Jenny Durkan, Cary Moon Lead In Seattle Mayoral Primary

SEATTLE, WA - In the Seattle mayoral race, one thing is for sure: Seattle's next mayor will be a woman. The top three candidates were Jenny Durkan, Cary Moon, and Nikkita Oliver as of 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. Only the top two vote-getters will move forward to the general election, but King County will release updated results Wednesday afternoon which could change the returns seen Tuesday.

Neither Moon nor Durkan have ever held elected office, and they represent different parts of Seattle's left-leaning political spectrum. Durkan, an openly gay former U.S. Attorney, was endorsed by outgoing Mayor Ed Murray and is seen as his straight-laced political heir. Moon is running on her urban policy expertise and carries the endorsement of publications like The Stranger and The Urbanist.

"Seattle’s voters won’t let the future of our city be sunk by status quo thinking and politics as usual. There is too much at stake. We look forward to the next few days of returns from King County elections," Moon said in a statement Tuesday night after the first batch of returns came in.

Following Moon and Durkan were Nikkita Oliver and former legislator Jessyn Farrell. The two men in the race, Mike McGinn and Bob Hasegawa, rounded out the top-six candidates.

In the open position 8 City Council race, candidates Jon Grant and Teresa Mosqueda were in the lead Tuesday. But Sara Nelson, the co-founder of Fremont Brewing, was just a hair behind Grant.

Over at Oliver's election night celebration, supporters packed the historic Washington Hall in the Central District. Oliver took the stage around 9 p.m. and spoke to her supporters in a variety of ways: through songs, poems, and a traditional election night speech.

Although the results were not immediately in Oliver's favor, she told the crowd to forget about counting votes and focus on building a movement alongside her. The activism her supporters brought to her primary campaign must continue through to the general election, she said.

"If you want our city to look like this," Oliver said, gesturing to a crowd of largely young people of color, "You all gotta organize."

City of Seattle Council Position 8

Charlene D. Strong 5.18%
Rudy Pantoja 5.75%
Sara E. Nelson 23.13%
Sheley Secrest 4.78%
Jon Grant 24.29%
Teresa Mosqueda 30.9%
Hisam Goueli 3.15%
Mac McGregor 2.56%

City of Seattle Council Position 9
Ty Pethe 1.78%
Pauly Giuglianotti 2.56%
Ian Affleck-Asch 1.76%
David Preston 10.09%
Eric W. Smiley 2.07%
M. Lorena González 61.39%
Pat Murakami 19.83%

City of Seattle Mayor
Cary Moon 15.56%
Harley Lever 1.82%
Michael Harris 0.89%
Keith J. Whiteman 0.12%
Jessyn Farrell 11.81%
Dave Kane 0.1%
Thom Gunn 0.3%
Gary E. Brose 2.36%
Mike McGinn 7.16%
Jenny Durkan 31.6%
Jason Roberts 0.25%
Tiniell Cato 0.11%
Alex Tsimerman 0.19%
James W. Norton, Jr. 0.64%
Larry Oberto 1.86%
Casey Carlisle 0.83%
Lewis A. Jones 0.26%
Nikkita Oliver 13.9%
Mary J. Martin 0.34%
Greg Hamilton 0.95%
Bob Hasegawa 8.62%

Image via Patch.com