Yesterday was a pretty damn fine day for Seattle-area Democrats in general and progressives in particular… though you never want to see your party blow an opportunity like the opportunity the Dems have blown against DUI-damaged King County Councilmember Jane Hague. So in tribute to the suddenly high-profile KC Council District 6 race — and the missed deadline that has made Richard Pope the Democratic Party standard bearer — I’ll be posting HA’s official primary endorsements and predictions, sometime later this afternoon. (I think you’ll find my predictions pretty dead-on.)
My election night take-away in a nutshell? Bill Sherman has a clear path to defeating Dan Satterberg for King County Prosecutor, the numbers favor Alec Fisken and Gael Tarleton bringing a reformist majority to the Seattle Port Commission, and in passing the two parks levies by comfortable margins, voters once again prove that they like paying for government services that deliver the services they like. Oh… and the 2-to-1 Democratic preference in our pick-a-party primary shows just how marginalized the King County GOP has become.
Republicans tend to turn out heavier than Dems in primaries — particularly low-profile, off-year primaries like this one — so the party-identification split is likely closer to 70-30. “Nonpartisan” local races have served as a wilderness preserve for endangered Eastside Republicans, but look for identifiably progressive candidates to make huge inroads this November.