Politics & Government
How Much Seattle Candidates Spent Per Vote In The Primary
In the wake of the August primary, some local candidates spent a lot for each vote — with mixed results.
SEATTLE, WA — If you're looking for a candidate who's a real fiscal conservative, look no further than incumbent Seattle Councilwoman Lisa Herbold, Bellevue City Council candidate Holly Zhang, or Renton City Council candidate James Alberson.
Those three candidates all spent much less money per-vote than their competitors, but still earned enough votes to sail through the August primary.
Herbold, for example, had 9,108 votes as of Wednesday evening. She spent about $76,000 before the primary, according to Public Disclosure Commission records, which means she paid $8.36 per vote. Herbold earned the most votes for the least amount of money out of all the Seattle City Council candidates.
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The candidate with the second-most votes in Seattle was District 4 candidate Alex Pedersen. He earned 7,717 votes after spending about $78,000 of his own cash, and after getting $63,000 in support from independent groups. His per-vote spend? About $19.
Looking at how much money candidates spent per vote gives a hint how big a role money played in a victory (or defeat) — although many factors contribute to results, including endorsements and name recognition. We crunched the numbers for many local candidates using data from state campaign finance records and King County vote totals released Aug. 7. In Seattle, we included money from independent groups — entities that are separate from a campaign, but still support a given candidate with things like Facebook ads and campaign mailers.
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The thriftiest campaign we found? The Seattle Library Levy committee. It raised about $229,000 and earned 100,000 votes. That's $2.27 per vote.
Seattle
Here are the top two candidates in each of the seven Seattle City Council races ranked by how much they spent per vote. You'll see an independent expenditure amount of $91.24 for several candidates. The PAC Civic Alliance for a Progressive Economy (CAPE) gave those, and they mostly paid for online ads, according to campaign finance records.
| Candidate | Votes | Campaign spending | Independent spending | Cost per vote |
| Mark Solomon, D2 | 3,529 | $33,277.85 | $112,348.53 | $41.27 |
| Andrew Lewis, D7 | 5,776 | $75,937.89 | $148,720.64 | $38.90 |
| Egan Orion, D3 | 5,257 | $53,244.70 | $142,005.54 | $37.14 |
| Kshama Sawant, D3 | 7,695 | $237,318.73 | $91.24 | $30.85 |
| Phil Tavel, D1 | 6,306 | $66,716.04 | $123,893.59 | $30.23 |
| Heidi Wills, D6 | 5,069 | $88,432.37 | $40,631.49 | $25.46 |
| Shaun Scott, D4 | 3,601 | $75,173.59 | $91.24 | $20.90 |
| Jim Pugel | 5,001 | $88,852.11 | $6,555.26 | $19.08 |
| Alex Pedersen | 7,717 | $77,780.77 | $67,236.42 | $18.79 |
| Tammy Morales, D2 | 6,821 | $71,401.58 | $12,481.22 | $12.30 |
| Debora Juarez, D5 | 7,382 | $68,116.26 | None | $9.23 |
| Lisa Herbold, D1 | 9,108 | $76,126.41 | None | $8.36 |
| Dan Strauss, D6 | 7,325 | $47,218.37 | $91.24 | $6.46 |
| Ann Davison Sattler, D5 | 4,770 | $28,094.64 | None | $5.89 |
The average per-vote spend across all the Seattle Council races was $32.15. There were 16 candidates who earned over 1,000 votes but were not winning as of Wednesday. Of that group, District 7 candidate Michael George paid the most per-vote at $53.59.
Outside Seattle, some candidates spent much less per vote to win, in some cases just a few cents. Independent groups did not contribute to any candidates in municipal races outside Seattle.
Here's the per-vote spending for the top two candidates in other King County Races:
Bellevue
| Candidate | Votes | Spending | Cost per vote |
| John Stokes, Pos 1 | 11,001 | $25,839.25 | $2.34 |
| Holly Zhang, Pos 1 | 3,595 | $1,208.13 | 33 cents |
| Jeremy Barksdale, Pos 3 | 10,491 | $53,935.64 | $5.14 |
| Stephanie Walter, Pos 3 | 6,727 | $32,854.28 | $4.88 |
| Janice Zahn, Pos 5 | 12,111 | $35,993.20 | $2.97 |
| JD Yu, Pos 5 | 2,998 | $47,994.56 | $16 |
| Jennifer Robertson, Pos 7 | 10,261 | $68,465.99 | $6.67 |
| James Bible, Pos 7 | 4,074 | $11,958.66 | $2.93 |
Renton
| Candidate | Votes | Spending | Cost per vote |
| Armondo Pavone, Mayor | 3,054 | $24,709.87 | $8.09 |
| Marcie Maxwell, Mayor | 2,991 | $47,306.86 | $15.81 |
| James Alberson, Pos 3 | 3,359 | $5,974.65 | $1.77 |
| Valerie O'Halloran, Pos 3 | 3,582 | $12,644.86 | $3.53 |
Redmond
| Candidate | Votes | Spending | Cost per vote |
| David Carson, Pos 7 | 2,715 | $1,937.16 | 71 cents |
| Carlos Jimenez, Pos 7 | 1,906 | $372.31 | 19 cents |
| Angela Birney, Mayor | 4,352 | $46,344.27 | $10.64 |
| Steve Fields, Mayor | 2,822 | $13,407.27 | $4.75 |
Mercer Island
| Candidate | Votes | Spending | Cost per vote |
| Jake Jacobson | 1,738 | $9,481.80 | $5.45 |
| Debbie Bertlin | 3,060 | $4,226.64 | $1.38 |
Shoreline
| Candidate | Votes | Spending | Cost per vote |
| Doris McConnell | 2833 | $7,906.60 | $2.79 |
| David Chen | 4373 | $17,028.73 | $3.89 |
King County Council District 2
| Candidate | Votes | Campaign spending | Independent spending | Cost per vote |
| Girmay Zahilay | 21,099 | $104,435.38 | $91.24 | $4.95 |
| Larry Gossett | 14,971 | $71,034.82 | $91.24 | $4.75 |
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