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Who will become Seattle's new mayor?
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The mayoral race is especially tight for three candidates, Nickels, Mallahan, and McGinn. Who will emerge in the top two after primary ballots are completely counted? Pollsters are describing it as a "jump ball."
KIRO was reporting the results so far this evening, in our first city-wide mail in balloting for mayor, as McGinn 27%, Mallahan 26% and Nickels 25%. Counting is still not complete, however, and may not be final for days.
In a King 5/Survey USA poll done 8-12 through 8-16, Mayor NIckels had 26%, Mallahan 22% and McGinn 21%., with Donaldson at 7% and councilwoman Drago also at 7%. Sampling error is 3.9%. Movement in the polls from a previous week done 8-6 also had NIckels still ahead, 22%, with Mallahan at 19% and McGinn at 15%.
Seattle voters did not have to stand in line at polling places to vote in this election. King Country has sent out more than 1 million ballots.
But it hasn't just been the voting process that has changed, but campaigns are changing too. During the primary, campaigns have been waged not only on TV, in traditional print media, and in mailers, but also on UTube created advertising and on Internet blogs and Internet campaign websites, giving voters increased access to candidates views from a wider variety of mediums.
Once the vote has been counted, the top two candidates will be in a runoff for the November 3rd election.
The issues in the campaign have been centered on Nickels' record and his management of the city. Mallahan, in a self financed campaign, ran spots showing Nickels admitting he had made mistakes, although the context under which he said this wasn't clear. The same spot also touted an endorsement from a Seattle Times editorial, neglecting to mention that it was a dual endorsement with Nickels and that it further went on to say that "Joe Mallahan. . . had yet to demonstrate why he should hold the city's top job." Not exactly a ringing sole endorsement.
McGinn on the other hand distributed mailers which focused on the costs of the proposed replacement tunnel (and knock down of the Alaskan Way Viaduct) and give the dominant impression that McGinn is interested primarily in saving taxpayer money on the project while not clarifying that his own proposal will actually cost Seattle taxpayers roughly the same amount. The majority of funds for the tunnel project will actually come from the state.
Sandeep Kaushik, Nickels Campaign Spokesperson, when asked why the Nickels campaign doesn't seem to enjoy a stronger advantage, responded that:
"Joe Mallahan has been far and away the most negative challenger. His campaign has been focused on negative attacks and has done very little to articulate his vision for the city. We have been running a positive campaign about the mayor's vision for the city going forward. He [Mallahan] has been taking advantage of our elevating the discourse in the campaign."
"In fact, Mallahan doesn't show much of a record of visible civic participation over the years, has not been a regular voter, and has often made attacks giving only half the story. For example, the charge that the mayor disbanded the gang unit. But the history tells a more nuanced story. At the time, Seattle was in an economic recession and there were also many retiring police officers. Police Chief Gil Kerlowkoski recommended to the mayor that the officers be redeployed to neighborhood patrol. Crime was at a 40 year low.The mayor merely accepted the recommendation. "
McGinn showed remarkable momentum recently, what was the driving force? Sandeep Kaushik, NIckels campaign spokesperson said, "McGinn was on the cover of the Stranger recently. A significant chunk of his support has come only from people who know him through his campaign mailers. He is using a conservative anti-tax message, but this is not what he actually is."
The Mallahan and McGinn campaigns were also contacted for this article but did not respond.
Nickels Campaign Website
Mallahan Campaign Website
McGinn Campaign Website
For ongoing election results, tracking, and verification that your vote was counted
www.kingcounty.gov/elections/results.aspx
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