It’s finally here! The City Clerk has released a list of 20 “qualified applicants,” one of whom will fill the vacant seat left by former District 2 Council Member Tammy Morales. So far, it's unclear which, if any, of the applicants embody the c progressive spirit that voters endorsed with Morales at the end of 2023. Even if there was a suitable successor in the pool, it’s unlikely that the conservative majority would appoint someone who aligned with the member they allegedly bullied off the dais. Instead, they’re more likely to choose someone who aligns with their own interests and the corporate donors who propped them up. by Hannah Krieg It’s finally here! The City Clerk has released a list of 20 “qualified applicants,” one of whom will fill the vacant seat left by former District 2 Council Member Tammy Morales. So far, it's unclear which, if any, of the applicants embody the c progressive spirit that voters endorsed with Morales at the end of 2023. Even if there was a suitable successor in the pool, it’s unlikely that the conservative majority would appoint someone who aligned with the member they allegedly bullied off the dais. Instead, they’re more likely to choose someone who aligns with their own interests and the corporate donors who propped them up.  Recent history suggests that the city council tends to favor candidates they know over newcomers. Applicants who probably haven’t crossed paths with a council member on their coffee break at City Hall or who haven’t slapped their name on a campaign sign include: Microfabrication technician Henry Armas-Amaya  King Donuts owner Hong Chhuor Project manager Nahom Debassey Ederer Investment Company’s Takayo Ederer Attorney Thaddeus Gregory Insurance agent and Uber driver Romain Harris Gen-Z Marketing & Communications Manager Alex Morrison New Liberalism Chapter lead Erik Nielsen Realtor and landlord Rachel Ramseur Executive Director of Circle of Love Outreach Bishop Ray Rogers Public relations strategist Steven Sloan Attorney Mona Smith Software engineer Mark Sztainbok Seattle LGBTQ+ Center Executive Director Nakita Venus Some City insiders also want the job, including The Mayor’s Office’s Senior Transportation Policy and Operations Manager Adonis Ducksworth, former head of the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Randy Engstrom, and Assistant City Attorney Edward Lin. In names you may recognize, a few former political candidates threw their hat in the ring. Among them is Seattle Police Department crime prevention coordinator Mark Solomon, who lost by a whopping 21 percentage points to Morales in 2021 and failed to secure the citywide vacancy appointment last year, but wants in on the opening. Political consultant Nimco Bulale who came in third place in the 2022 primary for a house seat in the 37th legislative district also applied. And perhaps most notably, Seattle Parks and Recreation sustainability and environmental manager and failed 37th LD candidate Chukundi Salisbury has also applied for the vacancy. If I’m reading the room correctly, Salisbury may have an early edge. Almost immediately following Morales's resignation, rumors flurried about Mayor Bruce Harrell supporting Salisbury, similar to rumors that Harrell scouted him to challenge Morales in 2023, which did not come to fruition. It's still too early to determine if any of these applicants genuinely represent the same values voters chose when electing Morales. However, it’d be tough to spin Salisbury as a Morales 2.0 given the fact that he ran to the right of former State House Rep. Kirsten Harris-Talley in 2020, who shares a progressive ideology akin to Morales’s. There’s also something to say about his distinct lack of mandate. The 37th LD somewhat overlaps with D2 and Salisbury decisively lost by more than 20 percentage points to Harris-Talley.  In some ways, appointing Salisbury could mirror their appointment of former Council Member Tanya Woo last year. Woo ran on a pseudo conservative slate against Morales for D2 in 2023. While her business-backed friends landed victories that year, Woo lost by a couple of hundred votes.  In January 2024, then-Council Member Teresa Mosqueda resigned from the citywide position 8 seat to assume her new job at King County Council. Woo, fresh off her defeat, applied for the vacancy. With the backing of the donors who helped secure the council majority, Woo was appointed to the position. Some argued that the move undermined the will of the voters who had just rejected her in D2 and voted so overwhelmingly for a progressive, not big business’s pick, for that citywide seat.  Hopefully, the council has learned its lesson — Woo ran to retain the citywide appointment last year and lost spectacularly to newcomer Council Member Alexis Mercedes Rinck. The council will whittle down the list of 20 in a meeting this Friday. A community organization will host a public forum “on or around” January 21 where hopefully the public will learn more about who would take up Morales’s fight for density and progressive revenue, the fate of which depends on this appointment. The council will vote for a new colleague on January 27.