As of Thursday morning, neither of the closest-watched local elections have yet to be called. Girmay Zahilay leads by a slim majority against Claudia Balduccii for King County Executive, an office that has been occupied by Dow Constantine for nearly 15 years. Incumbent Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell holds a steady lead in front of Katie Wilson.

Elections across the country shifted dramatically to the democrats as New York City elected a Democratic Socialist for mayor, Virginia and New Jersey elected their first female governors, and a redistricting effort in California (Prop 50) passed in an effort to push back against the Trump administration. 

“President Trump was not on the ballot [Tuesday] but Democrats are celebrating their victories as a major rebuke of the President,” A Martínez reported on NPR’s morning edition. Because of the actions of the Trump administration since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, voters are pushing back in more state elections, bringing local elections into the national spotlight. 

Two days after election day, Seattle’s future still remains unclear. While progressives across the nation celebrated, the city had its own nail-biter. Wilson, president of the Transit Riders Union and activist, campaigns on affordability and public safety while referring to Harrell as “out of touch” with voters. 

Harrell did what all long-time politicians did, he called Wilson inexperienced, and not a good candidate for a city of 780 thousand people. 

The initial round of votes tallied Tuesday night showed Harrell at 54% and Wilson at 46%, but as KUOW reported, “On Tuesday, the votes of just about 23% of registered voters in Seattle were counted – likely less than half the total number of ballots.”

As of Wednesday morning, those numbers had yet to budge. The second round of ballots came in as the day progressed, which swayed a few more percentage points Harrell’s way.

Wilson had enthusiastic support in her campaign, from polling ahead against Harrell in the primaries, to her high-energy closing party the night of the election. Several other city races showed a progressive shift in the counting, which could indicate votes that arrive later to favor Wilson. 

At her election night party in Beacon Hill, Wilson said, “If you saw what happened with the primary, we started out a little over 46%, and we ended up at almost 51%.” 

King County Executive general election race is following the same pace, but with a much tighter lead and not much anticipation of a shift. As of Thursday morning, Zahilay leads just ahead at 51% to Balducci’s 49%. 

King5 reports, “Zahilay entered Election Day as the perceived frontrunner, advancing from the August primary with 44% of the vote to Balducci’s 30%, and raising $1.2 million to her $916,000. The race has become the most expensive in Washington this year, surpassing even the Seattle mayoral contest.”

Mail-in ballots arrive in daily batches, so counting will continue into the following days. 

**Mavrie has been serving as editor for the ThunderWord since 2024. She is also the founding president of Highline’s Non-fiction Writers Circle.**