ELECTION 2025: Third round of results. Here’s where the five races we’re watching stand

King County Elections has just released the third round of results from Tuesday’s primary. No major changes in the five races we’re watching – here’s the latest

SEATTLE MAYOR: Katie Wilson‘s lead over Bruce Harrell* has decreased by one point; she’s now four points up after his share increased a bit, 48% to 44%.

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL CITYWIDE POSITION 9 Dionne Foster‘s 18-point lead over Sara Nelson* has decreased one point to 17 points, 55% to 38%.

SEATTLE CITY ATTORNEY: Erika Evans‘s initial 14-point lead over Ann Davison* remains 17 points, 53% to 36%.

In other races:

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL CITYWIDE POSITION 8: Alexis Mercedes Rinck* remains at 77%, with the nearest challenger, Rachael Savage, at 14%.

KING COUNTY EXECUTIVE: County Council President Girmay Zahilay retains a 12-point lead over County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, 42% to 30%.

See the full results list here.

These counts represent just under 27 percent of county voters’ ballots; so far the county reports receiving just under 34 percent of voters’ ballots (which at this point is likely close to what the final turnout will be). Breaking that out further, the current count includes ballots from 30 percent of Seattle city voters, while 39 percent of city voters’ ballots have been received.

k August 7, 2025 (4:46 pm)

Glad to see Prop. 1 and the other Prop. 1 both passing handily!

Rb August 7, 2025 (6:02 pm)

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Yup. Get ready for another rent increase.
- WSB August 7, 2025 (6:25 pm)
  
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  Of note, the total cost to the average homeowner of the two levies that were on this ballot is $18/month. Both are renewals, so if you’ve already raised rents to cover the previous cost of the Parks levy, the monthly increase now is just under $3.50.
  - WS Person August 7, 2025 (7:42 pm)
    
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    If the “only” $215/year existed in a bubble that would be fine, but it’s not. It’s layered with other taxes upon taxes. Every little thing is a property tax. Make those taxes an increased sales tax and you’ll watch all those passing measures fail.
    - Rats August 7, 2025 (9:14 pm)
      
      And what about all of the previous propositions we paid or are still paying?
    - Spud August 7, 2025 (11:53 pm)
      
      There’s way too many of these every time ballots go out, and not one person working for the city can explain how all that money is spent, or why estimates for building things are always so unrealistic. No one is solving the price of a slice of pizza, or a months rent with all this junk in place.
    - K August 8, 2025 (1:09 am)
      
      The taxes you’ve been paying already should already be factored into your rent and should not result in a rent increase.
    - formerTX August 8, 2025 (6:45 am)
      
      Property tax conversations are always wild for me because when we moved here from Houston, TX, I had assumed our property taxes in Texas were among the lowest in the country and I was gonna get smashed with a huge bill from “liberal high tax Seattle”. When we bought here I thought a mistake had been made when I saw our taxes due. The Seattle property tax rate was almost exactly half of what my Houston rate had been. I just checked again and sure enough, the rate on my old Houston house is almost exactly double what I pay here (it’s actually a few dollars more than double!). When you add in stealth taxes in Texas like sky high flood insurance because the state refuses to build flood mitigation infrastructure (maybe you’ve heard about this in the news recently), it’s not even close. I start the year with thousands of dollars in my pocket from lower taxes and insurance rates here. When I see people talking about an effective raise on their rates of single dollars a month, I can’t help but chuckle.
    - LowRatebutHighValue August 8, 2025 (10:43 am)
      
      But how do home values compare? Back in upstate NY the tax rate was more than double BUT the home values are 1/2 or 1/3 so for a similar home the tax bill is probably about the same.
    - B August 8, 2025 (2:29 pm)
      
      According to Google, the average property tax burden for individual homeowners in Houston is $6018. In Seattle, it’s $8135. The higher tax burden in Seattle is due to higher property values. This would be fine if everyone in Seattle made ‘tech worker’ salaries, but they don’t. Many seniors are just trying to get by and live out there lives in the homes they purchased many years ago, and these higher tax burdens hurt them.
      
      Seattle needs to build more affordable housing so that supply comes closer to meeting demand. This would help to keep everyone’s property values and property taxes at a more reasonable level.

Kt August 8, 2025 (4:40 am)

Only 34% voted… no wonder we are in danger of losing our democracy.

bradley August 8, 2025 (9:14 am)

I especially enjoyed the data on the Democracy Ballots that stated 47% goes to admin costs, and only 5% of them were used, and a 50% boost in funds for the program was being requested. In what world does that make sense? No wonder budgets can’t be balanced, its throwing good money after bad. Financial management is a lost art in Seattle.

Nat August 8, 2025 (2:36 pm)

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Democracy vouchers literally cost the average homeowner less than $15 a YEAR. If you’re going to complain about that, there’s literally nothing that will make you happy. you’re lost
- WS Person August 8, 2025 (4:13 pm)
  
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  It’s multifold. Firstly the majority of taxes are put on property tax and voted on by everyone. Second – this is a ridiculous tax that forces (homeowners) to help fund candidates political career. As shown above the largest portion of this tax goes to admin costs. If someone wants to run, more power to them, but don’t tax people to pay for it. Go fund raise or get a sponsor like every other person has to do. When is “it’s only….” Enough?
- bradley August 8, 2025 (7:27 pm)
  
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  Thank you Nat. This is a perfect example of why Financial Management and Planning is a lost art in Seattle Politics, Let’s toss away $45 million dollars when we have a budget shorrt,fall, where only 5% is the return on the investment. You don’t think those dollars could go to a better line item, to relieve “those of us in the working class continually having to pick up their slack???? “

Admiral2009 August 8, 2025 (12:03 pm)

formerTX – there are two components in property taxes, the rate and the value. The rate in Seattle may be lower but the house values are significantly higher thus leading to a high property tax bill!

K August 8, 2025 (12:48 pm)

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They use the word rate, but the rest of the comment clearly demonstrates they’re talking about the whole bill. I had the same experience moving here from Maryland. Yeah, sales tax there is cheap, bit property taxes are the same, car tabs are $7-800/ year minimum even if you drive an old beater, and 1/3 of my paycheck there went to income taxes. The real killer in that state is utilities, though. They’re all private and paying hundreds each month to each utility is the norm. But it’s true that perspective on the taxes will depend on what you’re used to. For those who have never been outside of Seattle they just see a number getting bigger. We really do pay a lot less taxes than a lot of other places, though.
FormerTX August 8, 2025 (5:48 pm)

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Yes, I understand how taxes work. I’m pointing out the fact that the effective property tax rate in Houston is literally double what it is in Seattle. That’s just a fact. My point is also that if someone’s home is worth a ton of money and they are complaining about a tax rate LESS THAN HALF of the rate of the biggest city in Texas, then they should probably get some perspective on the issue. I mean, million dollar homes exist in Houston, the land of Big Oil. In addition, given my experience with Texas government and its inability to provide even basic services required of a government (see The Freeze, any hurricane, any big rain, etc.), I find Washington government to be responsive, responsible, and attempting to be forward thinking for the most part. It’s not perfect but they’re generally trying and when I disagree with the government here, at least I understand why they’re doing what they’re doing.
- bradley August 10, 2025 (12:42 pm)
  
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  I see gas is under $3 a gallon in Houston. So there’s that.

Nat August 8, 2025 (2:38 pm)

Seattle is extremely business friendly and tax-regressive. Time to tax the rich!!!! There are over 50,000 (liquid!) millionaires in Seattle and 11 billionaires, why are those of us in the working class continually having to pick up their slack????