The backing of a deep-pocketed political action committee may not mean everything in a local election, but Tuesday’s primary made one thing clear: It certainly doesn’t hurt, especially for those representing Seattle’s more moderate wing of politics.
The top six recipients of funding from limit-free independent expenditure committees all advanced to the general election for a seat on the Seattle City Council. At the same time, candidates who saw PAC spending in opposition to their campaigns underperformed expectations.
There are a large number of factors that go into determining the success or failure of a campaign, and teasing out the exact role money played in any given candidate’s vote total is impossible. But those writing the checks clearly think their money is worth the investment.
“We were very pleased with the results last night,” said former Councilmember Tim Burgess, who since his 2017 retirement has taken the lead on a new PAC called People for Seattle. “All of the People for Seattle-endorsed candidates advanced. And candidates that we did not want to advance did not and actually performed very poorly.”
Burgess added, “Our fundraising success allowed us to communicate our message to voters through the various media channels that we chose to use. Clearly that helped.”
The business-backed candidates — and therefore those generally deemed more “moderate” by Seattle standards — benefited the most from PAC spending, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission. Egan Orion advanced to the general election with the support of $142,000 spent on his behalf, mostly from two committees — the Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE) and Burgess’ People for Seattle.
At the same time, his two main opponents — Councilmember Kshama Sawant and Zachary DeWolf — each had over $12,000 in PAC money spent against them. Sawant took first place in the race Tuesday night, but with 33 percent of the vote, well short of 50 percent — a warning sign for a two-term incumbent. Meanwhile, DeWolf — a member of the Seattle School Board and well-recognized community member — saw his campaign flop, finishing well behind both Sawant and Orion.
Districts 1 and 2 — in southwest and southeast Seattle — were both inundated with independent expenditures. The beneficiaries — Philip Tavel and Mark Solomon — each had well over $100,000 spent on their behalf from three separate PACs and both advanced to the November election.
Solomon, who finished second in the primary behind Tammy Morales, expressed some reticence at the independent expenditures while invoking the U.S. Supreme Court decision that made them possible. “This is the reality of Citizens United,” Solomon, a crime prevention coordinator with the Seattle Police Department, told Crosscut on election night. “Big money is going to get in one way or another.”