On July 23, 11 candidates for City Council positions 8, 9, and 2 took part at the 13th Annual A&NH/PI Primary Election Candidate Forum at the Wing Luke Museum. Emcee’d by Sam Prudente of Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ARCS), each candidate was given equal time to respond to questions on topics that impact the Chinatown-International District (CID), like managing the city’s budget deficit and homeless sweeps. There were also lighting rounds where candidates responded “yes,” “no,” or “pass” to questions about maintaining city funding for legal council for refugees, Seattle’s Shield Initiative, and more.
Candidates for citywide positions 8 and 9 included: Incumbent Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Incumbent Sara Nelson, Jesse A. James, Ray A. Rogers (who was absent), Rachael Savage, Dionne Foster, Mia Jacobson, and Connor Nash.
For brevity, only viewpoints from candidates with the most support from community organizations are included here. August 5 is Primary Election Day in King County.
Positions 8 and 9 (Citywide)
Seattle City Deficit
Incumbent Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Councilmember for position 8, advocated to backfill cuts in federal funding and address the city’s $250 million dollar deficit by addressing “Washington’s upside-down tax code.”
“We as a city are home to some of the wealthiest corporations in the history of humanity,” Rinck said. “It is entirely reasonable to ask them to invest back in the community that has helped them build their wealth.”
Rinck emphasized her partnership with Mayor Bruce Harrell on the Seattle Shield initiative, which “shields” about 90 percent of small to medium businesses from paying their Business and Occupations (B&O) tax, “while asking our top ten percent largest businesses to chip in more,” Rinck said. “That funding is going towards critical human services.”
Dionne Foster, a candidate for position 9, also advocated for progressive tax revenue. With a background as Executive Director of the Washington Progress Alliance, she emphasized her advocacy in defending the state-wide capital gains tax that funds childcare and schools.
“I will be a voice for additional progressive revenue at the city level, as well as for partnering with the state,” she said.
Current City Council President and Councilmember for position 9, Sara Nelson, said that even with proposed tax increases, “We will have to cut programs,” and mentioned reevaluating city investments to make sure they work. “My north star is to protect people first … [but] we’re going to have to make very difficult decisions, and it is not going to be an easy budget year.”
Connor Nash, a candidate for position 9 who lives in Little Saigon, took aim at Nelson’s cuts to services so far, in food, public health, and rental assistance programs.
“I want to be able to help our most vulnerable people, and I don’t want to cut social services that help people,” Nash said. “My opponent shows that her priorities are to increase the police budget while harming vulnerable communities.”
Immigrant Rights
Nash also called into question Nelson and the council’s “chumminess” with the Seattle Police Department (SPD).
The first thing I would do is hold SPD accountable for assisting ICE in deportations,” he said. “Our council has been very chummy with the police department in not holding them accountable as they should.”
Nash pointed out Nelson’s approval of SPD’s “less-lethal” weapons policy, which effectively allows SPD to determine what is “free speech” and what is a “riot,” therefore giving them permission to use blast balls, tear gas, and flash bangs for crowd control.
“It is interesting that Council member Sara Nelson said that she supports the use of force on protesters from SPD, and that they were immediately used against queer people protesting against a bigoted church in Cal Anderson,” Nash said.
When it comes to immigrant rights, Rinck and Foster highlighted their past and current advocacy. Rinck referenced her call to create a Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy Changes that examines federal policy and their impacts on local communities. Rinck said she has gone with Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in “accompan[ying] families in immigration court proceedings myself.”
“We are looking at threats not just to folks from ICE but we’re looking at threats to whole public dollars,” said Foster, who also reaffirmed her advocacy for progressive revenue and stressed investment in the city’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.”
Nelson mentioned liaisons in D.C. to keep the council informed on “what is the latest crazy thing that might happen to come down from Washington D.C.” She also touted legislation she helped pass to bolster the state’s Shield Law, which helps protect people seeking gender-affirming care and reproductive care, and stated, “I’m prepared to do that time and time again as the threats come forward to protect our immigrant communities.”
Public Safety Priorities
Nelson admitted that “the CID has long been inadequately served by the city when it comes to public safety… we do need to bring staffing back up in SPD, but I always say that public safety goes beyond more police officers.”
Nelson sponsored legislation that got ambassadors in Little Saigon—people trained in de-escalation who support residents and small businesses—and funds for a mobile medication van that serves people struggling with substance use disorders on the street.
“I will keep on doing what I have done, responding to these specific problems … from both the social service and a more traditional public safety perspective,” she said.
Rinck said, “We need a public safety system that has a quick response and the right response … but it’s not just enough to respond. We need to prevent things from happening in the first place.”
She mentioned her support of permit-to-purchase gun legislation that requires people to get a permit and take gun safety training, and her commitment to funding housing and human services. “Our communities are safest when we are all healthy and housed,” she said.
Nash wants more “community-led safety programs that are holistic in nature,” like Phố Đẹp, a community-led safety initiative in Little Saigon that Nash is involved in. Nash is also in favor of securing more funding for substance abuse treatment and behavioral health treatment.
“We have been ignored by the city and the county for far too long, and I’ve been so proud of the work we’ve been doing … but there’s more that needs to be done,” Nash said.
Foster prioritized expanding the CARE (Community Assisted Response and Engagement) team, that screens 911 and non-emergency calls and coordinates an appropriate mental health care-related response, and decoupling it from SPD.
“Currently, [CARE units] are required to be co-deployed with SPD and that is contributing to them not being able to respond to all calls and not being able to respond quickly,” she said. “That’s something I want to change.”
She also brought up Vision Zero, a plan to eliminate transit and traffic-related deaths, and another one of her priorities, as well as efforts to make SPD a police force that reflects the community.
District 2 (Southeast Seattle)
Seattle’s District 2 reflects the most diverse district in the City, stretching from the CID to Rainier Beach. Candidates for Position 2—Jeanie Chunn, Adonis Ducksworth, Jamie Fackler, and Eddie Lin—were aligned on most issues, but each emphasizing their unique connections to communities, priorities, and strategies.
General Agreements
Several lighting rounds of questions showed the many similarities in candidate positions. All candidates denounced homeless encampment sweeps and Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) and Stay out of Areas of Prostitution (SOAP) ordinances, all were in favor of maintaining funding for legal services for immigrants and refugees. All also support the city’s Shield Initiative and anti-displacement protections in the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The only outlier was on the question of if candidates supported SPD’s use of “less lethal” weapons like blast balls and tear gas. Lin chose “pass,” but all others were against.
In a round of randomly selected questions, Chunn and Fackler had the opportunity to weigh in on FIFA World Cup’s 2026 presence in the CID. Chunn stressed the need to work with small businesses and avoid what she experienced during the MLB All-Star game where “people came in, made a mess, and really didn’t support businesses.”
Fackler said he wanted to see more activations that show off the “shining star” that is the CID, while acknowledging the challenge to quell any potential uptick of ICE presence during FIFA games.
Public Safety Priorities
Eddie Lin, an Assistant City Attorney for the Office of Housing for the last decade, brought up the memory of Donnie Chin, whose 10-year memorial was held in Canton Alley just before the candidate forum.
“He was a true public safety advocate for this community, and so we need to as a community lean into taking care of each other,” Lin said, calling for a “comprehensive approach to public safety” that includes housing and drug and mental health treatment as well as expanding the CARE team.
Jeanie Chunn, a community organizer and activist who co-founded Seattle Restaurants United, also wants to expand the CARE team and “decouple it from the Seattle Police Department,” as well as working to open the King County Crisis Care Center.
Protec17 union shop steward Jamie Fackler also called for the detangling of the CARE team from SPD.
“It feels like SPOG [Seattle Police Officers Guild] is holding city safety hostage. We have a fair amount of police right now. We need to look at the work that they’re doing and understand where their skills are best suited,” he said, mentioning other approaches that have yielded results like diversion programs.
Adonis Ducksworth, a candidate who grew up in Beacon Hill and is currently Mayor Harrell’s transportation policy advisor, called for more police officers “so that they can investigate crimes and can also break up the illegal organized crime that is happening in the CID.”
“We also need to invest in more ambassadors and community-led interventions in the community, working through health and human services to make sure those funds are protected,” he said. “As people come off the street, we need more shelters; more quality treatment centers.”
Immigrant Rights
When it came to resisting ICE in Seattle, Fackler emphasized his union value of solidarity, and shared how ICE raids have affected those close to him.
“It’s really important to push back against what we’re seeing coming from Washington, D.C. and the Trump administration,” he said. “So that’s going to be maintaining our sanctuary city status and making sure that Seattle police and state departments are not sharing information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
“We need to stand strong … [and] make sure our police department is not cooperating [with ICE],” said Lin, echoing Fackler’s point. “We need to support groups that are defending our immigrant communities, like Northwest Immigrant Rights Project or the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, and to provide funding for immigration lawyers.”
“This is deeply personal for us,” said Chunn about the threat of deportation among restaurant workers, citing an example of showing up to the courthouse to support a refugee worker as she emphasized protecting refugees and undocumented people as well as citizens from ICE.
Ducksworth had a more budget-minded response, saying he will explore all possible ways of keeping the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs fully funded, and that he will “get into the weeds of the budget to make sure no dollars are going to any department that will be in collaboration with ICE or the federal government.”
