Jenny Durkan

Jenny Anne Durkan (born May 19, 1958) is an American Democratic politician currently serving as the mayor of Seattle. Formerly a prosecutor, she served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, appointed by President Barack Obama , from October 2009 to September 2014.[1]

Durkan was elected the 56th mayor of Seattle in 2017, becoming the city's first female mayor since the 1920s and the city's second openly LGBT elected mayor.[2][3][4] She took first place in the nonpartisan August primary and defeated urban planner and political activist Cary Moon in the November general election, with over 60% of the vote.[5]

Durkan was born in Seattle in 1958, the fourth of seven children, and grew up in Issaquah, Washington. She attended Forest Ridge School, a private Catholic girls' school.[6]

Durkan earned her B.A. degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1980.[7] After graduating, she moved to a Yupik fishing village on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska, where she taught English, coached a girls' basketball team ,[6] worked as a baggage handler for Wien Air Alaska in St. Mary's and was a dues-paying Teamster.[8]

Durkan earned her J.D. degree from the University of Washington School of Law in 1985.[9] "I wanted to be a lawyer since I was 5 years old," she told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1992. "When I graduated from law school, my mother said, 'Finally someone is going to pay you to argue."'[6]

While in law school, Durkan participated in a pilot criminal defense clinic, working with the public defender's office to represent individuals charged in Seattle municipal court. She continued the work on a pro bono basis, until she moved to Washington, D.C. to practice law with the firm of Williams & Connolly. There she did a range of civil and criminal cases, including representing reporters subpoenaed by the government.

Durkan returned to Seattle in 1991, and established a successful practice focusing on criminal defense and work on behalf of plaintiffs, including the family of Lt. Walter Kilgore, who died in the Pang warehouse fire,[10] the case of Stan Stevenson (a retired firefighter who was stabbed leaving a Mariners game) and the case of Kate Fleming, who died in a flash flood in her Madison Valley basement during the Hanukkah Eve windstorm of 2006.[11][12]

Among Durkan's most prominent cases in private practice was the 2005 recount lawsuit that attempted to undo Governor Chris Gregoire's election in 2004.[13] The Democratic Party turned to Durkan with Gregoire's election "facing an unprecedented trial and Republicans trying to remove her from office."[14] Gregoire's victory was upheld.

Durkan worked with families and other attorneys at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to prevent the return of people who had arrived lawfully at the airport[clarification needed] the day President Donald Trump's first Travel Ban executive order went into effect.[15]

After serving as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Durkan joined Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to head a new Seattle office specializing in internet and online security issues.[16]

Durkan served on the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission from 1993 to 1996. She served as the first Citizen Observer on the Seattle Police Firearms Review Board from 1997 to 2000 and two Seattle mayors asked her to serve on Citizen Review Committees for the Seattle Police Department. She also played an advisory role on the establishment of the King County Drug Court and the Mental Health Court.[17] She later helped create a specialized drug program in the federal courts in Western Washington.[18]

In September 1994, Durkan left the Schroeter law firm to join the staff of then-Washington Governor Mike Lowry as his lawyer and political adviser.[19] In February 1995, she resigned from Lowry's office and returned to Schroeter.[19]

Durkan is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and maintains an AV rating[clarification needed] from Martindale-Hubbell. She served a three-year term on the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors. She served on the Merit Selection Committee for the United States District Court, helping select the candidates for appointment to seven vacancies in the federal judiciary in the Western District of Washington.

Durkan served on the nonprofit board of the Center for Women and Democracy from 2000 to 2009, as a founding Board Member for the Seattle Police Foundation from 2002 to 2004, and as the Chair of the Washington State Attorney General's Task Force on Consumer Privacy, which resulted in legislation that became a national model for identity theft protections.[17]

>>9617928

In May 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Durkan to be the U.S Attorney for the Western District of Washington, which covers 19 counties and is home to 4.6 million people (78% of the state's population).[20] She was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on September 29, 2009, and sworn in on October 1 by Chief U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik.[21][22]

While U.S. Attorney, Durkan created a Civil Rights Department in the office. It coordinates a variety of civil rights cases and outreach, including a number of cases on behalf of returning veterans.[18] She also has helped push police reform efforts in the Seattle Police Department after a Department of Justice investigation found a pattern and practice of excessive use of force.[23]

Upon taking office, Durkan was appointed to serve on the Attorney General's Advisory Committee, which advises the U.S. Attorney General on policy, management, and operational issues at the Department of Justice. She is chair of the Attorney General's Subcommittee on Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Enforcement. Durkan has played a leading role in prosecuting cybercrimes, including hacking,[24] skimming[25] and identity theft.[26]

Durkan worked with the public schools to ensure internet safety tips for parents and kids were sent home with kids at the beginning of the school year.[27][28]

Durkan also focused on terrorism and national security issues, including the prosecution of two men who plotted to blow up a military recruitment facility in Seattle.[29][30]

As U.S. Attorney, Durkan used the federal law against felons possessing firearms to crack down on career criminals in Western Washington.[31] Cases referred for felons-with-guns charges increased 45% during her tenure.[32]

Durkan pushed "hot spot" initiatives in high-crime areas to address drug and gun sales. These investigations and law enforcement operations resulted in dozens of arrests and weapons confiscations.[23][33]

In September 2014, when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced his intention to step down, Durkan was widely discussed as a potential candidate to succeed him. The Obama administration nominated Loretta Lynch.[34][35][36][37]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Durkan

So hmmm, she identifies as a lesbian and was a girls basketball coach. I wonder how that worked out.

>>9617930

Kshama Sawant

Kshama Sawant (/ʃʌmɑː sɑːˈwʌnt/; born October 17, 1973)[1][2] is an American politician and economist who serves on the Seattle City Council. She is a member of Socialist Alternative. A former software engineer, Sawant became an economics instructor in Seattle after immigrating to the United States from her native India.[3] She ran unsuccessfully for the Washington House of Representatives before winning her seat on the Seattle City Council. She was the first socialist to win a citywide election in Seattle since Anna Louise Strong was elected to the school board in 1916.[4][5]

Before running for office, Sawant received attention as an organizer in the local Occupy movement.[6][16] She praised Occupy for putting "class," "capitalism," and "socialism" into the political debate.[32] After Occupy Seattle protesters were removed from Westlake Park by order of Seattle Mayor Micheal McGinn, Sawant helped bring them to the Capitol Hill campus of Seattle Central Community College, where they remained for two months.[9] She joined with Occupy activists working with local organizations to resist home evictions and foreclosures, and was arrested with several Occupy activists including Dorli Rainey on July 31, 2012 for blocking King County Sheriff's deputies from evicting a man from his home.[53]

The Sawant state campaign criticized the raiding of Occupy Wall Street activists' homes by the Seattle Police Department's SWAT team.[54][55] She also advocated on LGBT, women's, and people of color issues, and opposed cuts to education and other social programs.[56] She gave a teach-in course at an all-night course at Seattle Central Community College.[57]

Sawant has advocated the nationalization of large Washington State corporations such as Boeing, Microsoft, and Amazon[58] and expressed a desire to see privately owned housing in "Millionaire's Row" in the Capitol Hill neighborhood turned into publicly owned shared housing complex saying, "When things are exquisitely beautiful and rare, they shouldn't be privately owned."[59] During an election victory rally for her City Council campaign, Sawant criticized Boeing for saying it would move jobs out of state if it could not get wage concessions and tax breaks. She called this "economic terrorism" and said in several speeches that if the company moved jobs out of state, the workers should take over its facilities and bring them into public ownership. She has said they could be converted into multiple uses, such as production for mass transit.[60][61] Sawant maintains that a socialist economy cannot exist in a single country and must be a global system just as capitalism today is a global system.[62]

Sawant is a member of the Socialist Alternative party, the United States section of the British-based Trotskyist international organization the International Socialist Alternative, formerly the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI).[32][63] Sawant has stated that she does not advocate for any system like the "bureaucratic dictatorship" of the former Soviet Union, but for democratic socialism meaning "the society being run democratically in the interest of all working people on the planet, all children - everybody who has needs, and all that being done in an environmentally sustainable manner."[64]

Sawant said she rejects working with either the Democratic or the Republican party and advocates abandoning the two-party system.[8] She has called for "a movement to break the undemocratic power of big business and build a society that works for working people, not corporate profits—a democratic socialist society."[65]

In 2013, Sawant urged other left-wing groups, including Greens and trade unions, "to use her campaign as a model to inspire a much broader movement."[65]

On February 20, 2019 she published an article in Socialist Alternative backing Bernie Sanders' run for the Democratic nomination.[66] She spoke at a campaign rally for him in Tacoma. [67]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kshama_Sawant

>>9617972

Socialist Alternative (United States)

Socialist Alternative (SA) is a Trotskyist political party in the United States. It describes itself as "a national organization fighting in our workplaces, communities, and campuses against the exploitation and injustices people face every day" and "a community of activists fighting against budget cuts in public services; fighting for living wage jobs and militant, democratic unions; and people of all colors speaking out against racism and attacks on immigrants, students organizing against tuition hikes and war, women and men fighting sexism and homophobia".[1]

Socialist Alternative's highest profile public representative is Seattle City Councillor Kshama Sawant, who was elected in November 2013.[2] It is active in over 50 cities in the United States.[1] In September 2013, it began publishing a monthly newspaper called Socialist Alternative[3] along with various local newsletters and media outlets, including a radio show in the Boston area. It is a member of International Socialist Alternative, an international organization of Trotskyist parties.

Seattle City Council

In 2013, Seattle Central Community College and Seattle University part-time economics professor Kshama Sawant was elected to the Seattle City Council from Position 2 as a candidate for Socialist Alternative. She had previously won 35% of the vote in the August primary election and advanced into the general election against incumbent Richard Conlin.[34] On November 15, 2013, Conlin conceded to Sawant after late returns showed him down by 1,640 votes or approximately 1% of the vote.[35][36] This made Sawant the first socialist to win a citywide election in Seattle since the communist supporter Anna Louise Strong was elected to the School Board in 1916.[37]

Sawant had previously run for election as the Socialist Alternative candidate in the 43rd district of the Washington House of Representatives against incumbent Democrat Frank Chopp in 2012.[38][39] Sawant advanced past the primaries for Position 2 while also advancing in Position 1 where she was on the ballot challenging Jamie Pedersen. The Sawant campaign won a subsequent court battle against the Secretary of State for the right to list her party preference on the ballot in the elections. Sawant was endorsed by the Local 587 of the Amalgamated Transit Union[40] and the alternative newspaper The Stranger.[41] She received over 20,000 votes, or 28.62%.[42]

Sawant's platform included a minimum wage increase to $15/hour, rent control and taxes on higher-income individuals.[34]

Washington State House

In 2014, Socialist Alternative chose Jess Spear, an Organizing Director for one of their campaigns, to run for Washington State Representative against Speaker of the House Frank Chopp. Spear's platform included rent control, increasing education funding through increasing taxes on the wealthy and stopping the use of all fossil fuels in Washington. During her campaign, Spear led several protests against oil and coal trains moving through Seattle and was arrested after trespassing at one of the protests.[43] Spear garnered 17.7% of the vote or roughly 8,600 votes in the 2014 general election.[44]

Boston City Council

In 2007, Matt Geary ran for Boston City Council as the Socialist Alternative candidate and received 3,025 votes (2.41%) in a plurality-at-large election in which each voter could vote for up to four candidates.[45]

In 2013, Socialist Alternative ran Registered Nurse and union activist Seamus Whelan for City Council. In an unusually crowded municipal election including 19 candidates for City Councilor and 10 for Mayor, Whelan was eliminated in the preliminary election with over 3,000 votes.[46] Whelan's main support was from working class areas in West Roxbury and Dorchester.

Minneapolis City Council

In 2013, Ty Moore ran for Minneapolis City Council as the Socialist Alternative Candidate. He received support from SEIU MN State Council, Occupy Homes, the Green Party of Minneapolis, some immigrant rights organizers and some neighborhood leaders. Moore received 42% of the final vote and lost by a margin of 229 votes.[47]

In early 2017, Ginger Jentzen launched a campaign for City Council in Ward 3 as a Socialist Alternative candidate.[48] Jentzen won the first round with 3,290 votes before eventually finishing as runner-up once second (3,598) and third (3,844) place votes for eventual winner Steve Fletcher were tabulated under Minneapolis's ranked choice voting system.[49][50]

Labor unions

Socialist Alternative has also fielded candidates for labor union leadership positions. In 2017, Socialist Alternative member Ryan Timlin was named President-elect of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 in Minneapolis after running unopposed.[51]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Alternative_(United_States)

>>9617972

Seattle city council

http://www.seattle.gov/council/

>>9618028

Alex Pedersen (politician)

Alex Pedersen is an American politician who serves on the Seattle City Council representing District 4. He was previously an aide to city councilmember Tim Burgess and a private-sector housing finance analyst.

Pedersen was raised in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a masters degree in government administration.[1][2] He joined the Presidential Management Fellows Program during the Clinton administration and worked on homelessness and community development programs for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under Secretary Andrew Cuomo.[3][4] Pedersen was an aide to the Oakland City Council and a housing finance analyst for Bank of America and Alliant Capital before joining Seattle politics.[1]

From 2012 to 2014, Pedersen was a legislative aide to Seattle City Council President Tim Burgess, who later ran for mayor.[3] He also wrote a neighborhood newsletter focusing on Northeast Seattle affairs called "4 to Explore" that was later shut down. Pedersen left his position in Burgess's office to join real estate firm CBRE as an affordable housing financial analyst.[1][5]

Pedersen identifies as a progressive Democrat, although he has also been described as a "pro-business moderate." [6][7]

After declining to run for the newly-created District 4 in the 2015 election,[5] Pedersen announced his candidacy in November 2018.[8] District 4 was named the key swing district in the city council race after the resignation of incumbent Rob Johnson, with Pedersen characterized as a conservative candidate among the primary field.[9] He opposed the Move Seattle and Sound Transit 3 transportation referendums as well as the construction of bicycle lanes on 35th Avenue Northeast in District 4.[1]

Pedersen won 40 percent of the vote in the primary and advanced to the general election alongside Shaun Scott, a Democratic Socialist writer and organizer.[1] The two candidates took opposing sides in issues presented as debates, with Pedersen favoring the removal of homeless camps and reconsideration of the city's plans for neighborhood upzoning.[1][10] His campaign received financial support from the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce's political action committee and an endorsement from The Seattle Times.[11]

Pedersen won the election with 52 percent of the vote and was sworn in on November 26, 2019, replacing interim city councilmember Abel Pacheco Jr.[10] His victory was credited to strong support in wealthier neighborhoods at the east edge of the district, while Scott earned more votes in the University District and Roosevelt.[12] Pedersen was assigned as the chair of the council's Transportation and Utilities Commission, which brought criticism from transportation advocacy groups based on his comments on previous referendums.[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Pedersen_(politician)

>>9618028

Lisa Herbold

Lisa Herbold is an American politician. She serves on the Seattle City Council representing the 1st district, which covers part of West Seattle.[2] She was elected in 2015 after narrowly defeating Shannon Braddock, and was sworn into office on January 4, 2016.[3][4][5] She was reelected to city council November 2019.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Herbold

>>9618028

Lorena Gonzalez

Lorena Sofia Gonzalez Fletcher[3] (born September 16, 1971) is an American politician currently serving in the California State Assembly. A Democrat, she represents the 80th Assembly District, which encompasses southern San Diego. She was first elected to the Assembly in a 2013 special election to succeed Ben Hueso, who was elected to the State Senate in a special election.

Gonzalez successfully sponsored and passed multiple pieces of legislation in California aimed at increasing healthcare access and putting more protections in place for workers. In 2016, she helped raise the minimum wage in California, which will now increase by $1 each year until full implementation at $15 per hour in 2020. She introduced Assembly Bill 5, which passed in September 2019 and required many workers to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors, giving workers more protections under labor and minimum wage laws.[4][5] However she has come under heavy criticism from multiple unintended casualties of the freelance industry for whom the broad and vague legislation has caused massive losses of income and opportunity. Most notably from freelance writers, for whom the AB5 language on the number of submissions allowable to one company (35 per year) are by Gonzalez's own admission completely arbitrary and by writers testimony a very low number.[6]

In 2015, The Atlantic called her as "the California Democrat setting the national agenda."[7] In December 2016, POLITICO Magazine named her one of its Top 50 "thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics."[8]

Gonzalez is the daughter of an immigrant farmworker and her mother was a nurse.[citation needed] She attended public schools in San Diego County before earning a bachelor's degree from Stanford University, a master's degree from Georgetown University, and a Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law.

Gonzalez served as Senior Adviser to former California Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, as well as appointee to the California State Lands Commission and alternate on the California Coastal Commission. A community organizer and activist, Gonzalez was elected in 2008 as CEO and Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO. She is the first woman and person of color to be elected to head the Labor Council since the organization was founded in 1891.[citation needed]

On January 1, 2017, she married former assemblyman Nathan Fletcher; the two had been dating since 2015.[9] As of 2014, Gonzalez lived in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego with her husband and the couple's five children.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorena_Gonzalez

>>9618028

Debora Juarez

Debora Juarez is a politician on the Seattle City Council. She was elected in 2015 to represent the 5th district. A member of the Blackfeet Nation, she was the first Native American person elected to the council.[1]

Juarez is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation. She grew up on the Puyallup Reservation in Tacoma, Washington with her five siblings. Her mother was Native American and her father was a first-generation Mexican-American.[2]

Juarez was the first member of her family to attend college. She earned an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University and then a JD from Seattle University School of Law.[3]

Juarez began working as a public defender while attending law school at night. She spent five years as a public defender and then worked an attorney for the Native American Project. She served two years as a King County Superior Court and City of Seattle Municipal Court pro-tem judge, and was the executive director of the Governor's Office of Indian Affairs under Mike Lowry and Gary Locke .[3][2]

In 2015, Juarez was elected to the Seattle City Council's District 5 position, which represents the north end of Seattle.[4][5] She was sworn in by her two daughters and a niece on Monday January 4, 2016.[1][6] Near the end of her first year in office, Crosscut.com described Juarez as a "wildcard councilmember" for her voting record and manner of "speaking more bluntly than most politicians would".[7] Juarez was reelected to City Council District 5 in 2019, winning with 60.59% of the vote.[8]

As a councilmember, Juarez is well-known for focusing on her district and advocating for major capital projects, including the Northgate Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge over I-5 and a controversial police station in her district.[9][10][7] After members of the council were criticized for a 2016 vote against a street vacation necessary for a new arena to be built in the SoDo area, Juarez took a lead in the redevelopment of the Seattle Center Arena and was appointed chair of the Select Committee on Civic Arenas.[11][12][13] In September 2018, the council unanimously approved a renovation of the arena with plans to attract a NHL team to the city.[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debora_Juarez

Note: Gary Locke was an ambassador to China.

>>9618087

Gary Locke

Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 10th United States ambassador to China (2011–14). He was previously the 21st governor of Washington (1997–2005) and served in the Obama administration as United States Secretary of Commerce (2009–11). Locke is the first governor in the continental United States of East Asian descent and the only Chinese American ever to have served as a governor of any state. He was also the first Chinese American to serve as the U.S. ambassador to China.[2]

Gary Locke was born on January 21, 1950, in Seattle, and spent his early years living in the Yesler Terrace public housing project. A third-generation Chinese American with paternal ancestry from Jilong village,[3] Taishan, Guangdong, China, Locke is the second of five children of James Locke, who served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Fifth Armored Division during World War II. His wife, Julie, is from Hong Kong,[4] which at that time was a British Crown Colony. His paternal grandfather left China in the 1890s and moved to the United States, where he worked as a houseboy in Olympia, Washington, in exchange for English lessons.[5] Locke did not learn to speak English until he was five years old and entered kindergarten.[6]

Locke graduated with honors from Seattle's Franklin High School in 1968. He achieved Eagle Scout rank and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.[6][7] Through a combination of part-time jobs, financial aid, and scholarships, Locke attended Yale University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1972.[8] He received his Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law in 1975.

In 1996, Locke won the Democratic primary and general election for governor of Washington, becoming the first Chinese American governor in United States history. His political committee was fined $2,500 by regulators in 1997 after admitting to state campaign finance law violations.[9]

Locke faced criticism from fellow Democrats for embracing the Republican Party's "no-new-taxes" approach to Washington's budget woes during and after the 2001 economic turmoil. Among his spending-reduction proposals were laying off thousands of state employees; reducing health coverage; freezing most state employees' pay; and cutting funding for nursing homes and programs for the developmentally disabled. In his final budget, Locke suspended two voter-passed school initiatives and cut state education funding. Supported by the state's political left, former Washington Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge announced his plans to challenge Locke in the 2004 Democratic primary, but Talmadge ended his campaign early for health reasons; Locke won reelection in 2000.

On the national stage, Democrats saw Locke as a possible vice-presidential choice. In 1997, he was a guest at the State of the Union address.[10]

Locke was chosen to give his party's response to George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address.[11] In a surprise move, Locke announced in July 2003 that he would not seek a third term,[12] saying, "Despite my deep love of our state, I want to devote more time to my family."[12] Susan Paynter, a columnist at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, suggested that racist slurs, insults, and threats that Locke and his family received, especially after his rebuttal to Bush's State of the Union address, may have played a role in Locke's decision to leave office after two terms.[13] The governor's office received hundreds of threatening letters and emails; others threatened to kill his children.[13] His official portrait, painted by Michele Rushworth, was unveiled in the state capitol by Governor Christine Gregoire on January 4, 2006.

>>9618099

After leaving office, Locke joined the Seattle office of international law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, in their China and governmental-relations practice groups. During the leadup to the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Locke signed was Washington co-chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign.[14]

On December 4, 2008, the Associated Press reported that Locke was a potential candidate for Secretary of the Interior in then-President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet. Eventually, then-Colorado Senator Ken Salazar was nominated for that position instead.

On February 25, 2009, Locke was announced as Obama's choice for Secretary of Commerce,[9] and his nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on March 24.[15] Locke was sworn in March 26 by District Judge Richard A. Jones,[16] and by Obama on May 1. Locke was the first Chinese American Secretary of Commerce, and one of three Asian Americans in Obama's cabinet, joining Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. Politico reported Locke was a popular cabinet member among both businesses and the executive branch.[17] A declaration of assets made in March 2011 showed Locke to be the sixth-richest official in the U.S. executive branch.[18]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Locke

>>9618028

Andrew J. Lewis

Andrew J. Lewis is an American politician who serves on the Seattle City Council representing District 7. He was an assistant city attorney prior to his election and also worked on political campaigns.

Lewis was raised in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood to a family of local political organizers; his father worked for Seattle City Light and his mother was a nurse at Harborview Medical Center.[2] His activities in politics began in high school by attending marches and volunteering for political campaigns, including stints on the Seattle Youth Council and the board of the Washington State Young Democrats.[3]

Lewis attended the University of Washington, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in history and political science, and interned with the Seattle City Council. He was the campaign director for Nick Licata in his successful 2009 reelection campaign.[1] Lewis graduated from the London School of Economics with a masters degree and University of California, Berkeley, with a law degree, having also served as a teaching assistant for former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who later endorsed him.[2][1]

Upon his return to Seattle, Lewis was appointed to serve on the Seattle Human Rights Commission and the Rental Housing Inspection Stakeholder Committee.[2][4] He also worked as a deputy prosecutor for the King County Juvenile Division until he left to work as an assistant city attorney for Seattle.[1]

Lewis announced his campaign for the District 7 council seat in November 2018, shortly after incumbent Sally Bagshaw announced she would not run.[5] He campaigned on expanding housing affordability in the city and received support from progressive groups and local labor unions.[1] Lewis finished first among the field in the primary election, with 32 percent of the vote, and advanced to the general election alongside former Seattle Police Department chief Jim Pugel.[1] His campaign received financial support from a local hotel workers union's political action committee, while Pugel received support from Amazon and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.[6][7]

Lewis won in the general election with 53 percent of the vote after initial returns showed him narrowly trailing Pugel.[8][9] He became the youngest city councilmember in Seattle history, entering office at the age of 29.[10] Lewis was sworn in on December 31, 2019, at the community P-Patch atop the Mercer Garage at the Seattle Center, which he announced would not close.[11][12] He took office in January 2020 and is set to serve on a regional homelessness governing board alongside at-large councilmember Lorena González.[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_J.Lewis(politician)

>>9618028

Tammy J. Morales

Tammy J. Morales is an American politician and community organizer from Seattle, Washington. She was elected to represent District 2 on the Seattle City Council in November 2019.

In the 2015 general election, Morales came within 344 votes[1] of District 2 Seattle City Council member Bruce Harrell, a two-term incumbent, former mayoral candidate, and Seattle lawyer. Harrell did not run for re-election in 2019.[2]

In January 2019, Morales declared her candidacy for Seattle City Council District 2 and received an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Seattle, who co-chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus.[3]

Morales, along with incumbents Lisa Herbold and Kshama Sawant, received national attention[4][5] when Amazon donated $1.45 million to support opposing candidates via the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce's political action committee, the Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE).[6] In her campaign, Morales supported a head tax for Seattle corporations[7], legislation opposed by Amazon and that in 2018 Seattle City Council approved then quickly rescinded.[8] In an email to supporters, Mayor Jenny Durkan called Morales a "socialist" — Morales's political affiliation is Democrat — and endorsed District 2 candidate Mark Solomon.[9]

Morales completed a two-year term as a Human Rights Commissioner for the City of Seattle in July 2019[10] and also served on the board of the Rainier Beach Action Coalition.[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Morales

>>9618028

Teresa Mosqueda

Teresa Mosqueda is an American politician and labor activist from Seattle, Washington. She was elected to the Seattle City Council in 2017 to represent the at-large position 8.[2]

In November 2013, she was the only member of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange who voted against increasing the salary of the health exchange's CEO by 13%.[3]

She is of Mexican descent and grew up in a politically active household.[1][4][5]

Teresa lived in an apartment in the Queen Anne neighborhood until buying a townhouse in early 2019.[6][7][8] Teresa's husband, Manuel Valdes, is an Associated Press journalist.[7] In April 2019 it was announced Teresa was believed to be the first sitting Seattle city councilmember to be pregnant; expecting a daughter in October 2019.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Mosqueda

>>9618028

Dan Strauss

Dan Strauss is an American politician who serves on the Seattle City Council from District 6. A native of Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, he previously worked as an aide to local politicians, including Seattle councilmember Sally Bagshaw.

Strauss was born in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle to a Jewish family of social workers and graduated from Nathan Hale High School.[2][3] He participated in the Northwest Youth Corps and local search and rescue groups in high school and the National Civilian Community Corps in college.[4] Strauss graduated with a degree in political science from Whittier College, where he was elected student body president, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Oregon in 2012.[4][1] As a graduate student, he also worked as a policy intern for Oregon state representative Nancy Nathanson.[5]

After graduating from college, Strauss returned to Seattle and worked as an aide to several local politicians. He was part of the campaign team for Snohomish County councilman Dave Somers during his 2013 reelection. He then worked as a legislative assistant for State Senator David Frockt.[1] Strauss worked for the Alliance for Gun Responsibility during their successful campaign on Initiative 1491, which expanded gun safety protections.[4] From 2017 to 2019, he served as a legislative assistant to Seattle councilmember Sally Bagshaw.[1]

Strauss announced his candidacy for the District 6 seat in February 2019, shortly before incumbent councilmember Mike O'Brien announced that he would not seek re-election.[6] He finished first out of 13 candidates in the primary election, with 34 percent of the vote, and advanced to the general election alongside former city councilmember Heidi Wills.[3] Strauss was endorsed by the King County Labor Council and The Stranger, while Wills earned the support of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Amazon.[3][7] He won 55.65 percent of the vote and was sworn in on December 22, 2019, at a ceremony at the Ballard Centennial Bell Tower.[8][9]

Strauss is the chair of the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Strauss

>>9618165

Chuck makes some interesting comments up to about the 11 min mark. The whole thing is interesting but if I remember right, he mentions two countries in here somewhere. China and Iran.

>>9618308

It's sort of nested. First ones are about mayor, the rest are about the city council.