Republican Davison +17 over police abolitionist Thomas-Kennedy in Seattle City Attorney Race

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Considering that her opponent is a complete lunatic, and I’m saying that as a progressive Democrat, this isn’t nearly as crazy it sounds, and I can’t say it’s depressing. It’s not like she’s beating Sanders. Plenty of Sanders/Warren voters voted for her. She won’t win by 17, but I imagine it’ll be in the 5-10% range.

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Considering that her opponent is a complete lunatic, and I’m saying that as a progressive Democrat, this isn’t nearly as crazy it sounds, and I can’t say it’s depressing. It’s not like she’s beating Sanders. Plenty of Sanders/Warren voters voted for her. She won’t win by 17, but I imagine it’ll be in the 5-10% range.

I already explained to you why this isn't accurate. But if you want to be on the same side as the Republicans in this thread, go ahead.

I’ve done my research on this race. Believe me, voting for Davison wasn’t pleasant, but NTK really is that bad. And Sanders voters voting for her is accurate.

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Considering that her opponent is a complete lunatic, and I’m saying that as a progressive Democrat, this isn’t nearly as crazy it sounds, and I can’t say it’s depressing. It’s not like she’s beating Sanders. Plenty of Sanders/Warren voters voted for her. She won’t win by 17, but I imagine it’ll be in the 5-10% range.

I already explained to you why this isn't accurate. But if you want to be on the same side as the Republicans in this thread, go ahead.

I’ve done my research on this race. Believe me, voting for Davison wasn’t pleasant, but NTK really is that bad. And Sanders voters voting for her is accurate.

You really don't sound like you have, to be honest. You obviously are operating on a complete mischaracterization of both candidates' views. If I identified as a progressive and supported someone like Davison, who stands against pretty much every criminal justice reform goal imaginable, I'd be sick. And it's not just that her views are repugnant. She's also completely unqualified. Usually in a race like this both candidates at least have sufficient experience to make a case for their own election. But not this one. Davison has nothing. Her entire shtick is the unfair accusation that her opponent is a lunatic - as one of the resident centrist D hacks parroted stupidly above you - while her own candidacy is hilariously retrograde, unfit for even a city replete with corporate Dems like Seattle. But, keep robotically repeating that Warren/Sanders voters supported her. I'm sure that will lessen the sting when you find out exactly how she intends to prioritize her time in office.

Yes, I’ve read plenty of sources in which NTK “explains” her views. It comes out to the same thing, eventually moving away from policing as a method of dealing with crime. We can make it sound nicer, point out the flaws of the criminal justice system and some of the unfortunately underlying reasons for why crime exists in Seattle (yes, the absurd cost of living, lack of affordable mental health services, and addiction are all part of this), but I cannot get behind this. I’m under no delusion about Davison. She’s an opportunist who is not sufficiently qualified for the office. NTK, however, does have specific plans to stop prosecuting misdemeanors. Now, I think the criminal justice system is not just for all, but I will say that with a higher rate of property crime in Seattle, an enormous homelessness and addiction problem, this is not a good direction to go in. Even if her position is more along the lines of “alternative responses to misdemeanors” than literally ignoring them, this is absolutely not what is needed a city where residents feel increasingly unsafe. And I don’t care “whose side” I’m on in this thread, either. I’m sick of so many battle lines being drawn in the sand and people being so loyal not only to a party but also a label. I’m decidedly left-wing, but there are limits to what I can support, respect that.

Progressives have a lot to offer, and I think many of their ideas deserve more sunlight, but when it comes to certain issues like policing, among others, they need to do a much better job of messaging, show more nuance, and not get behind bad actors.

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Unless her opponent in the following election is someone like NTK, or Davison is enormously popular (which I doubt), she will not be getting more than one term.

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Decent sized vote dump, now Davison's lead is 11% or about 21K, so NTK gained about 3K, but now the vote total is approaching 200K, and I'd guess that there are at most 100K left, probably fewer, meaning NTK would have to win the remaining votes by at least 21%, likely more. Seems pretty unlikely, though this could end up being somewhat close.

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Considering that her opponent is a complete lunatic, and I’m saying that as a progressive Democrat, this isn’t nearly as crazy it sounds, and I can’t say it’s depressing. It’s not like she’s beating Sanders. Plenty of Sanders/Warren voters voted for her. She won’t win by 17, but I imagine it’ll be in the 5-10% range.

I already explained to you why this isn't accurate. But if you want to be on the same side as the Republicans in this thread, go ahead.

I’ve done my research on this race. Believe me, voting for Davison wasn’t pleasant, but NTK really is that bad. And Sanders voters voting for her is accurate.

You really don't sound like you have, to be honest. You obviously are operating on a complete mischaracterization of both candidates' views. If I identified as a progressive and supported someone like Davison, who stands against pretty much every criminal justice reform goal imaginable, I'd be sick. And it's not just that her views are repugnant. She's also completely unqualified. Usually in a race like this both candidates at least have sufficient experience to make a case for their own election. But not this one. Davison has nothing. Her entire shtick is the unfair accusation that her opponent is a lunatic - as one of the resident centrist D hacks parroted stupidly above you - while her own candidacy is hilariously retrograde, unfit for even a city replete with corporate Dems like Seattle. But, keep robotically repeating that Warren/Sanders voters supported her. I'm sure that will lessen the sting when you find out exactly how she intends to prioritize her time in office.

NTK, however, does have specific plans to stop prosecuting misdemeanors. Now, I think the criminal justice system is not just for all, but I will say that with a higher rate of property crime in Seattle, an enormous homelessness and addiction problem, this is not a good direction to go in. Even if her position is more along the lines of “alternative responses to misdemeanors” than literally ignoring them, this is absolutely not what is needed a city where residents feel increasingly unsafe.

So, basically: jail is the solution for homelessness and addiction, and no other alternative is worth pursuing? Yep, sounds like you had a great reason to vote for a Republican.

At least you aren't advocating for addicts to be rounded up and sent out of the city like General Hackaroni does. But to be clear, you're on the same team and now you'll get to enjoy this unqualified, racist idiot's tenure in your city.

Come on, dude. You’re better than this. I generally like you as poster, and I admire the fact that you’re not afraid to express views that might be unpopular on Atlas, and you don’t try to hold back. However, you should try to at least understand why people might disagree before assuming that it’s because of misinformation or them just being wrong, especially in this case, where I definitely agree with your posts in general more than I disagree. Do you need to misrepresent and strawman the views of someone who is mostly on your side? It should be clear to anyone on this site that I have many disagreements with GMac, including my personal feelings about Davison (he’s said that her winning would be one of the happiest election results of his lifetime.)

I don’t think jailing the homeless is a good solution, but there absolutely needs to be a consequence if a homeless person harasses or even assaults someone. Don’t tell me that this doesn’t happen, because I couldn’t count the number of times someone on the street has screamed at me, and once my wife had an even worse experience, where a man yelled multiple insults at her, literally prevented her from walking forward, and she had to run in the opposite direction to get away. These sorts of things have sadly become commonplace in Seattle, as have a theft, and we’re had our cars broken into, as well as graffitied, and what do you think happened? Nothing, we just lost several hundred dollars, and we’re not exactly rich. While the city tries to set up shelters for the homeless, and more funding could be sent to these shelters, what are we supposed to do with people who leave the shelters and choose to sleep next to businesses? No, I don’t think throwing them in jail is the right response, but should there really be no consequence? Are people who are victims of property theft or damage and harassment really left with no recourse? These are issues that may not have an easy answer, but clearly I’m not alone in thinking that phasing out policing, when often the police do nothing to address misdemeanors as it is, is not the right way to go at all, and Seattle isn’t a secretly conservative city. It’s about as progressive as they come, and people hear tend to be above average in their political awareness.

The lesson here for progressives is not that they can’t win anywhere. The lesson is that their current strategy isn’t working, and they need find better candidates and a better way to address these problems, without sacrificing the idea that they need to be bold and tackle many issues at once.

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Yeah, I’d guess the end result is Davison +3-3.5. Definitely closer than I expected, but unless they’re severely low-balling the number of outstanding ballots, there isn’t enough left out. Oliver is definitely done as well.

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Another update today puts Davison's lead at 11K or just over 4%, but there are only 3K estimated ballots left to count in King county, so even if they're low-balling it a bit, this race is definitely over.

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I’m not sure that the argument is that minorities as a whole are tough on crime, simply that their positions on policing issues are more varied and not as monolithic as some previously thought. NTK definitely did not get typical D vs. R numbers in minority-heavy precincts, even if she won many.