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

[NOVA Green]

The elephant in the room here is that the progressive coalition aside from SAlt—Progressive Party and Democratic progressives, People’s Party, and DSA—went too far in their campaign rhetoric. SAlt may be very much into class warfare rhetoric, but they do not advocate for extreme policies the people aren’t ready for and that would lead to confusion and are not the ones to advocate violent rhetoric against property. SAlt focuses on simple stuff like minimum wage increases, affordable housing, and advocates police reform and defunding for community programs (it should be noted that Kshama Sawant has worked with employing the current police chief and her party views police as workers like any other).

None of the other parties had much idea of cooking together, and they didn’t know what to serve against the big order of the duopoly, so we had incompetent cooks in the kitchen and the more experienced chef was too preoccupied with not wasting enough resources so as to cook tomorrow.

Yeah--- should chat with my older Sister sometime soon, since she has been involved in Seattle activist politics from Indivisible to the present, so curious what her take is on this since she has a really good finger on the pulse of the Progressive Left scene in Seattle with tons of coalition building backgrounds and experience meeting many elected political figures in Seattle over the years...

[Xing]

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.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The sad thing is that an actual non-lunatic progressive like Larry Krasner or Tiffany Cabán would've likely won. Seattle progressives really shot themselves in the foot here.

[Libertas Vel Mors]

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.

Lol, remember when that WI red avatar and you were ragging me about you were a conservative and it was evil to criticize you for calling Israel an apartheid state? F**k off.

[RI]

Davison's lead is only +5 now, but there aren't enough ballots left to change the outcome. Data was just released for precinct results from election night:



Broadmoor was 94.46% Davison, 98.12% Harrell.

[Xing]

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.

[RI]

Looks like cinyc has an interactive map of both City Attorney and Mayor here: https://rrhelections.com/index.php/2021/11/05/weekend-open-thread-for-november-5-7-2021/#comments

[ملكة كرينجيتوك]

Davison's lead is only +5 now, but there aren't enough ballots left to change the outcome. Data was just released for precinct results from election night:



Broadmoor was 94.46% Davison, 98.12% Harrell.

I see the majority nonwhite areas south of I-90 favored NTK, and that Capitol Hill is split in half (north = Davison, south = NTK)

[PSOL]

What are the results in Kshama's district.

[Roll Roons]

Seattle Times calls it for Davison:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/republican-ann-davison-defeats-nicole-thomas-kennedy-to-become-seattles-first-woman-city-attorney/

Says there are about 17K uncounted ballots as of today at 7 PM, and that the loon would need over 85% of them to catch up.

[Left Wing]

Very sad but totally expected. Seattle is not really a very progressive place folks!

[John Forbes Kerrygold 🧈]

Terrifying that it was this close.

[Xing]

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.

[smoltchanov]

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.

It's good, that sane people are a majority in Seattle. But it's an alarming sign that 48% of city population is ready to vote for absolute (120%) nutjob for citywide office..

[GeneralMacArthur]

NTK, conceded the race, which is surprising.  I thought she would say it was rigged and refuse to concede (worth noting that Nikkita Oliver, down 10%, still has not conceded).

Unsurprisingly, of course, her concession statement is nasty, petty, and blames everyone other than herself for her loss.

I'm proud of my campaign and what we accomplished. We may not have won the plurality, but we came damn close. 120k+ people understood the problem & voted for abolition - for genuine and evidence  based solutions. That is amazing, and I am glad I got to be a part of it.

And we overcame a lot to get there! Despite my opponent getting twice the money, legacy media's unrestrained support, and a blue-wash in the primary. ing by old guard neoliberal dems and a ‘Democrat” political consulting firm - we still came in first

Despite right wingers spreading conspiracy theories, my opponent and her teams lies about my platform, 4 mailers, 8 absurd op-eds, and unending racist threats to our staff and death threats to my family, we did not quit - and we got almost half the votes in an off year election.

She also changed her Twitter handle to "NTK, forever salty" lmao what a child

[ملكة كرينجيتوك]

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.

It's good, that sane people are a majority in Seattle. But it's an alarming sign that 48% of city population is ready to vote for absolute (120%) nutjob for citywide office..

To be honest if I were a Seattle city resident, I don't think I would've been able to bring myself to vote for either Davison or NTK.

What cities would NTK have won in?

Portland?

I mean, Iannerone didn't win in PDX so

[PSOL]

Ultimately they gave it their all and were close to victory if not mainly for factors outside of their control, such as Covid raising fixed costs and the dark money and astroturfing on social media promoting lies. Still, as I noted previously, the coalition made errors in campaigning that would have at least got NTK over the finish line leading to a progressive-dominated Seattle even without the mayoralty.

Now however is not time to reminisce or dwell in the past, but move forward in preparing for battles to come.

What are the results in Kshama's district?

[smoltchanov]

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.

It's good, that sane people are a majority in Seattle. But it's an alarming sign that 48% of city population is ready to vote for absolute (120%) nutjob for citywide office..

To be honest if I were a Seattle city resident, I don't think I would've been able to bring myself to vote for either Davison or NTK.

What cities would NTK have won in?

Portland?

I mean, Iannerone didn't win in PDX so

Well, i am not avid fan of Davison, but - against NTK it would be no brainer for me..

[Crumpets]

Broadmoor was 94.46% Davison, 98.12% Harrell.

If Harrell wants to raise some extra funds for the city, he should put on a long-running reality show where he turns Broadmoor into a Ashgabat-style ego enclave of glory using his apparent massive personality cult there. I'd watch.

[NOVA Green]

Davison's lead is only +5 now, but there aren't enough ballots left to change the outcome. Data was just released for precinct results from election night:



Broadmoor was 94.46% Davison, 98.12% Harrell.

I see the majority nonwhite areas south of I-90 favored NTK, and that Capitol Hill is split in half (north = Davison, south = NTK)

Good call....  vast majority of minority majority precincts appear to have voted FOR NTK and it was the overwhelmingly Anglo precinct which voted against.

Sister lives in South Seattle not far from MLK and Rainier, but even just briefly eyeballing the precinct with overlaps, looks like the most heavily Asian-American precincts voted for NTK, even with the population tending largest Vietnamese-American with a decent Chinese-American component.

So basically looks like White wealthy Seattle Liberals voted for law and order?

Will be interesting to see final precinct results and see how that matches up with precinct coding by population.

On surface appears to have some similarities with the PDX Mayoral Results, but also differences.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

The sad thing is that an actual non-lunatic progressive like Larry Krasner or Tiffany Cabán would've likely won. Seattle progressives really shot themselves in the foot here.

The messenger definitely matters a lot.  Krasner>>>>>>Caban>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>NTK in that respect.  That said, if NTK opposes all misdemeanor prosecutions, then that is the sort of thing that really should’ve been a deal-breaker regardless of candidate quality.  People generally think misdemeanors only include minor crimes, but that’s not the case.  Speaking as a prosecutor who has a pretty large misdemeanor caseload, I think it’s important to remember that the law doesn’t treat certain offenses as seriously as one might think (or as seriously as it should imo).  Domestic violence, most assault charges, some very serious sex crimes*, hit-and-run cases where no one was killed (regardless of severity or injuries suffered by the victim), Stalking/Violation of Protect Order cases, Child Endangerment, telecommunications harassment, etc are all misdemeanors in a lot of states.

If a City Attorney refused to prosecute misdemeanors, they’re not just declining to prosecute some kid who got caught smoking a blunt, they’re - at the very least - refusing to prosecute domestic violence and (depending on the state) some pretty serious sex crimes.  I’d argue some of this stuff like domestic violence should really be classified as a felony, but that’s not how the laws are written in most states.

*Including Ohio’s equivalent of statutory rape in cases where there is less than a four year age difference.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Yeah, over in NY we saw Tahanie Aboushie get completely destroyed in the polls for her statement that she wouldn't prosecute misdemeanor hate crimes. In the NY race there were other progressives and one did wind up winning, but it seems pretty clear that advocating for a complete breakdown of order will get you BTFO'd by the voters. It's also why I expect Chesa to get recalled. It's not politics, it's a refusal to do your job.

[Crumpets]

Also hopefully this map puts to bed the argument that "minorities are actually more supportive of law-and-order/pro-police candidates than white liberals" and its variants.

[Crumpets]

Sister lives in South Seattle not far from MLK and Rainier, but even just briefly eyeballing the precinct with overlaps, looks like the most heavily Asian-American precincts voted for NTK, even with the population tending largest Vietnamese-American with a decent Chinese-American component.

This is just eyeballing it, but it looks like Davison won The ID/Chinatown while NTK won the bordering precincts in Little Saigon. That'd be really interesting if true, because it would kind of controvert the idea that Asian communities that have been in the US for a while tend to vote to the left of more recent groups that immigrated to escape communism. (Although maybe there are enough more recent immigrants from China in The ID that might make this comparison moot? IDK.) This might be a kind of one-off because the ID was particularly hard-hit during the protests last year, but I feel like Little Saigon was too.

[ملكة كرينجيتوك]

Sister lives in South Seattle not far from MLK and Rainier, but even just briefly eyeballing the precinct with overlaps, looks like the most heavily Asian-American precincts voted for NTK, even with the population tending largest Vietnamese-American with a decent Chinese-American component.

This is just eyeballing it, but it looks like Davison won The ID/Chinatown while NTK won the bordering precincts in Little Saigon. That'd be really interesting if true, because it would kind of controvert the idea that Asian communities that have been in the US for a while tend to vote to the left of more recent groups that immigrated to escape communism. (Although maybe there are enough more recent immigrants from China in The ID that might make this comparison moot? IDK.) This might be a kind of one-off because the ID was particularly hard-hit during the protests last year, but I feel like Little Saigon was too.

Seems to me like both areas were close either way. Probably more of a function of lower-than-presidential level turnout than anything, although I do wonder if progressive/far-left groups in Seattle proper have better outreach to/rapport with Vietnamese enclaves than Chinese enclaves.