People over Politics Candidate Forum Recap
On October 13th, 2025, Byrd Barr Place welcomed the community for an evening of constructive dialogue and powerful conversations with Seattle and King County electoral candidates.
Moderated by Paula Sardinas, CEO of FMS Global Strategies, and Jacob Feleke, a community advocate, candidates for Mayor, King County Executive, City Council, and City Attorney sat down with voters for an opportunity to answer questions raised by the public and speak. Voters had an opportunity to learn about top-line issues such as:
Housing & Homelessness
Public Safety & Accountability
Climate & Resilience
Democracy & Civic Integrity
Equitable Human Services
Here’s a quick recap on where all the candidates stood on these issues:
Seattle City Council, Position 9: Sara Nelson and Dionne Foster
Serving on Seattle City Council since 2022, Sara Nelson is committed to finishing what she started during her first term, which is prioritizing public safety, investing in affordable housing, and protecting our city against the Trump administration. During the forum, Sara emphasized the importance of public safety for community health, citing that the only way to increase community safety is by investing in structures that support growth. This looks like listening to community groups, managing the fentanyl crisis, and tackling issues like gentrification.
Sara Nelson is also passionate about helping small businesses thrive. Some of Sara’s achievements include creating the Storefront Repair Fund, in which small business owners can apply for grants up to $2,000 to repair current property damage or receive reimbursement for costs paid out of pocket for past damages. She wants to continue to build upon this work, and help Seattle business owners take charge.
Dionne Foster is a South Seattle resident who comes to this role with a combination of lived experience and professional qualifications. As a mother who lived on food stamps and went to graduate school whilst raising a young child, she is no stranger to the struggles many face while trying to make ends meet. Her campaign is focused on equity and inclusion across all spaces, and her experience highlights this—from helping start Seattle’s Equity and Environment Initiative, to being an Executive director for the Washington Progress Alliance, where she helped invest and advocate for elected officials of color in places across Washington that were lacking representation.
Dionne also emphasized key issues she will address in the city council. She plans on voting on the Seattle Shield Initiative, which would lower the tax burden for small and medium-sized businesses. She wants to expand the Family and Education Preschool Promise levy to include investments in apprenticeships and trades, and she wants to invest in infrastructure, so that the city can have stronger light rail connections, and more road safety.
King County Executive Candidates: Girmay Zahilay and Claudia Balducci
Girmay Zahilay is a long-time Seattle resident whose childhood was shaped by moving to an underserved city. Now, he is passionate about advocating for underserved communities, and has spent his career advocating for investments in Skyway, his childhood home. During his first year on the city’s council, he and his team acquired $38 million for affordable housing, construction of a resource and community center, new sidewalks, and the launch of the first participatory budgeting program, where community members could direct where dollars were spent in their neighborhoods.
Girmay plans to put the same level of passion and community into the King County Executive role. He plans to tackle the affordability crisis by increasing the housing supply, making sure key services are available for communities, and creating jobs for economic growth. As a father, he also wants to make childcare more affordable by dedicating more capital dollars to childcare, investing in kinship care support programs, and reducing professional barriers that prevent parents from building wealth for their families. Girmay knows that there’s lots of work to do, but he’s certain that collaboration and relationship building are key to tackling these important challenges.
Claudia Balducci is a lifelong public servant who has served as Bellevue Mayor and Councilmember, King County Councilmember, and a regional leader for two decades. As King County executive, Claudia would like to focus on housing affordability, improving the transit system, and creating safe and healthy communities for everyone.
Claudia plans on finishing the light rail system and creating last mile service lines that can connect communities to the main train line. She plans on pushing King County’s agencies—from the regional council, to sound transit, to the county—to keep housing affordability at the top of mind when they conduct their work. She also wants to address the pollution problem affecting water sources like the Duwamishh river by partnering with different states to effectively lobby the government to pass infrastructure laws focused on water quality.
Seattle Mayoral Candidates: Katie Wilson and Bruce Harrell
Katie has been an organizational leader and community advocate in Seattle for well over a decade. As a Seattle renter and mother of a young toddler, Katie is impacted firsthand by many of the issues plaguing Seattle voters today, and has been committed to solving them. She has led campaigns that have raised the minimum wage in cities like Tukwila, played an instrumental role in designing and passing the Jumpstart Seattle Payroll Expense tax on large corporations, and has been in community with organizations around the state making change.
Katie is passionate about working and partnering with community organizations who are often sidelined in conversations. In housing affordability, this shows up as pushing for a property reduction tax that would help sustain home ownership. She is also interested in working with the new Seattle Social Housing Developer to create mixed-income, permanently affordable, and publicly developed housing in the city. Katie also understands the importance of protecting marginalized communities from federal overreach and extremism. She is currently working on creating programs like rapid response networks for immigrants, so that people can feel safe and not have to attend hearings alone.
As Seattle’s serving mayor, Bruce Harrell is excited for the opportunity to build on the framework and results he has established over the years. Through his mayoral terms, he has invested over a billion dollars into affordable housing, and plans on investing $350 million more in the next year. He has invested over $50 million in addressing food insecurity, and he has been committed to centering the voices of underrepresented communities.
As mayor, he has also worked to strengthen accountability in the justice system, such as terminating the consent decree to reduce the cases of unreasonable force during police stops. When asked about surveillance concerns, Bruce believes that RRTVs can be used responsibly, identify criminal offenders, and keep community members safe. Bruce is eager to continue his work, and believes that he has the experience to solve the city’s biggest problems.
Seattle City Attorney: Ann Davison and Erika Evans
While Ann Davison was not able to attend the forum, her statement reflected her commitment to public safety, combatting federal overreach, and accountability in the criminal justice system.
During her term as Seattle City Attorney, Ann has prioritized bringing unprecedented data and transparency through the office’s first public data analytics platform, and has made effective decisions to end policy and practices that hinder accountability in the justice system, such as:
After hours venue regulation to prevent gun violence
Street racing infraction laws
Civil liability for adult prolific graffiti taggers
Criminal prosecution.
Ann is also committed to protecting Seattle from federal overreach, which is why she will create a federal response team in the City Attorney’s Office to monitor Trump’s actions.
Erika Evans is shaped by her grandparents’ civil rights career and public service. As City Prosecutor, she saw firsthand that the law is not about punishment—it’s about justice, and balancing accountability with compassion. Endorsed by Attorney General Nick Brown, Erika plans on working with senators, state leaders, and state representatives to defend and protect Seattle from federal attacks.
Katie also wants to rethink how Seattle addresses crime. She wants to create reimagined community courts, which are housed in communities, and not courtrooms. She believes that these community courts can provide treatment, connections to housing, and medical assistance, rather than aggression. She also plans on establishing an Anti-Hate and Bias Crimes Unit, which will focus on prosecuting misdemeanor bias crimes, supporting victims, and preventing future violence.
Interested in learning more about the candidates? You can watch the livestreamed event on our Youtube channel today.
On October 13th, 2025, Byrd Barr Place welcomed the community for an evening of constructive dialogue and powerful conversations with Seattle and King County electoral candidates.
Moderated by Paula Sardinas, CEO of FMS Global Strategies, and Jacob Feleke, a community advocate, candidates for Mayor, King County Executive, City Council, and City Attorney sat down with voters for an opportunity to answer questions raised by the public and speak. Voters had an opportunity to learn about top-line issues such as:
Housing & Homelessness
Public Safety & Accountability
Climate & Resilience
Democracy & Civic Integrity
Equitable Human Services
Here’s a quick recap on where all the candidates stood on these issues:
Seattle City Council, Position 9: Sara Nelson and Dionne Foster
Serving on Seattle City Council since 2022, Sara Nelson is committed to finishing what she started during her first term, which is prioritizing public safety, investing in affordable housing, and protecting our city against the Trump administration. During the forum, Sara emphasized the importance of public safety for community health, citing that the only way to increase community safety is by investing in structures that support growth. This looks like listening to community groups, managing the fentanyl crisis, and tackling issues like gentrification.
Sara Nelson is also passionate about helping small businesses thrive. Some of Sara’s achievements include creating the Storefront Repair Fund, in which small business owners can apply for grants up to $2,000 to repair current property damage or receive reimbursement for costs paid out of pocket for past damages. She wants to continue to build upon this work, and help Seattle business owners take charge.
Dionne Foster is a South Seattle resident who comes to this role with a combination of lived experience and professional qualifications. As a mother who lived on food stamps and went to graduate school whilst raising a young child, she is no stranger to the struggles many face while trying to make ends meet. Her campaign is focused on equity and inclusion across all spaces, and her experience highlights this—from helping start Seattle’s Equity and Environment Initiative, to being an Executive director for the Washington Progress Alliance, where she helped invest and advocate for elected officials of color in places across Washington that were lacking representation.
Dionne also emphasized key issues she will address in the city council. She plans on voting on the Seattle Shield Initiative, which would lower the tax burden for small and medium-sized businesses. She wants to expand the Family and Education Preschool Promise levy to include investments in apprenticeships and trades, and she wants to invest in infrastructure, so that the city can have stronger light rail connections, and more road safety.
King County Executive Candidates: Girmay Zahilay and Claudia Balducci
Girmay Zahilay is a long-time Seattle resident whose childhood was shaped by moving to an underserved city. Now, he is passionate about advocating for underserved communities, and has spent his career advocating for investments in Skyway, his childhood home. During his first year on the city’s council, he and his team acquired $38 million for affordable housing, construction of a resource and community center, new sidewalks, and the launch of the first participatory budgeting program, where community members could direct where dollars were spent in their neighborhoods.
Girmay plans to put the same level of passion and community into the King County Executive role. He plans to tackle the affordability crisis by increasing the housing supply, making sure key services are available for communities, and creating jobs for economic growth. As a father, he also wants to make childcare more affordable by dedicating more capital dollars to childcare, investing in kinship care support programs, and reducing professional barriers that prevent parents from building wealth for their families. Girmay knows that there’s lots of work to do, but he’s certain that collaboration and relationship building are key to tackling these important challenges.
Claudia Balducci is a lifelong public servant who has served as Bellevue Mayor and Councilmember, King County Councilmember, and a regional leader for two decades. As King County executive, Claudia would like to focus on housing affordability, improving the transit system, and creating safe and healthy communities for everyone.
Claudia plans on finishing the light rail system and creating last mile service lines that can connect communities to the main train line. She plans on pushing King County’s agencies—from the regional council, to sound transit, to the county—to keep housing affordability at the top of mind when they conduct their work. She also wants to address the pollution problem affecting water sources like the Duwamishh river by partnering with different states to effectively lobby the government to pass infrastructure laws focused on water quality.
Seattle Mayoral Candidates: Katie Wilson and Bruce Harrell
Katie has been an organizational leader and community advocate in Seattle for well over a decade. As a Seattle renter and mother of a young toddler, Katie is impacted firsthand by many of the issues plaguing Seattle voters today, and has been committed to solving them. She has led campaigns that have raised the minimum wage in cities like Tukwila, played an instrumental role in designing and passing the Jumpstart Seattle Payroll Expense tax on large corporations, and has been in community with organizations around the state making change.
Katie is passionate about working and partnering with community organizations who are often sidelined in conversations. In housing affordability, this shows up as pushing for a property reduction tax that would help sustain home ownership. She is also interested in working with the new Seattle Social Housing Developer to create mixed-income, permanently affordable, and publicly developed housing in the city. Katie also understands the importance of protecting marginalized communities from federal overreach and extremism. She is currently working on creating programs like rapid response networks for immigrants, so that people can feel safe and not have to attend hearings alone.
As Seattle’s serving mayor, Bruce Harrell is excited for the opportunity to build on the framework and results he has established over the years. Through his mayoral terms, he has invested over a billion dollars into affordable housing, and plans on investing $350 million more in the next year. He has invested over $50 million in addressing food insecurity, and he has been committed to centering the voices of underrepresented communities.
As mayor, he has also worked to strengthen accountability in the justice system, such as terminating the consent decree to reduce the cases of unreasonable force during police stops. When asked about surveillance concerns, Bruce believes that RRTVs can be used responsibly, identify criminal offenders, and keep community members safe. Bruce is eager to continue his work, and believes that he has the experience to solve the city’s biggest problems.
Seattle City Attorney: Ann Davison and Erika Evans
While Ann Davison was not able to attend the forum, her statement reflected her commitment to public safety, combatting federal overreach, and accountability in the criminal justice system.
During her term as Seattle City Attorney, Ann has prioritized bringing unprecedented data and transparency through the office’s first public data analytics platform, and has made effective decisions to end policy and practices that hinder accountability in the justice system, such as:
After hours venue regulation to prevent gun violence
Street racing infraction laws
Civil liability for adult prolific graffiti taggers
Criminal prosecution.
Ann is also committed to protecting Seattle from federal overreach, which is why she will create a federal response team in the City Attorney’s Office to monitor Trump’s actions.
Erika Evans is shaped by her grandparents’ civil rights career and public service. As City Prosecutor, she saw firsthand that the law is not about punishment—it’s about justice, and balancing accountability with compassion. Endorsed by Attorney General Nick Brown, Erika plans on working with senators, state leaders, and state representatives to defend and protect Seattle from federal attacks.
Katie also wants to rethink how Seattle addresses crime. She wants to create reimagined community courts, which are housed in communities, and not courtrooms. She believes that these community courts can provide treatment, connections to housing, and medical assistance, rather than aggression. She also plans on establishing an Anti-Hate and Bias Crimes Unit, which will focus on prosecuting misdemeanor bias crimes, supporting victims, and preventing future violence.
Interested in learning more about the candidates? You can watch the livestreamed event on our Youtube channel today.