(The Center Square) – Progressive Nilu Jenks led more moderate Julie Kang after the first ballot count on Tuesday in a special election that could see Seattle City Council’s District 5 swing further to the left.
According to King County Elections, Jenks had 15,122 votes, 58.48% of the initial results, while Kang trailed with 10,626 votes, 41.1% of the initial results. The gap stood at 4,496 votes, with an estimated 90,000 ballots left to process countywide, but it’s unclear how many of those ballots are for District 5.
The winner will serve a term through 2027, replacing Councilmember Debora Juarez as North Seattle’s representative after former Councilmember Cathy Moore stepped down last year for personal reasons.
“You know, I work on democracy and voting rights, so I’m just gonna watch the votes unfold,” Jenks told The Center Square in a phone call Tuesday night. “I’m just proud of District Five for coming out and voting.”
District 5 has roughly 74,000 registered voters, so with only around 25,700 ballots processed so far, Jenks said the results could change, though her campaign is encouraged by Tuesday night’s results.
The nonpartisan council is currently split between three progressive and six more moderate members; however, coalitions among the predominantly left-leaning panel often shift depending on a given issue.
Councilmembers Dionne Foster, Eddie Lin and Alexis Mercedes Rinck represent the progressives, with Bob Kettle, Robert Saka, Maritza Rivera, Council President Joy Hollingsworth and Juarez as moderates.
Jenks, a first-generation Iranian-American, serves as FairVote Washington’s political and partnerships director, advocating for ranked-choice voting. Kang, a first-generation Korean-American, is a teacher who has held leadership and faculty positions at the University of Washington and Seattle University.
Jenks campaigned on adding 1,000 affordable housing units to her district, using progressive taxes to address affordability and fully funding a civilian response to behavioral health and homelessness calls.
Kang wants to speed up permitting and use JumpStart revenue to expand housing, address gun crime and prostitution, increase police staffing, improve accessibility and deliver results before raising taxes.
“I’m grateful to every District 5 resident who participated in this election,” Kang wrote in a statement.
“We respect the election process and will wait for additional ballots to be counted,” Kang said Tuesday, arguing it is too early to tell. “Whatever the final outcome, I am grateful for the conversations we’ve had across North Seattle and I remain committed to the community I have called home for 30 years.”
Campaign finance data show Jenks raised $225,683 by Monday and spent $196,107, with $58,367 in independent expenditures supporting her and $19,371 opposing her. Kang raised about $181,502 and spent $148,893, with $19,371 in independent expenditures supporting her and $22,183 opposing her.
Independent expenditures are contributions made without campaign coordination, such as advertising.
Jenks and Kang both received support from Seattle’s taxpayer-funded Democracy Voucher Program, which provides residents with prepaid vouchers they can donate to a candidate of their choosing. The vouchers often go unused, with participation at about 5%, so the city pays nonprofits to do outreach.
One outreach nonprofit is the Korean American Coalition Washington, which received $25,000, where Kang served as president and is currently on leave as a board member. Seattle ethics officials told The Seattle Times that the agreement relied only on a verbal understanding that she wouldn’t participate.
“I took a leave when we heard that we were being considered… I did not participate in the execution,” Kang wrote in an email to The Center Square last month, indicating she was too busy for an interview.
The Seattle Ethics Election Commission is considering a new safeguard in response to that reporting.
“We are working on language to add to the Pledge for 2027,” Program Manager René LeBeau wrote in a statement to The Center Square, noting that SEEC was closing out on the current election cycle first.
Jenks won the August primary election with 16,287 votes, 53.95% of the results, narrowing the field from four candidates to two, after Kang received 9,956 votes, 32.98% of the results, for second place.
Ballot boxes closed Tuesday at 8 p.m., with the next count scheduled to drop at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.