields for these and other positions until after the official Filing Week in May; primary voting will end on

The final spotlight of the night shone on a former elected official, Joe Nguyen, appointed as state Commerce Director after serving a term and a half as 34th District State Senator. Aaron Garcia of the White Center Community Development Association was first to speak in tribute, declaring, “Joe showed up.” Garcia’s predecessor as WCCDA executive director, Sili Savusa, spoke too, as did Seattle Port Commissioner Toshiko Hasegawa and former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels:

The traits they celebrated differed – Hasegawa hailed Nguyen as “a progressive elected voice” while Nickels said he became a “very enthusiastic supporter” despite having told Nguyen flat-out “you’re way too liberal for me.”

NEXT MEETING: The 34th DDs meet on second Wednesdays, sometimes in person, sometimes online only, so next meeting will be April 9th; you can watch for updates at 34dems.org.