Thomas-Kennedy Overtakes Holmes In Seattle City Attorney Primary

SEATTLE — The primary race for Seattle City Attorney took a turn with updated results Thursday, placing abolitionist and former public defender Nicole Thomas-Kennedy ahead of incumbent Pete Holmes and drawing her closer to challenger Ann Davison. According to King County Elections, Thursday's results included roughly 20,000 more Seattle ballots, leaving between 50,000 and 60,000 left to count.

Holmes, who is seeking a fourth term, and Davison, an attorney who most recently ran for lieutenant governor as a Republican, held the top two spots on election night. If Thomas-Kennedy maintains or expands her lead in the coming days, she will make it to general election ballots in November, while Holmes is now in danger of being eliminated.

Seattle City Attorney (Results as of Aug. 5)

• Ann Davison: 34.5%
• Nicole Thomas-Kennedy: 33.19%
• Pete Holmes: 32.02%

Both challengers vying to replace Holmes pitched voters on two very different approaches to running the city attorney's office, which handles misdemeanor cases on the municipal level.

Thomas-Kennedy's official campaign platform includes stopping the prosecution of most misdemeanor charges, formally opposing encampment sweeps, increasing resources to fight wage theft and suing fossil fuel companies for their contributions to climate change. By contrast, Davison contends that Holmes is too soft on crime and dedicates a large section of her campaign website to crime statistics.

In Thursday's ballot drop, Holmes and Davison both lost about half a percentage point, while Thomas-Kennedy gained a full point. Typically, the latest ballots to arrive tend to skew left in Seattle, and counting is expected to continue into Monday. The next round of results will be posted by 4 p.m. Friday.

Find a complete list of election results online. King County Elections posts updated results each day by 4 p.m. until all votes are counted. Some totals are likely to change significantly as the latest ballots to arrive are tallied.