Mike O'Brien, The Most Hated Man In Ballard, Won't Run In 2019

SEATTLE, WA - Ten-year Seattle Councilman Mike O'Brien announced on Wednesday he won't run for reelection this year. A crazy town hall meeting last spring, perhaps, foreshadowed this moment - where a lefty, mild-tempered Councilman steps aside as right-leaning voices from his district press City Hall on issues like homelessness and zoning.

In May last year, O'Brien held a town hall in Ballard at Trinity United Methodist Church about the head tax. The event turned into "two hours hate," where dozens of spitting-mad people swore and shouted at O'Brien (and others). People held up fliers with the Councilman's face and the word "recall." They seemed less interested in talking about a new tax, more interested in yelling at O’Brien about how the homeless get privileged treatment compared to property owners.

Many of the shouters that night were either aligned or in agreement with groups like Safe Seattle and Speak-Out Seattle, groups that anyone as politically left as O’Brien sees as anti-homeless. A little more than a month later, those groups scored a City Hall victory when the head tax was repealed, called “humiliating” for O’Brien because he ended up reversing his initial “yes” vote.

By fall, right-leaning candidates were stepping up to challenge O'Brien.

Safe Seattle-adjacent Ballard resident Christopher Rufo briefly was a candidate, later withdrawing because of apparent harassment. Jon Lisbin is in the race. He co-founded Seattle Fair Growth, which opposed the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) that O’Brien helped craft. Then there's Kate Martin; Safe Seattle founder David Preston has said he knows and likes her.

Dan Strauss, a Sally Bagshaw advisor, said on Wednesday he’s running in District 6. He’s definitely not right-leaning, but Bagshaw was always a no-vote on the head tax, and she was absent for the Council vote on allowing an Uber/Lyft union in Seattle, which O’Brien backed.

In January, The C is For Crank reported that O’Brien was doing some polling to test his popularity. The results were reportedly “not great.”

On Wednesday, O’Brien looked back on his time on Council and highlighted his climate justice activism, his attempt to help people living in RVs, and other efforts. He said it’s time for him to step back but not step away from city business, and pledged to work hard until his term ends.

And maybe with those loud voices from May still ringing in his ears, he alluded to the political extremes on display in Seattle at the moment.

“I choose to believe this city can overcome the polarization that’s become the norm, that the majority of voters of Seattle will choose city representatives that inspire vision, and not fear,” he said.

Image courtesy Seattle City Council