Elections
2015 election
Herbold ran for the Seattle City Council in 2015 in the open District 1 seat and faced eight other challengers,including Shannon Braddock,an aide to King County Councilmember Joe McDermott,and Brianna Thomas,a non-profit organizer. [4] In the August primary,Herbold came in first,with 30.15% of the vote,and advanced to the general election with Braddock,who earned 27.78%. [5] [6]
Herbold supported greater renters protection,rent control,and criticized Braddock's donations from landlords. [7] Both candidates ran as progressives,but Herbold's opponents called her a political radical,while Braddock's opponents criticized her for being too close to business interests. [8]
In the November general election,Herbold narrowly defeated Braddock,49.57% to 49.59%,a margin of 39 votes. [8] [9] She was sworn into office on January 4,2016. [8]
2019 election
Herbold ran for reelection in 2019 and faced two challengers in the primary election:defense attorney Phil Tavel and former Seattle police officer Brendan Kolding. [10] In the August primary,Herbold came in first,with 50% of the vote,and advanced to the general election with Tavel,who earned 32%. [11] [12]
In the general election,Herbold and Tavel disagreed on the key issue of homelessness,with Herbold supporting increasing revenue for homelessness services,while Tavel focused on the effectiveness of the money spent. [13] Herbold criticized Tavel for opening multiple businesses that were subsequently dissolved by the state,to which Tavel responded by saying the criticism was a "baseless attack." [14] [15]
Herbold,along with incumbent Kshama Sawant and District 2 challenger Tammy Morales,received national attention when Amazon donated $1.45 million to support opposing candidates via the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce's political action committee,the Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE). [16] [17] She criticized CASE's support of Tavel,who received about $140,000 from the PAC. [14]
In the November general election,Herbold defeated Tavel,with 55.71% of the vote to 43.90%. [18] [19]
Tenure
During her tenure,Herbold chaired the Civil Rights,Utilities,Economic Development,and Arts committee,as well as the Public Safety and Human Services committee. [1] [20]
In October 2019,Herbold contacted Seattle's chief of police to report what she thought was an RV stolen and parked in front of her home as a prank in West Seattle. [21] The RV belonged to a homeless couple,who parked it near one of their mothers' home. [22] Herbold was not seeking the removal of the RV,but to report it to the police chief. [21] She subsequently acknowledged that she had violated the council's ethics code by contacting a department head directly and paid a $500 fine to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission. [21] [23]
Although she stated the Navigation Team had improved connecting homeless individuals to services in the 2019 election,she voted to eliminate the team in 2020. [14] [24] Herbold,and a majority of the council,would override Mayor Jenny Durkan's veto on the budget,which include the Navigation Team cut and divestiment from the police. [25] By 2021,Herbold stated her position on large-scale reduction in the police force had evolved,saying,"I was not interested in pursuing a sworn officer reduction any greater than those 70 layoffs." [26]
In 2023,Herbold pushed for an amendment to Seattle's Comprehensive Plan that would impose "impact fees" on new housing. [27] Later that year,she sponsored and passed legislation to establish new building emissions standards,aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. [28]
In December 2022,Herbold announced she would not seek reelection. [29] [30] She cited a coaltion of progresssive activist targeting council seats as the reason behind her decision. [30] Herbold stated,"I am reminded that we cannot repeat the 2021 race for the City Attorney when a very strong and proven progressive didn’t advance to the general,forcing a choice between a carceral system abolitionist and a Republican." [30]
