2009 Seattle mayoral election
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| Elections in Washington |
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The 2009 Seattle mayoral election took place November 3, 2009. Incumbent
Background
In a November 2008 poll of likely Seattle voters, 31% of voters approved of Nickels's performance as mayor while 57% disapproved.[3] A January 2009 poll found a net job approval of minus 33.[4]
Nickels' administration was faulted for not doing enough to prevent the
Primary candidates (in alphabetic order)
- Elizabeth Campbell, Magnolia resident and activist
- James Donaldson, former Seattle SuperSonics player [7]
- Jan Drago, Seattle City Councilwoman[8]
- Kwame Garrett
- Joe Mallahan, Vice President for T-Mobile, a cellular communications company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington.
- Michael McGinn, Sierra Club leader and activist [9]
- Greg Nickels, Seattle Mayor since 2001
- Norman Sigler, former Alaska Airlines manager[1]
Joe Mallahan
Joe Mallahan is a telecommunications executive, former Chicago community organizer and unsuccessful candidate in the 2009 Seattle mayoral election.[10] In preliminary results in the August 18 primary, he and Michael McGinn received the greatest number of votes and, as a result of Washington State's nonpartisan blanket primary system, became the two candidates in the November 3, 2009 general election.
Biography
Joe Mallahan was born and raised in
Professional career
Mallahan began his career working at an auditing firm in Chicago and then for Century Supply Company, where company executives were sufficiently impressed with his suggestions for improving efficiency to appoint him President of the company in 1995 at age 31.
Political activism
Mallahan began his political activism in Chicago while working as the President of Century Supply Company.[13] There Mallahan helped establish United Power for Action and Justice and received training and work as a community organizer from the Industrial Areas Foundation. After returning to Seattle in 2000 Mallahan worked on fellow Industrial Areas Foundation alumnus Barack Obama's presidential campaign but it was not until the 2009 Seattle mayoral race that he ran for political office.[14] In addition to his work earlier work with Representative Al Swift Mallhan later worked as a legislative aide to Washington Republican Senator Slade Gorton. Since his return to Seattle and registering to vote in April 2000 elections records in King County show that Mallahan had voted in 12 of the 25 elections he was eligible to participate in.[15]
2009 Seattle Mayoral Campaign
On April 29, 2009 Mallahan declared his candidacy in an open letter to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels declaring city government broken, no longer providing basic services and that Nickels was out of touch. In an effort to match Nickels' already existing $280,000 campaign reserves Mallahan committed $200,000 of his own money to his campaign. In between declaring his candidacy and the primary elections Mallahan raised nearly $200,000 in additional contributions from independent sources.[16] After successfully passing the primary election Mallahan personally contributed approximately $30,000 in additional funds and raised another $130,000 from independent sources.[17] Mallahan received substantial criticism from people such as Mike McGinn and Washington State Senator Ed Murray who accused him of "buying his way into the campaign".[18] On November 9 Mallahan conceded the election to Mike McGinn after losing by a margin of less than one percent.[19]
Campaign finances
| Candidate | Total contributions[20] |
|---|---|
| Joe Mallahan | $806,378 |
| Greg Nickels | $596,510 |
| Mike McGinn | $222,570 |
| Jan Drago | $157,993 |
| James Donaldson | $51,906 |
| Norman Zadok Sigler | $14,625 |
| Elizabeth Campbell | $2,371 |
| Kwame Wyking Garrett | $0 |
Primaries
Early polling
A poll conducted on August 12 showed incumbent
Primary results
The primary election was held on August 18.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan
|
Mike McGinn
|
39,097 | 27.71 | |
Nonpartisan
|
Joe Mallahan
|
37,933 | 26.88 | |
Nonpartisan
|
Greg Nickels (incumbent) | 35,781 | 25.36 | |
Nonpartisan
|
James Donaldson | 11,478 | 8.13 | |
Nonpartisan
|
Jan Drago | 10,154 | 7.20 | |
Nonpartisan
|
Elizabeth Campbell | 3,485 | 2.47 | |
Nonpartisan
|
Kwame Garett | 1,479 | 1.05 | |
Nonpartisan
|
Norman Sigler | 1,247 | 0.88 | |
Write-in
|
Others | 461 | 0.33 | |
| Turnout | 141,115 | 37.16 | ||
General election
An October 20 poll commissioned by KING-TV and conducted by SurveyUSA showed Joe Mallahan ahead with 43% to Michael McGinn's 36% with a margin of error of 4.1%. Mallahan held a lead among college graduates, Democrats, Republicans, Independents and those describing themselves as moderates and conservatives. McGinn was shown to hold a lead among Asian-Americans, younger voters and those that describe themselves as liberals.[23] McGinn changed his position on the Deep Bore Tunnel that same day, claiming "If I'm elected mayor, though I disagree with this decision, it will be my job to uphold and execute this agreement. It is not the mayor's job to withhold the cooperation of city government in executing this agreement."[24] It was enough to push McGinn ahead of Mallahan by election day. [citation needed]
Mallahan conceded on November 9 after his deficit grew to nearly 5,000 votes.[25]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan
|
Mike McGinn | 105,492 | 51.14 | |
Nonpartisan
|
Joe Mallahan
|
98,302 | 47.65 | |
Write-in
|
Others | 2,492 | 1.21 | |
| Turnout | 206,286 | 54.99 | ||
References
- ^ a b "Seattle Campaigns". .seattle.gov. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ^ a b "Lynnwood's newest detox facility will reach capacity right away". MyNorthwest.com. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
- ^ Erica C. Barnett (November 3, 2008). "And Now for Some Election News". The Stranger. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
- ^ "Blog Archive " Seattle Mayor Net Job Approval at Minus 33". SurveyUSA. January 22, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ^ Jim Brunner (July 6, 2008). "The deal: What was the city thinking?". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
- ^ Emily Heffter (January 1, 2009). "After storm of criticism, Seattle mayor reverses no-salt policy for snow". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
- ^ "James Donaldson to run for Seattle City Council". InsideHoops. Archived from the original on February 23, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ^ http://jandragoformayor.com/press_display.php?id=918[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Michael McGinn for Seattle Mayor". Mcginnformayor.com. December 31, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ^ Heffter, Emily (May 6, 2009). "Unknown Seattle mayoral candidate gives $200,000 to his campaign". Seattle Times.
- ^ Brunner, Jim (July 23, 2009). "Mallahan becomes biggest wild card in race for Seattle mayor". Seattle Times.
- ^ a b c Onstot, Laura (July 29, 2009). ""Regular Joe" Mallahan's Stuck in the Bike Lane". Seattle Weekly. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
- ^ a b "About Joe". Official Mallahan Campaign Website. Archived from the original on August 15, 2009. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
- ^ Young, Bob (September 21, 2009). "Minority leaders eye 'complete strangers' in Mallahan and McGinn". Seattle Times.
- ^ Holden, Dominic (September 29, 2009). "Mallahan: More Missed Votes". SLOG: The Stranger Blog.
- ^ "McGinn's Campaign: Successfully Underfunded". Seattle Weekly. October 13, 2009. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011.
- ^ "Contributions to Joe Mallahan". City of Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
- ^ Heffter, Emily (May 6, 2009). "Unknown Seattle mayoral candidate gives $200,000 to his campaign". The Seattle Times.
- ^ Emily Heffter and Jonathan Martin (November 9, 2009). "McGinn next Seattle mayor; Mallahan concedes as vote gap widens". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on August 6, 2011.
- ^ a b c d "2009 Election Report January 21, 2010" (PDF). www2.seattle.gov. Seattle Ethics And Elections Commission. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
- ^ "Lynnwood's newest detox facility will reach capacity right away". MyNorthwest.com. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
- ^ "Results - King County Elections". Your.kingcounty.gov. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
- ^ "Results of SurveyUSA Election Poll #15920". SurveyUSA.
- ^ "Seattle mayoral candidate McGinn backs off tunnel position". Seattle Times.
- ^ "Mallahan concedes Seattle's mayor race to McGinn". Retrieved July 13, 2017.