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Shall we say it? We will say it. Last night, SECB experienced what Chic called “good times,” with the exception of Bruce Harrell, who is still very much in the race. He claimed a 7-point lead on the first drop (53.3 percent to Katie Wilson’s 46.18 percent). But yet his allies suffered what can only be described as disastrous results.
- In District 9, Dionne Foster is in a cushy lead against incumbent Sara Nelson. Foster came away with 57.9 percent. Nelson with 41.6 percent.
- Over in District 8, Alexis Mercedes Rinck essentially saged the city of Rachael Savage’s presence, winning a dominant 78.7 percent to Savage’s 20.5 percent.
- In District 2, Eddie Lin will be the new city councilmember. He left election night with 68.6 percent of the vote. Adonis Ducksworth took 30.9 percent. We’ll still get you that skate park, buddy. Don’t you worry.
- As for City Attorney, it’s safe to say that Ann Davison is history. She will be seen as a kind of relic of the post-COVID years, while Erika Evans, who has a 25-point lead (62.5 percent to Davison’s 37.1 percent), is calling the shots as Seattle’s top lawyer.
- The County Executive Race is still neck and neck. Girmay Zahilay has a slight lead with 50.1 percent to Claudia Balducci’s 48.4 percent. A lot can shift in that second ballot drop.
Expect Katie Wilson to shrink a good part of Harrell’s lead in the coming days. The question at present is: Will it be enough? My guess? Expect a nailbiter. Voter turnout was lagging in the days before the election, but last night, at 7:59 p.m. in front of the Seattle Central ballot box, an election worker told us that they’d been doing this for five years, and they’d “never seen lines this long, not even for the last presidential election.” A comeback is possible. Kshama Sawant came back. Tammy Morales came back. It’s difficult from a math standpoint, but she can pull it out. Watch for our ballot drop update after 4 p.m. today.
This is the guy? You guys are cool with this? There was a lot to be happy about last night, but a perplexing amount of voters seem really chill about having four more years of Harrell. With the progressive ticket winning in droves, but Katie Wilson lagging seven points behind, it makes you wonder: How in the world were these people voting? To vote for a more progressive city council but to select a moderate mayor is to vote for continued dysfunction. The people voting for Harrell are the ones who like the status quo, sure, but they’re also the ones who like to bitch and moan about ineffective governance. Picking a mayor and a council that are at odds with each other is a recipe for another four years of stalemates and lost possibility. It opens the door for an election cycle where people can lambast the progressives on council for being ineffective and we will start this whole “backlash” song and dance all over again. The jukebox is always playing “The Boys Are Back in Town” but the boys here are bad mayors.
Just in Time, Another Harrell Scandal: At the eleventh hour, KUOW released a real humdinger of a story. Back when Bruce Harrell was city council president and while he was the board chair of the Royal Esquire Club, a Black men’s social club in Columbia City, he allegedly blocked a wage theft investigation into the place. He also allegedly made his council staff do secretarial work on behalf of the Royal Esquire Club. Our mayor is cool and ethical! Let’s elect him again? The story broke just in time for it to be really fucking weird that Harrell’s election night party was being held there. But not in time for any Harrell voters to change their minds. Not that they would have.
The State Legislative races look good, mostly. Democratic State Senate incumbents Vandana Slatter (D-Bellevue), and Victoria Hunt, (D-Issaquah), both seem like they’ll come out ahead of their challengers. For Slatter, that means besting her former House seatmate, moderate Dem Rep. Amy Walen with 56 percent to 42.3 percent of the vote. And Hunt will best Republican forever candidate Chad Magendanz leading 54.5 percent to 45.3 percent.
But one state leg race will be a fight to the finish. Rep. Edwin Obras (D-SeaTac), is defending his seat against Brandi Kruse’s favorite Democrat, evil Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling. As of last night, Schilling led with 50.2 percent to Obras’ 47.2 percent. It’s still within reach for Obras, but for now, it looks like all of Schilling’s attack mailers made a mark.
For more results, and a play by play of last night, visit General Election Night 2025.
Mayor Mamdani: Zohran Mamdani is the next mayor of New York City. Mamdani and handily defeated Andrew Cuomo. He earned the most votes of any candidate since 1969 with his vision of an affordable New York with rent-stabilized apartments, free childcare, and fast and free buses. Without the support of the Democratic establishment, Mamdani captured the hearts, minds, and, most importantly, the hope of the U.S.’s biggest city. If you have the time, watch his victory speech. It will coax a few tears out of even the most heartless among you. He’s really that guy.
That Speech: Mamdani opened with words from Eugene Debs, the socialist who ran for president five times. “I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity,” Mamdani said. “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” Mamdani said. Mamdani stood firm against Trump, telling him he knew he was watching and that he had four words for him: “Turn the volume up.”
Bomb threats that were emailed to several polling stations in New Jersey were not enough to stop that state’s voters from giving Trump a huge middle finger. And boy was it big. With 95 percent of the votes counted, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill is nearly 13 points ahead of Donald Trump-endorsed Jack Ciattarelli (56 percent for the former; 43 percent for the latter). And, yes, Donnie, this was all about you and your goons, who can now only find sleep at military bases.
Prop 50 Passes: Californians love gerrymandering! Voters easily approved Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to redraw California’s Congressional maps for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections to gain up to five new sorely-needed seats for Democrats. Republicans have been redrawing Congressional districts to their benefit for decades while Democrats have twiddled their thumbs abiding by “the rules.” The playbook has changed. Might as well go on offense if we don’t want a Fourth Reich.
How will Donald Trump respond to this obvious defeat? He will of course do what he always does: double down. We no longer live in a world of facts, with regards to the White House and the GOP in general. Even if you are wrong, you must not concede, you must not change your mind and change course. You must double down. (Recall what the greatest economist of the 20th century, John Maynard Keynes, once said: “When the facts change, I change my mind—what do you do, sir?”) So, sane America, this is by no means over. Expect hell to pay with increased ICE raids and all manner of crimes. Expect more lies about Antifa and what have you. And expect an increase of American troops in our cities.
That said, Trump really was wounded last night, and so there’s blood in the waters of American politics. It will be—even as he does the double down thing—a little hard for capitalists and conservatives to bend to his will. In short, we may have left the age of certainty for Trump and entered that of vacillation? And exactly what do I mean by that? Spinoza offers this excellent explanation in his philosophical masterpiece Ethics: “[A] disposition of the mind, which arises from two contrary emotions, is called vacillation…”
The blood is in that water, yo:
WE GOT OUR ASSES HANDED TO US – Vivek Ramaswamy
— Raider (@iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social) November 5, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Once again, the devil (for Trump) is in the details. Last night, Mississippi Dems broke the GOP’s supermajority by “flipping 3 legislative seats.” This is huge. Republicans in this deep red state have enjoyed absolute power for 13 years. It’s now over. Mississippi will resume a politics of “checks and balances.”
Weather: Rain, mainly before 4 p.m. Then showers and thunderstorms after 4 p.m. Tonight, you guessed it, more rain. And the leaves will fall in the rain, and we will dream of the dead as the rain and leaves fall on this city, which is really, if one thinks about it, a lake city.
A Plane Exploded: A UPS cargo plane crashed in a fireball on the runway in Louisville, Kentucky, killing 7 people and injuring 11 more. Video shows the plane taking off with a smoking, flaming left wing, lifting off the ground ever so slightly, and slamming back down to earth. The resulting fireball was enormous and shocking to see. Over 200 responders were on the scene last night.
WATCH: Dashcam footage shows truck driver reacting to deadly UPS plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky.
— AZ Intel (@azintel.bsky.social) November 4, 2025 at 9:57 PM
New Helltool for Demonfingers: The watchful Feds have released the facial recognition app Mobile Identify so local law enforcement can help them round up immigrants. Handing “this powerful tech to police is like asking a 16-year old who just failed their drivers exams to pick a dozen classmates to hand car keys to,” Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Center for Democracy & Technology’s Security and Surveillance Project, told 404 Media.
Child-LIKE? France put a damper on fast-fashion retailer Shein’s first physical store opening in Paris this morning by suspending its online platform until it gets to the bottom of the sex dolls with a “childlike appearance” found for sale on its site. These dolls are not child-like, or ambiguous at all. They look like children. They’re short. They’re prepubescent. They’re physically hard to look at. Shein said it is investigating how these child sex dolls slipped past its screening measures, and has temporarily removed its adult products for review. Why the fuck is a fast-fashion retailer selling sex toys anyway?? Get out of Spencer’s lane. I need a place to buy more lava lamps.
BTW: Shein has always sucked. Don’t buy their shitty clothes if you support workers. But, maybe you can’t even afford to make an unethical decision. According to the New York Times, almost half of all US imports have steep tariffs. They’re expected to dig into Shein’s massive profits this year.
On Tariffs: Today, the Supreme Court is hearing a case about the legality of Trump’s tariff spree. He’s been leaning on his emergency economic powers. He may not be able to do that, and he’s lost traditional conservatives on this. But with Justices like these, what is the law? Trump called the case “LIFE OR DEATH for our Country.” If only.
By the way, Dick Cheney, who died yesterday (the day of the UPS plane crash, and the day a socialist became of New York City), was, for 20 months of his life, something of a Darth Vader. Before he received a meaty transplant in March of 2012, his heart was basically a machine (LVAD device), which resulted in him living with no pulse. Indeed, he even feared terrorists would hack his robot heart. Cheney experienced 5 heart attacks during his time in spacetime.
Sandwich Trial: The man who hurled a Subway footlong at a federal immigration officer in Washington, D.C. is on trial. The officer who he hit, CBP Agent Gregory Lairmore, took the stand Tuesday to describe the incident. He said he felt the impact of the sub as it hit his ballistic vest. The sandwich “kind of exploded,” he said, “I could smell the onions and mustard.” Apparently, some of the ill-effects of being hit with a sandwich include that his coworkers got him gag gifts like a Subway sandwich plush toy. It reads like an I Think You Should Leave sketch.
The defense team presses Lairmore on whether the sandwich really ‘exploded.’ They return to the photo of the sandwich and wrapper on the ground.
“That sandwich hasn’t exploded at all, has it?” defense asks.
“It looks like a little bit is coming out towards the bottom,” Lairmore replies.
— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson.bsky.social) November 4, 2025 at 8:37 AM
In Other Important News: Tom Brady cloned his dog. Now he can kiss it on the lips for eternity. Lua died in 2023. Lua 2, named Junie, was made with the same technology used to clone Dolly the sheep in 1996. Brady invests in the company, Colossal Biosciences, that made it possible. You may remember their dire wolf that wasn’t really a dire wolf, but was close enough to be really cool. And “close” is all a clone will ever be, Tom. You can’t bring your dog back, I’m sorry. Death is a heartbreaker, isn’t it? I’m sure you’re a loyal Slog reader, so here is a recommendation: listen to this classic This American Life episode about a man, a cloned bull, and what that cloned bull does to the man. If you and your dog had a special thing with peanut butter, don’t try it.
Conservatives rn:
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