Welcome to The Newsfeed.

I'm Paris Jackson.

We're taking a closer look at the November 4th general election in Washington as a more progressive wave moved through portions of the state.

Progressives won outright for the Seattle City Council and Seattle City Attorney.

And most notably, progressive challenger Katie Wilson defeated incumbent Bruce Harrell to become Seattle's next mayor.

Across the state, Democrats also won all nine races for the open seats in the state legislature.

Political strategist Crystal Fincher joins us to break down the results.

We saw a progressive sweep in Seattle in the city council and city attorney races while the mayoral race is close.

What do you think this tells us about voters?

-I think the difference there is due to how the coalitions that they put together.

Bruce had the support of labor.

Bruce had endorsements from people like Teresa Mosqueda and Pramila Jayapal, who were known for being solid progressives.

And there was a lot of spending in that mayoral race, both from the campaigns directly, but especially from the PACs aligned with the candidates.

We saw a very well-funded PAC in support of Bruce Harrell attacking Katie Wilson quite a bit, to a degree that we didn't see with the other citywide candidates.

And so I think that also explains why there was such a difference in the margins in those races.

-Down in Tacoma, voters now had a choice of a new mayor since 2018.

The victor was Anders Ibsen over city council member John Hines.

What do you think voters wanted differently down in Tacoma?

-You know, I think what we saw in this election and in some prior ones in Tacoma is that voters want a big and bold vision.

Affordability concerns are really prevalent in Tacoma also.

And they wanted, a leader who was saying, yeah, I want to add more housing units.

I want to get more people housed.

I want to bring down the cost of living.

And I think he also signaled that he was going to be a more inclusive mayor.

Tacoma is a very diverse place.

Diversity is one of their strengths.

They have a very vibrant community.

And I think more people were able to see themselves in his vision that he articulated for the city.

And felt comfortable that he was going to stand up and fight.

Given some of the challenges that mayors are seeing from the federal administration.

-What are these progressive races signaling to Republicans, and how should they proceed toward the midterm?

-I think that voters are just flatly rejecting what Republicans are putting forward.

We're seeing that in areas that had traditionally been fairly purple, swing districts.

Things like being anti-choice.

The attacks that we saw against immigrants and trans people in the community, not governing for all of the constituents in your jurisdiction, is something that voters are just no longer in the mood to hear or see.

So I think they really have some soul searching to do and need to figure out how they can govern for everybody, and not just a select few.

-Any advice for Katie Wilson as she takes office?

-You know, she's got to get into a little bit of a different mindset.

And a lot of mayors have to do this.

You're no longer an activist.

She'd been a very effective advocate.

And someone who had passed legislation kind of from the outside.

But now you are the city and you're everybody's mayor.

But she needs to make sure that she's accounting for everybody's situations and circumstances and doing the best that she can by everyone.

So just continue to talk to as many people as you can.

Keep those ears open.

-I'm Paris Jackson.

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