Seattle City Council

The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-large positions; all elections are non-partisan. It has the responsibility of approving the city's budget, and passes all legislation related to the city's police, firefighting, parks, libraries, and electricity, water supply, solid waste, and drainage utilities. The mayor of Seattle is not part of the council.

Seattle City Council
City Council
Map of the seven districts effective January 2016
Type
Type	City Council of City of Seattle
Houses	Unicameral
Leadership
President of the Council	Sara Nelson (D)
Structure
Seats	9
Political groups	Democratic (9)
Committees	List Finance, Native Communities, & Tribal Governments Governance, Accountability, & Economic Development Housing & Human Services Land Use Libraries, Education, & Neighborhoods Parks, Public Utilities, & Technology Public Safety Sustainability, City Light, Arts, & Culture Transportation Families, Education, Preschool, & Promise (FEPP) Levy (select) Federal Administration & Policy Changes (select) Comprehensive Plan (select) Budget (select)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post with a Nonpartisan blanket primary
Last election	November 7, 2023
Meeting place
Seattle City Hall 600 Fourth Avenue, Second floor Seattle, Washington 98104
Website
http://www.seattle.gov/council/
Constitution
Charter

Members

Last election: November 2025^[1]

District	Member	Party preference	First elected
1	Rob Saka	Democratic	2023
2	Eddie Lin	Democratic	2025[a]
3	Joy Hollingsworth	Democratic	2023
4	Maritza Rivera	Democratic	2023
5	Debora Juarez	Democratic	2025[b]
6	Dan Strauss	Democratic	2019
7	Robert Kettle	Democratic	2023
8 (at-large)	Alexis Mercedes Rinck	Democratic	2024
9 (at-large)	Sara Nelson	Democratic	2021

Notes

1. Eddie Lin won the special election to fill the remainder of Tammy Morales term after her resignation.^[1]
2. Debora Juarez was appointed to the seat after Cathy Moore resigned, citing health and personal issues.^[2]

Elections

Election of city council members occur on odd-numbered years, with at-large seats staggered from district seats. City council members' terms begin January 1 although public ceremonies are held on the following Monday.^[3] The council positions are officially non-partisan and the ballot gives no party designations.^[4] Party identification is based on candidates' voluntary self-identification. Like other elections in Washington, all candidates run together in the primary with the top two progressing to the general election. Beginning in 2027, Seattle will begin to use ranked-choice voting to determine the top two candidates from the primary who will compete in the general election.^[5]

Candidates may participate in Seattle's unique democracy voucher program, which provides residents with vouchers to give candidates for public campaign funding.

Districts

Results of the 2015 City Council election. Size of circle shows total votes cast in each District or Position. Names and percentages given for top two candidates, and incumbent, in each race.^[6]

Beginning in 2015, the geographic outline of the 7 districts and 2 citywide positions are as follows. Some neighborhoods overlap more than one district, indicated with an asterisk*.^[7] Redistricting occurs every 10 years following the decennial U.S. census, beginning in 2022.^[8]

District	Neighborhoods
1	West Seattle, Delridge, South Park, Harbor Island, Industrial District*
2	Beacon Hill*, Central District*, Downtown*, Rainier Valley*, Georgetown, Columbia City, Seward Park, Chinatown/International District, Industrial District*
3	Beacon Hill*, Capitol Hill*, Cascade*, Central District*, First Hill*, Montlake, Rainier Valley*
4	Bryant, Cascade*, Fremont, Laurelhurst, Maple Leaf*, Ravenna, Roosevelt, Sand Point, University District, View Ridge, Wallingford*, Wedgwood*
5	Bitter Lake, Broadview, Greenwood*, Haller Lake, Lake City, Maple Leaf*, North Beach/Blue Ridge*, Northgate, Roosevelt*, View Ridge, Wedgwood*
6	Ballard, Crown Hill, Fremont*, Green Lake*, Greenwood*, North Beach/Blue Ridge*, Phinney Ridge, Wallingford*
7	Belltown, Capitol Hill*, Cascade*, Downtown*, First Hill*, Interbay, Magnolia, South Lake Union, Queen Anne
8	At-large position, citywide
9	At-large position, citywide

• 
  District 1
• 
  District 2
• 
  District 3
• 
  District 4
• 
  District 5
• 
  District 6
• 
  District 7

History

Seattle was first incorporated as a town by an act of the Territorial Legislature on January 14, 1865. The town charter established a five-member board of trustees to govern Seattle, which appointed citizens to other positions.^[9] The act was repealed January 18, 1867, after most of the town's leading citizens petitioned for its dissolution. Seattle was again incorporated, this time as a City, on December 2, 1869. The new unicameral legislature, known as the Common Council, was elected at-large to one year terms.^[10] At-large election was replaced in 1884 by a system of 14 wards and four members elected at-large, all elected to two-year terms.^[11]

The Home Rule Charter, adopted in 1890, reorganized the city council into a bicameral legislature, with a nine-member Board of Aldermen and a sixteen-member House of Delegates.^[12]

District-based elections

In 2013, Seattle voters approved Charter Amendment 19 calling for the nine citywide Seattle City Council positions to be divided into seven district-elected seats and two citywide, at-large seats.^[13] The elections for the two at-large seats are held as separate contests, thus results are not proportional. Each seat is filled in two-step process - a primary election is held in August, with the two most popular candidates going on to a general election in November.^[14] The partial transition to districts started with 2013 elections for Positions 2, 4, 6, and 8 being truncated, two-year terms.^[15]

The 2015 election cycle featured all nine seats, except the seven district positions were elected to full, four-year terms, and the two at-large positions would be for truncated, two-year terms.^[15][14] The first primary based on the new combined district/at-large system was held on August 4, 2015, with the general elections held on November 3, 2015.^[16]

The seven district seats were up for election again in 2023; the two at-large seats will be up for election again in 2025. Only two of the seven districts retained their incumbent member in the 2023 election.^[17]

Timeline

• 1869–1883 – Seven at-large Council members elected for one-year terms.
• 1884 – Nine Council members elected: three from each of the three wards, elected to two-year terms.
• 1886 – One ward added, Council reduced to eight members: two elected from each ward for two-years terms.
• 1890 – The Home Rule Charter established eight wards and bicameral legislature. A Board of Delegates composed of nine at-large members was elected for four-year terms. House of Delegates had 16 members – Two from each ward, elected for two-year terms.
• 1892 – One ward added to make nine. Both houses to have nine members – all elected from wards.
• 1896 – New Home Rule Charter reestablished unicameral legislature with nine wards. One Council member elected from each ward for two years and four elected at large for four-year terms.
• 1905 – Two wards added to make 11. One Council member from each with four at-large – 15 council members total.
• 1907 – The Charter was amended twice during the year, the first time adding two more wards, increasing the size of Council to 17. Later, another ward was added (to make 14), increasing Council to 18 members.
• 1910 – The Charter was amended to abolish wards, reduce Council to nine at-large positions elected to three-year terms. This took effect in 1911 and remained constant until 1946. The 1910 Charter amendments also made the elections non-partisan. Prior to that candidates for Council (and other City offices) ran on party tickets.
• 1946 – The new Charter created the four-year term.^[18]
• 2013 – City voters pass measure changing councilmember elections to a mostly-district-based scheme.
• 2015 – First councilmember elections held under new combined district/at-large scheme.

Salary

The Council chamber

In 2006, Seattle City Council salaries exceeded $100,000 for the first time. This made Seattle's city council among the highest paid in the United States, behind only Los Angeles and Philadelphia.^[19]

As of 2021, salaries of district councilmembers are authorized to be $65.32 per hour.^[20] Annually, councilmembers make as much as $140,000.^[21]

Council President

The Seattle City Council picks among its peers a Council President to serve a two-year term, beginning January 1 of the year following an election. The Council President serves as the official head of the City's legislative department. In addition, they are tasked with:

• Establishing of committees and appointment of committee chairs and members.
• Presiding over meetings of the full council.
• Assuming the duties and responsibilities of Mayor if the Mayor is absent or incapacitated.

Notable past council members

• Bailey Gatzert, council member 1872–1873 and 1877–1878, in between was elected the city's first (and, as of^[update], the only) Jewish mayor
• Arthur A. Denny, council member 1877–1879, leader of the Seattle pioneers known as the Denny Party
• A. W. Piper, pioneer, baker, socialist member 1877–1879. Eponym of Pipers Creek and Piper Orchard
• Henry Yesler, council member 1884–1885, Seattle pioneer, sawmill-owner, and twice mayor
• Hiram Gill, council member 1898–1902, 1904–1910, then mayor. Famous as an "Open Town" advocate, he later allied with "Closed Town" reformers.
• Reginald H. Thomson, council member 1916–1922. City Engineer and visionary. Championed the Denny Regrade, 1904 Great Northern Tunnel, development of the Cedar River watershed, railroad, electricity and sewage infrastructure improvements and member of team that designed Lake Washington's first floating bridge.^[22][23]
• Bertha Knight Landes, council member 1922–1926, then elected the city's first female mayor
• David Levine, council member 1931–1962
• Mildred Towne Powell (1886–1977), council member 1935–1955 and council president 1940–1941
• Paul J. Alexander, council member 1956–1969, newspaper publisher
• Wing Luke, council member 1962–1965, first Asian American elected official in Washington State
• Jeanette Williams, council member 1969–1989
• Liem Tuai, council member 1969–1973, later a King County Superior Court judge
• Bruce Chapman, council member 1971–1975, Secretary of State of Washington, Director of the United States Census Bureau, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Organizations in Vienna.
• John Miller, council member 1972–1979, later a Republican congressman
• George Benson, council member 1974 to 1994, promoter of the Waterfront Streetcar
• Norm Rice, council member 1978–1989, then elected the city's first African American mayor
• Sherry Harris, council member 1992–1996, the first out, Black, lesbian elected leader in the United States
• Charlie Chong, council member 1996–1997, West Seattle populist
• Peter Steinbrueck, council member 1997–2007, architect
• Jean Godden, council member 2003–2015, newspaper columnist before her time on the council
• Kshama Sawant, council member 2014–2024, economist and professor. The first council member to face a recall election, she narrowly defeated the recall.

Recent councilmembers

Table of city councilmembers (1991–present)^[24]

Elect. year	Pos 1	Pos 2	Pos 3	Pos 4	Pos 5	Pos 6	Pos 7	Pos 8	Pos 9
1991	Sue Donaldson	Jane Noland	Sherry Harris	George Benson	Margaret Pageler	Tom Weeks	Jim Street	Cheryl Chow	Martha Choe
1994				Jan Drago
1995			John E. Manning			Tina Podlodowski
1996		Charlie Chong[note 1]
1997	Richard Conlin	Peter Steinbrueck	Nick Licata				Richard McIver[note 2]
1999						Judy Nicastro		Heidi Wills	Jim Compton
2001
2003					Jean Godden	Tom Rasmussen		David Della
2005
2007		Bruce Harrell		Tim Burgess				Sally J. Clark
2009							Sally Bagshaw		Mike O'Brien
2011
2014	Kshama Sawant
2015								John Okamoto [note 3]
-	Distr 1	Distr 2	Distr 3	Distr 4	Distr 5	Distr 6	Distr 7	Pos 8	Pos 9
2015	Lisa Herbold	Bruce Harrell	Kshama Sawant	Rob Johnson	Debora Juarez	Mike O'Brien	Sally Bagshaw	Tim Burgess	Lorena Gonzalez
								Kirsten Harris-Talley[note 4]
2017				Abel Pacheco Jr.[note 5]				Teresa Mosqueda
2019		Tammy Morales		Alex Pedersen		Dan Strauss	Andrew Lewis
2021									Sara Nelson
2023	Rob Saka		Joy Hollingsworth	Maritza Rivera	Cathy Moore[note 6]		Bob Kettle
2024								Tanya Woo[note 7]
								Alexis Mercedes Rinck[note 8]
2025		Mark Solomon[note 9]
		Eddie Lin[note 10]			Debora Juarez[note 11]

Notes

1. Elected in special election after Tom Weeks resigned to work for Seattle Public Schools.^[25]
2. First appointed to the council in January 1997 when John Manning resigned in December 1996. He would serve in Position 3 until the November election but chose to run for the open Position 8 seat, winning that election.^[26]
3. Appointed to fill vacancy after Sally Clark resigned to work for University of Washington.^[27]
4. Appointed to fill vacancy after Tim Burgess became mayor in September 2017
5. Appointed to fill vacancy following the resignation of Rob Johnson in April 2019.^[28]
6. Resigned on July 7, 2025, citing health and personal issues.^[2]
7. Appointed to fill the vacancy after Teresa Mosqueda resigned after being elected to King County Council.^[29]
8. Elected in a special election to fill the remaining term of Teresa Mosqueda after her resignation.^[30]
9. Appointed to fill the vacancy after Tammy Morales resigned, citing a toxic workplace. Solomon stated he would not run in the 2025 special election to fill the remainder of the term.^[31]
10. Elected in a special election to fill the remaining term of Tammy Morales after her resignation.^[1]
11. Appointed to fill the position after Moore resigned.^[2]