? IT’S HAPPENING. IT IS ELECTION NIGHT.
Finally, we have come to the night of the year that will quiet all those solicitous text messages. It is the night of nights. Election Night. The US Senate is in the balance, and it’s all anyone wants to talk about. What will happen in Michigan? Will a Dan Sullivan win in Alaska? There are other big national questions. Will Californians lick the boots of billionaires or boot them out of the state with a one-time tax? Is Ohio going to choose a governor who is evil or one who is actually good? Why is this night different from all other nights? And which state gun will Idaho choose?
We will have all those answers for you, but not on this blog tonight. No. Tonight is for the locals, the freaks who pay attention to what happens in this Washington and not the bad one over in Delmarva. King County, you’re turning out the vote. King County Elections has turnout pegged at 44.8 percent right now. That number will continue to rise as you procrastinating progressives drop your ballots off into the night. The full turnout total from the 2025 general election in King County was 45.7 percent. Seems like we’re poised to blow those numbers out of the water.
We have some important decisions to pay attention to. Like the ideological balance of Washington’s State Supreme Court? Some of these races have raised over a million dollars between both candidates. It’s these wizards who will decide the fate of the Millionaires Tax—that is, so long as the tax survives the ballot initiative designed to kill it. Seeing as how the Millionaires Tax is the first wave in a long-overdue attempt to rewrite the most unequal tax code in the nation, it’s the local ballot issue progressives ought to keep their eyes on. We’ll be keeping tabs on that and on the other bad initiatives—like the one that would enact the strictest trans sports ban in the country—and the one good one (the Seattle Transit Measure). ‘
Did we mention there are all those candidates vying for election or reelection too? Will newcomer Kelabe Tewolde unseat longtime incumbent Sharon Tomiko Santos? Will Rep. Cindy Ryu defeat the weirdest guy in the Legislature, Sen. Jesse Salomon, to rule over Shoreline? Please, oh, please, will Seattle City Council District 5 elect someone who is not a walking business suit?
The SECB has mixed a bit of LSD into the leftover Nerds Gummy Clusters we binged for dinner, and are ready to ride this wave. We are hoping it is so blue. We will be flitting around to election parties around town tonight. We will force Jamie Pedersen to be our tripsitter. If we see any political consultants around, we will make them hand-feed us grapes. Follow along?
By the way, here are our 2026 General Election endorsements and our accompanying cheat sheet. Ballots are due at 8 p.m.!
RYU ISN’T LOSING HOPE
8:55 p.m.
When the first results came in a little after 8 p.m., a ripple of surprise went through the little crowd here—Ryu and Salomon were essentially tied in King County ballots, and Ryu was narrowly ahead in Snohomish County. She had a 352-vote lead. “Insane,” someone muttered.
Ryu got up to thank her supporters, introducing some VIPs on hand, including the leaders of the Greater Seattle Korean Association—the Korean-American community is an important base of support for Ryu. The candidate also showed her supporters some of her mailers, which she said would “cleanse your eyeballs” if anyone looked at the negative mailers sent out by Salomon-aligned groups. Then she turned around to do a video interview for Korean-language media.
One trend she noted: she was behind when the first ballots dropped on primary night, and wound up winning by 6 points. “Please don’t lose hope,” she told her supporters.
VICTORY SPEECHES AT BLACK & TAN
8:45 p.m.
What a strange night. At around 8:20 p.m., we’re trying to get a drink, and we run into Kelabe Tewolde lurking near the door of Black & Tan, and two things happen. One: It’s announced that Greg Abbott is no longer the governor of Texas. At that exact time, Tewolde learns he claimed 60 percent of the vote, which means he removed Sharon Tomiko Santos, an established local political figure, from power. His victory speech concerned his immigrant background and his long shot. Jaelynn Scott, who claimed 87 percent of the vote, gave a speech that promoted DSA, and, at the end, invited trans people to the stage. This was the night that bullshit was defeated.
KATIE WILSON ASKS “AM I ALLOWED TO SWEAR?”
8:20 p.m.
“I am SO FUCKING EXCITED,” she said. And the room. Oh, the room. It was as if they had never heard the word fuck before. Glorious.
Right now the Seattle Transit Measure is passing with 72.5 percent of the vote. “If history is any guide,” Wilson said—and she knows about this from firsthand experience—“it only gets better from here.” This is the biggest transit measure in Seattle history.
Wilson is feeding off this room. She is telling jokes. It’s a tight five! A victory speech. We are inspired. The bus. She has saved it. This is why we elected her. The crowd started chanting “bus,” “bus,” “bus,” and then Wilson started chanting “bus,” “bus,” “bus.” It is a little embarrassing, but earnestness is IN right now. They switched to a chant of “SDOT,” “SDOT,” “SDOT,” which was not as catchy.
“Seattle is not just a great transit city,” Wilson said. “It is the great transit city.”
RYU IS RELIEVED IT’S OVER
8:09 p.m.
The Cindy Ryu party was at Jersey’s, an old-school Shoreline sports bar next to a casino. Some of the TVs were playing NFL reruns, but the ones in the corner where Ryu’s party was happening were on CNN when we got here. A Ryu staffer was wondering out loud what channel was carrying local election coverage, and they eventually found one. Ryu is a state rep challenging incumbent State Senator Jesse Salomon; both are Democrats, but this has been a contentious, borderline nasty race. Ryu told us that Salomon has shifted to the right after coming in second in their primary, while she’s remained progressive. When she was out knocking on voters’ doors, most were supportive, but a few “cussed me out” and tossed her flyers away, she said. It’s also been a super expensive race, with over a million dollars spent in total on it. Ryu said she’s relieved it’s over, and thought that the overall “blue tsunami” we watched on CNN will provide a boost to her progressive-coded campaign. The vibes were good here, but you know what wasn’t? The food, which is the kind of thing we stopped eating when we stopped drinking.
ROUSING SPEECHES AS WE SETTLE IN FOR THE BALLOT DROP
8:07 p.m.
As the state wrapped up voting, a round of speakers came onstage at the No Hate in WA State rally to rouse the crowd.
“What you all have built with us and made possible has sparked a momentum and a community that cannot and will not be diminished by fascism, scapegoating, or any megamillionaire,” said Libby Watson, No Hate in WA’s campaign manager. “The home of Washington has been ground zero for these millionaire- and billionaire-backed culture wars,” she added. “Even if these horrible, poorly written initiatives pass, it isn’t because we were not galvanized and organized.” OOOOOO RAH, WE’RE FEELING JUICED.
After hearing from Michael Woodward, executive director of Traction; Gabriel Neuman with the Greater Seattle Business Association; and Adrianna Suluai of Utopia, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal took the stage. Her own party just a few blocks away, Rep. Jayapal came on with gusto, speaking with reverence for No Hate in WA State’s campaign and touching on how personal an issue it is for her. She really got the crowd going.
“I know that this is going to be either an incredibly beautiful night or it’s gonna be a night that also has a lot of heartache,” said Jayapal. “Whatever that is, I do want you to know that we have now taken back the House of Representatives—some projections that are saying we will be at over 250 seats as the Democratic majority.”
******AIR HORN******
“I believe we will take back the United States Senate. And now no more will we have hateful, horrible hearings targeting trans people. We will pass our trans Bill of Rights.”
*******AIR HORN*******
“And we will change the Conversation – I want you to know that some of the most hateful people are GONE!”
********AIR HORN******
Pardon us while we lib out!!
THE FIRST WAVE OF RESULTS IS IN
8:12 p.m.
See all the results here. More soon.
GIRMAY WAS HERE BUT WAIT NOW KATIE WILSON IS HERE
8:04 p.m.
Look out, Dow, the new King County Executive is in the building. Zahilay showed up and really turned up the energy. He pulled every King County Metro employee in the room on stage. The crowd went wild. “This has been the most incredible year in the history of transit for our region,” Zahilay said. “The 2 line!” The crowd cheered. “Sound Transit opened six new stations.” The crowd cheered again. “Tap to pay for the first time.” The crowd went absolutely buckwild. If the Seattle Transit Measure passes, that will add to the transit wins. Zahilay pulled everyone in the room up on stage for a group photo. We did not participate.
After that absolute blood rush of a party-wide group photo, Mayor Katie Wilson is here. The highs do not stop! OH, Erika Evans is here too!
Wilson says she’s hopeful and excited. Cheers erupted for the James Talarico results and they were (somehow) louder than the tap-to-pay cheers.
“Do you feel like you are at your max power when you are in a room of Seattle transportation enthusiasts?” we asked Wilson.
“This is a good night all around,” she said. “As someone who spent many years as a transit organizer before becoming mayor, it is quite something to be in this room waiting for the results of a big, bold Seattle transit measure I helped make.” Also, it isn’t important, but she smelled really good.
THE BALLOT BOXES HAVE CLOSED
8 p.m.
TURNS OUT THE YOUTH ARE ANSWERING THEIR PHONES
7:55 p.m.
Over at 43rd LD State Senate candidate Hannah Sabio-Howell’s party at Outer Planet Brewing, the vibe is decidedly cozy. Bisexual bartenders are serving microbrews, the bathroom code hates cops, a D&D session is wrapping up, and Steve Kornacki is on the big screen. Nature is healing in the Socialist Republic of Capitol Hill.
Sabio-Howell herself is sipping on a hoppy seltzer (apparently Washington grows more than a quarter of the world’s hop supplies, we learned). Despite Howell’s long odds—she lost to SECB-endorsed incumbent Jamie Pedersen by 43 points—attendees were buoyed by the news that Democrats were projected to flip the House and Senate.
We ran into Washington Bus communications manager Bailey Medilo, who just left a phone banking session where volunteers called 20,000 young voters, and learned the most shocking fact: Gen Z is actually picking up the phone. Sure, a lot of them are using ChatGPT to fill out their ballots, which Medilo said “made me wanna die,” but at least they are figuring it out. Kinda. As of 7 p.m., only 27 percent of Seattle voters aged 18 to 24 turned in their ballots.
THE MAYOR IS AT MOJITO NOT DRINKING A MOJITO
7:50 p.m.
We were half a mojito in at Mojito and very happy when we saw Katie Wilson in a yellow sport jacket. She was smiling, but we knew she was not happy because she had no mojito nor plans to acquire one.
Like Midas at the feast, Wilson walked by the mango habanero chicken wings, the cornmeal-shelled Colombian, the coconut deep-fried shrimp, and a mojito bar. She said she didn’t have time (though she heard the food is great here), and planned to save her appetite for a transit party.
She said she’s got an eye on the transit ballot measure. “I’m excited to see the results,” she told us, adding “the bigger margin, the better.”
Some of us live in Ballard, and will never see transportation. We came here for the grub.
Mojito owner Luam Wersom delicately crushed this mint in this glass, while explaining to us how he takes pride and joy in feeding the homeless but is not running for office, and we believed him, because that’s how alcohol works.
It’s packed here, but no sign of incumbent Gerry Pollet. According to his campaign manager Eileen Pollet he is on his way from teaching a class. She’s his daughter. What’s it like to manage your dad instead of another candidate?
“I can yell at him,” she told us.
WHERE’S PRAMILA??
7:43 p.m.
A chill vibe prevailed at WA Dems’s election party at Stoup Brewing for Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who was expected to wipe the floor with Republican rival Nirav Sheth. This was just a laid-back watch party for the other races, with a house-sized screen showing MS NOW’s results.
If Jayapal were there, she wasn’t making herself known. Rumors swirled that US Rep. Emily Randall would show up, but at press time, she was undetectable.
Seattle freeze aside, we asked someone sitting at an otherwise empty table if we could share it because it was near an outlet, and they said, “Of course! I wouldn’t mind if you lay down on the table and take a nap!” Bet.
Applause rang out around 5:55 p.m. as Jamie Ager was the projected winner for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District. Our tablemate issued a shy boo at US Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s huge face being the projected winner in West Virginia.
At 6:01, James Talarico’s projected win against Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race got some loud woos and table drummings. Soon after, someone in a Keisha Lance Bottoms shirt screamed, “She won!!!” and started making a phone call. Then everyone returned to airplane mode.
At 6:25, big shrieks erupted for Keisha Lance Bottoms’s triumph on the big screen. T-Shirt Guy was the only one who caught the memo earlier, seems. 6:55, SECRET VEGAN DOUGHNUTS
When we arrived, there was NO VISIBLE PARTY FOOD, enragingly. Although guest tips were comped on food and drink for purchase, if you wore the blue wristband signifying you belonged to the WA Dems. We got a tipless boozy apple cider slushie for $14.
Turns out, there were several secret boxes of virtually untouched Mighty-O Donuts on a table that people were standing in front of. We took an apple fritter, and it tasted…vegan.
Everyone lost their ever-loving minds at 7 p.m., when it was announced that the Dems flipped the House. Multiple old people cried. Ayyy, there was some emotion dwelling within these nerds after all.
As we approached Washington State Democratic Party chair Shasti Conrad, busy being interviewed, WA Dems comms director Stephen Reed stepped in to say he recognized us from Shanghai Room karaoke, so we got a quote from him instead.
“It’s gonna be a great night,” Reed said. “We’ve got a lot of excitement so far, and I don’t see any reason why we won’t be able to keep that blue wave rollin’.”
THE MILLENNIAL IN US COULDN’T STOP SINGING ALONG TO LA ROUX’S “BULLETPROOF” AT THE NO HATE IN WA STATE PARTY
7:35 p.m.
Sounds of Lady Gaga, Troye Sivan, and Charli XCX thumped through the closed doors of Neumos where No Hate in WA State was holding its Election Night party.
After wolfing down a Big Mario’s slice in the cold—we had a (correct) hunch this party would be food-free—we got in a small line forming outside the front doors. There, we met Ballard resident Luisa, 51, and Fred, 67, from Northgate. Both Seattleites came down to the scrum of Capitol Hill to support the No Hate in WA’s campaign against two anti-trans ballot initiatives: I-001 (which brings back the Parents’ Bill of Rights, violating children’s privacy) and I-638 (the most extreme trans sports ban in the country).
“When I found out about initiatives, I was very upset,” said Luisa. “It goes against everything I believe in.”
“I can’t believe it’s happening in Washington state,” Fred added glumly.
Once we made our way inside, DJ Clover stood behind the decks onstage as CNN’s live election coverage was projected on a giant screen—Jake Tapper pointing to maps as RuPaul’s “Supermodel” blasted in the background made us chuckle. After admiring all the free merch, we chatted up Revelry, 49, from North Bend, a trans non-binary athlete who grew up in Washington state athletics and parent to two daughters. Though Revelry was optimistic that neither ballot initiative was going to pass, they noted that it has “highlighted there’s a lot of education needed around this issue.”
People began trickling in as DJ Clover kept dropping gay nightclub heaters (God, “Abracadabra” is so damn good) as we yearned for a cold Bodhi. Whoops erupted from the growing crowd when CNN announced that Democrats were projected to gain control of the US House of Representatives. We could sense an air of optimism floating just above our heads. Who said that extremely contentious election nights couldn’t be fun?
THERE’S GOLD IN THEY/THEM HILLS
7:35 p.m.
All the radlibs at the pro-Millionaires Tax party in this Capitol Hill ballroom are dressed for it—except for us. We look like we just crawled out of a mining camp.
We figured the attire appropriate considering the important gold-digging those in attendance have made their mission to protect our precious bouncy baby Millionaires Tax from getting repealed by the state’s used car dealership owners. The Governor has even called out the National Guard to protect ballot collections this year instead of siccing them on striking miners, as the trend historically goes. A welcome change!
While some on the left say the Millionaires Tax doesn’t go far enough, that’s a feature, not a bug. It was concocted by the mad scientists in this ballroom as a test case to legalize graduated income tax, and the “fuck the rich branding” of the bill is how they keep income tax reform palatable to Washington voters who have been tricked into voting down past attempts to fix the most regressive state tax system in the nation for decades.
Should the Millionaires Tax survive, it still has to make it through the Washington Supreme Court, whose majority is also on the ballot this year. But if everything goes right tonight, one of the richest states in the country may actually be able to start spending money on the things we desperately need. The poor lining the streets outside the ballroom are counting on it, as unlike those in attendance, they’re not wolfing down salmon skewers and drinking from a full bar tonight.
In addition to the proud union thugs nurses of SEIU 775 (the backstop funding much opposition to this year’s evil ballot initiatives), King County Executive Girmay Zahilay is set to appear, as is Governor Bob Ferguson and Washington Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen (we’re partying in his district, and he pushed the tax through this legislative session).
WE LOVE KELABE TEWOLDE’S FOOD
7:29 p.m.
We are at the best place to be tonight: The Kelabe Tewolde and Jaelynn Scott election night party at Hillman City’s Black & Tan Hall. It’s packed. It’s alive. On the screen is Hasan Piker doing the announcements for the national results. Kelabe Tewolde’s family is doing the food. We had some of it, we loved that some of it. What a fucking lit night. Georgia has gone to the Dems.
THERE’S A PARTY AT THE GREEN LAKE BALLOT BOX
7:25 p.m.
The Green Lake ballot box is fucking LIT. We spoke to Hestia September with the Seattle Singing Resistance. They are blasting music and bubbles. We asked her about her thoughts on the Millionaires Tax, and she guffawed as though we hadn’t been talking for 10 minutes. She said, “The good thing to come from Trump is that the band-aid has been ripped off, and it’s not a scab but cancer to the bone.”
DOW CONSTANTINE CAN’T TAKE HIS EYES OFF OF CNN
7:17 p.m.
We are at Baba Yaga in Pioneer Square with the transit freaks supporting Yes on Proposition 1, the Seattle Transit Measure. These people love the bus! So do we. But we did have to take the light rail here because there wasn’t a good bus. Maybe the STM will help…?
We are upset to learn that there is only a cash bar here. No food. WAIT. There is a tray of tortilla chips and a vat of guacamole with three spoons in it. We are piling some on a paper plate and also paying $13.88 for a Moscow Mule. We get it. The buses need all the money they can get.
Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine—formerly the father of King County Metro (otherwise known as the King County Executive for 15 years)—is the belle of the ball here. He is sipping a vodka soda. God, it is loud in here. Dow is trying to have a conversation with us, but he is clearly watching the TV behind our head. “I can’t take my eyes off CNN,” he tells us. Two years ago, he was in bed hiding under his covers watching the results. He feels much more hopeful tonight.
Kirk Hovenkotter, the executive director of transportation choices, took the 594 bus here. He gives us a verbal pat on the back (that we do not deserve) for light railing here. Kirk feels optimistic about the STM passing. He is more worried about the equivalent measure passing in Pierce County. They are not as big of transit freaks there. Ryan Packer with the Urbanist tells us that they hope the Pierce County measure passes so they can finally take a bus that runs past 7 p.m. to the best restaurant in the region: Corbeau in Tacoma. We have not been there. All we know now is Baba Yaga guacamole (it is good).
POLITICAL BIRTHDAY PARTY SCENE REPORT
6:34 p.m.
This morning the SECB was summoned to our best friend’s political birthday party with a video of the Howard Dean scream. The SECB knew we could not refuse the call, so the SECB is reporting from an apartment in Pioneer Square where everyone has donned their best senator-wear to eat spaghetti, drink martinis, and watch the KornackiCam. This is what Scorpios like to do on their big day. The SECB wondered if Kornacki had used a little Just For Men™ recently, but the rest of the party vetoed this idea and said it was probably just hair product. The party seemed a little defensive, but the SECB didn’t think we were wrong to ask.
Banana splits are on the menu for dessert, which means that yes, someone has already done a whippet. “What does a whippet feel like?” the SECB asked, feigning innocence. “It feels muscular and relaxing a little bit,” the whippeteer replied, “But I don’t feel better mentally.”
None of the swing states have been called at this time. Kornacki keeps saying things like: “I don’t have words for this.”
The spaghetti is incredible. From the birthday girl: “I was born November 3, 1984, which was three days before Walter Mondale lost to Roland Reagan in the biggest ass-whooping of all time I am pretty sure.” The SECB will fact-check that once we finish our pasta.
A STEADY STREAM OF FOLKS STILL VOTING AT CENTRAL LIBRARY
6:26 p.m.
Meanwhile, Keisha Lance Bottoms was just called for Georgia, making her the first Black woman governor in the country.
THE SEATTLE CENTRAL BALLOT BOX IS FULL
5:46 p.m.
And there is currently a line forming down the block while voters patiently wait for election workers to empty the box. How polite of them!
WHO YOU CALLIN’ HUSKY?
5:44 p.m.
The line for voter registration and replacement ballots wrapped around the Husky Union building on the UW campus.
It was the poll tax for people who didn’t get their shit together. Didn’t change address. Bathed with their ballots. Had owned a printer since 2021.
There are no snacks. There are no drinks. Welcome to husky hell.
Luckily, the person in front of me played chess on his phone using the same app. I challenged him and instantly regretted it. Between my moves, he swiped through and vanquished other remote opponents, like some Tinder-trolling Gary Fisher.
Was this Democracy in action? This chessboard is feudalism, and I quickly tipped my king to the floor.
These kids filled in their fresh ballots, voting against the millionaires tax like good little communists. One applied to seven jobs recently, and is sad that Trader Joe’s turned him down.
A sign on the wall reads “HUSKY EMPOWERMENT.”
We are hungry, we are thirsty. We are not in the mood for body positivity.
A few pimples behind us in line, a youth ate fries out of a white plastic Raising Cane’s bag. We smelled chicken. We saw toast.
We are ready to mingle with the Ravenna elites who will run this show and be old enough to share a mojito with as they plot our AI future.
PEOPLE ARE VOTING EARLY
5:15 PM
As of 8 a.m., more than 44 percent of King County voters already returned their ballots! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Trump has attempted to undermine these election results at every turn there is free candy on at least one ballot box in Crown Hill?
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