By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Wednesday night, our area’s largest political organization meets online to decide who to endorse in this year’s elections.

This past Saturday night, the 34th District Democrats gathered in person to raise money, snack, sip, and hear many candidates’ pitches.

The fundraiser’s theme was Forward Together, meant as a rallying cry as Democrats here and elsewhere work to find a unified breakthrough in an age of Republican control. As the organization’s first vice chair Rachel Glass said toward the start of the program, the point was “to uplift the work we’re doing to save our democracy.” Chair Jordan Crawley added, “The defense of democracy starts right here. … The moment we’re in (is) an invitation to lead.” But even local, regional, and state Democrats haven’t been marching in lockstep, as evidenced in two recent appearances of the 34th District legislative trio, at which they said working with newly elected Gov. Bob Ferguson had been a challenge.

The disagreements weren’t in evidence Saturday night, though, as the party filled the Washington State Black Legacy Institute in Admiral. Elected officials in attendance included 34th District State Sen. Emily Alvarado, State House Majority Leader Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, County Councilmembers Teresa Mosqueda, Claudia Balducci, and Girmay Zahilay, Seattle School Board President Gina Topp, County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion, and Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck (the only one of the nine councilmembers to attend). Former elected officials too – including ex-King County Executive, now Sound Transit CEO, Dow Constantine and ex-State Senator, now state Commerce Director, Joe Nguyen.

With Crawley declaring “Elections matter,” he and Glass made way for a parade of candidates. State Sen. Alvarado – running unopposed for a full term in the seat to which she recently was appointed – gave the first and arguably most fiery speech: “We can’t just sit idly by while they try to take our democracy away.” County Councilmembers Zahilay and Balducci, main rivals for the open job of County Executive, gave more standard pitches mostly focusing on local issues and their respective selling points, although Zahilay had an extra point to hit: He arrived in the U.S. at age 3 as a refugee from Sudan – a country now on the federal “travel ban” list. “I’m running today because (a story like mine) is no longer possible.”

The Seattle city race with the most candidates speaking was City Attorney; incumbent Ann Davison, who has run for office in the past as a Republican, was not on hand, but her three challengers Erika Evans, Rory O’Sullivan, and Nathan Rouse made their cases. The two citywide Seattle City Council positions are both on the ballot; Position 8 incumbent Mercedes Rinck cleaved to the spirit of the evening by declaring “Seattle must stand as a beacon of hope and resilience (and) fight against the politics of fascism.” (She has four challengers, none of whom were there.) Position 9 incumbent Sara Nelson wasn’t there but one of her three challengers, Dionne Foster, spoke, proclaiming, “I know our city can do better.”

Burien is part of the 34th, too, so they heard from a few of the candidates in that city’s races, before the event wrapped with a round of “raise-the-paddle” fundraising.

Next up, the group meets online at 6 pm Wednesday (June 11) for endorsements. Here’s the agenda – one block endorsement, followed by a long list of individual ones for contested races. Even if you’re not a member eligible to vote, you can watch the meeting – here’s the registration link; they usually publish the recording to YouTube afterward, too.