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Sound Transit continues to make progress in South King County.
CM Quinn, CM von Reichbauer and Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus speak at Sound Transit Federal Way Extension
Election Day 2025: A Blue Wave; What Is It Telling Us?
Above: Zohran Mamdani is elected Mayor of New York City and generated a wave of enthusiasm. More voters cast ballots in this election in New York City than in any mayoral election in the last 50 years.
Here in King County, Election Night 2025 was not a conclusive one for some high-profile local races. As of Thursday November 6, the races for Seattle Mayor, County Executive are too close to call and ballots are still being counted for the District 5 representative.
Thus far, just over 24% of registered voter ballots have been counted.
King County Elections expects to post around 103,000 ballots in this afternoon’s results update. That will leave around 120,000 ballots still to count.
King County turnout is holding strong at around 45%. As a reminder, you can find turnout by jurisdiction, and so much more on King County’s ballot return statistics webpage.
Per King County Elections, there are currently approximately 4,900 signature challenges that voters can still fix to have their ballot counted. You can find challenge numbers on our ballot return statistics dashboard (page 9).
Across the United States on Election Day, voters seemed to be clearly clamoring for community over chaos by turning out in record numbers.
In the great State of New York, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani will become the next Mayor of New York City, receiving 50.4% to Andrew Cuomo’s 42%. The campaign led to record turn-out – the most in the last 50 years of mayoral elections in NYC.
Perhaps an indicator of how significant the New York election became nationwide, Republican Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams was forced to take to social media to explain to voters why their local polling stations were in fact closed on election day.
“We’re getting calls about polls being closed. They are closed because we do not have elections today. Kentucky votes next year. You cannot vote today in Kentucky for the mayor of New York City or the Governor of Virginia. Sorry,” he wrote.
In contrast, King County Elections Director Julie Wise once again reminds you that the latest election results are released each day at 4 p.m. and may be accessed here
A USA Today report on the election framed the results of California Prop. 50 and three high profile races along the eastern seaboard as a rebuke of the politics of the President and his world view.
In New Jersey, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, was declared victorious in the race for governor. As of Wednesday, Sherrill held a comfortable 13 point lead, 56-43% over Trump-aligned Republican Jack Ciattarell with nearly 95% of the ballots counted.
In Virginia, former U.S. intelligence officer and congresswoman representing Virginia’s 7th district, Abigail Spanberger received just over 57% of the vote, with Republican Winsome Earle-Sears garnering less than 43%.
In California, voters overwhelmingly supported a state Democratic response to Republican gerrymandering ensuring that Democrats elected by their voters throughout the nation are not undercut by mid-cycle redistricting.
California Proposition 50 allows the California legislature to change California’s electoral map and, in response to Texas gerrymandering of Democrat-held districts, presumably restore balance in the U.S. House of Representatives by creating more districts likely to elect Democrats and fewer that will favor Republicans.
At the time of this writing on November 5, Prop. 50 had received just under 5 million votes and nearly 64% of votes cast. Democrats hold a super majority in the California legislature, 30 Senate seats out of 40 and 60 Assembly seats out of 80.
A case has been filed challenging the legality of Prop. 50 and multiple other states are expected to enter the redistricting sweepstakes as the 2026 midterms approach.
1965 Voting Rights Act – Supreme Court to Rule
The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on Louisiana v. Callais, a case that is anticipated to have massive implications on whether Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) allows states to remedy representation of the historically underrepresented.
According to April England-Albright, Legal Director and Acting Chief of Staff for the Black Voters Matter Fund, the outcome of Louisiana v. Callais is profound. “… This ruling, more than any other this term, will tell us exactly where it [The U.S. Supreme Court] stands on the value of Black voices in American democracy. It can either defend what’s left of this nation’s only federal voting rights protections or it can continue its dismantling of democracy, Black autonomy, and freedom.”
The case boils down to whether congressional districts created in order to address the underrepresentation of black voters, and the idea of creating districts for the purpose of correcting representational deficits, is in fact constitutional.
The Legal Defense Fund argued the case in March of this year, and contends that the law calls for fair maps and that the case is about whether, “…communities of color across the country can have meaningful representation.”
The case was reargued on October 15 and a ruling is expected in the coming weeks.
Here’s how the Federal Shut-down Affects You
The Longest Government Shutdown and Disruptions to
Nutritional Assistance
Republicans didn’t enter into negotiations with Democrats about ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. History.
On Friday, October 31 SNAP benefits expired. The President did have time to communicate in a ‘Truth Social’ media post that, despite a court ruling to the contrary, his administration will not pay SNAP benefits until the shutdown ends.
Last Friday, a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Administration to distribute SNAP benefits as soon as possible.
On Friday, after an extensive back and forth throughout the week, in which various judges ordered the President to pay varied levels of the benefit, Trump requested an emergency block on the order to pay SNAP benefits in full.
US Reduces the Capacity of Commercial Flight Sector:
SeaTac Affected
This time of year, everyone’s minds start drifting to the holidays. And to help you get in the mood, the Trump Administration wants you to know that 40 major airports will be reducing their flight capacity by 10% due to the government shutdown and lack of air traffic controllers, beginning almost immediately. The move is expected to affect between 3,500 and 4,000 flights each day.
On Thursday, we received confirmation that SeaTac airport here in King County is on the list of facilities that will be forced to cut its capacity during the shutdown.
And in case anyone forgot, our vaunted leader began firing FAA employees in February without cause or explanation. But that’s probably not related to the current shortage or flight safety crisis.
ICE Denies Catholic Priests Access to Detainees in Chicago; Pope Leo XIV Weighs In
Despite requesting access weeks in advance and making explicit efforts to follow Homeland Security’s guidelines, Catholic leaders have once again been denied in their attempts to bring Communion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees being held in Broadview, Illinois.
On November 1, more than 50 priests from the Chicago Archdiocese joined worshippers for an outdoor celebration of the Eucharist, a Christian sacrament in which priests disburse wine and a small piece of bread to celebrants.
Pope Leo XIV, speaking to the press, urged authorities to allow pastoral workers to see to the needs of detained migrants. “The spiritual rights of people who have been detained should also be considered, and I would certainly invite the authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of those people."
The goal of the D5 e-news* is to share information about King County business, upcoming community events, access to services, opportunities, and ways for us to build an even better King County.
*To translate this week’s e-news into another language, scroll down and click on the language of your choice. Whether you would like to read this e-news more easily or whether you are studying a new language, we are bringing you language technology to help us stay connected.
If you have something to share, please do not hesitate to contact me at desean.quinn@kingcounty.gov or 206 477-1005.
This week:
On Monday, I participated in the Committee of the Whole where we received presentations on 4Culture and a countywide Housing Needs Assessment. I spoke about the difficulty families have affording housing because of a shortage of supply of 3 bedroom apartments (see comments below). If you are concerned about the cost of housing for our community, this is a great presentation outlining where we currently stand.
Click photo above to see CM Quinn's comments
I also spoke about the need for 4Culture to support up and coming artists and cultural organizations. While we fund and honor established entities, we need to make sure public funding helps plant seeds to help nourish new and up and coming organizations – particularly in District 5.
On Tuesday, I participated in the full Council meeting where we voted to amend the Harborview Hospital agreement. We also honored the 21 years of service of by Harborview Board Member Clayton Lewis.
Left to right: CM Claudia Balducci, former Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rassmussen, King County External Affairs Director, Tom Goff, Harborview Board Member Clayton Lewis, University of Washington Government Affairs, Ian Goodhew, Harborview staff and friends of Clayton Lewis, former King County CM Joe McDermott, Harborview Board President Steffanie Fain, CM Jorge Baron, CM De’Sean Quinn, CM Teresa Mosqueda.
On Wednesday, I met again with CM Dembowski, CM Baron and CM Perry and central staff analysts on issues related to the 2026-27 proposed King County Budget. I am a member of the Council’s Budget Leadership Team along with these fellow councilmembers. The Budget Leadership Team is a working group that discusses issues more in depth.
On Thursday, I attended the Sound Transit Rider Experience and Operations Committee where we discussed the Sound Transit budget as it applies to how to ensure Sound Transit provides a safe and comfortable ride.
On Friday, my staff and I toured a new property acquisition along the Cedar River and prepared for next week at our District Office in Kent.
You are welcome to attend the following meetings. You are also invited to write emails, letters, or request appointments with your representatives to share your thoughts about the items on the agendas for these upcoming meetings. You can find a list of councilmembers here.
To watch King County Council meetings live, tune into channel 22 or on-line at King County Television.
Tuesday, November 11, 2025: Veterans Day – King County will be closed to honor our veterans and their service to our country.
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 9:30 am: The Budget and Fiscal Management Committee will discuss:
- Behavioral health fund
- Sheriff’s office civil unit fees
- Right of Way construction fee
- Noxious weed program
- Surface Water management charges
- King County International Airport (KCIA) fees
- Development and permitting fees
- School impact fees
- Community Needs lists for unincorporated areas of King County
- Capital funds – parks levy
- Harborview funds
- Facilities Management manager
- Renaming Health through Housing after Frank Chopp
- Lodging tax
- Limited Tax General Obligation Bonds
Wednesday, November 12, 2025: The Flood Control District Board will meet to review and approve the revenue plan for 2026.
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 – 5:30 pm: Public Hearing on the 2026-27 King County Budget. Both in-person and zoom participation is welcome – see below.
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