Two More Progressive Wins in Washington State

Last week I highlighted the excellent progressive victories in Washington State where 12 out of 20 Progressive Majority candidates won outright. These included:

* Well known progressive leader Julie Anderson, a member of the Tacoma City Council, beat conservative Jan Shabro, a former state legislator, for the critical office of Pierce County Auditor. Because the auditor oversees the elections in the 2nd most populous county of the state, and because it historically has been at the forefront of electoral reforms such as ranked choice voting and vote-by-mail, it is an essential office to hold.

* Longshoreman Jeff Davis was victorious in his bid for the Olympia Port Commission. Backed by strong union support, Davis was the 2nd place finisher in the August primary, but came back to win and usher in a new era of progressive change at the Port, which has important policy roles that effect both the environment and labor. Jeff's win also shifts the commission to a progressive majority!

* Rob Holland's victory last night makes him the first African-American and first openly gay member of the Port Commission.

Well, now that ballots have been counted, we can add two more to the list of progressive wins in Washington State (with one more still undecided). From Progressive Majority:

In Washington state, Ken Mann has now won his election to the Whatcom County Council by more than 2,000 votes. This has been a long time coming. Two years ago, as a first time candidate, Ken ran a good campaign and learned a lot, but came up just short of winning. He wasn't discouraged and took what he learned from that defeat and turned it into a win this year!
Congratulations, Ken...

Progressive Majority's program of recruiting, training and electing progressive candidates works. With our recent wins, we have brought our total number of elected candidates to 374, flipping control of six state legislatures, forty local governments, four statewide positions, and one statewide body. Help us continue to find strong progressive candidates and get them elected by donating today.

And from a later email:

Now that the absentee ballots have been counted, Marilyn Strickland has been elected Mayor of Tacoma, Washington in a very tight race! Two years ago, we helped Marilyn win election to the Tacoma City Council. Now she is the first woman of color elected to lead a large city in the state.

This is why I love Progressive Majority. They really do a good job of winning elections.