Tom FucoloroWho transportation orgs are endorsing in the 2025 general election + WA Bikes snubs several bike champions?
Skip ahead to the endorsements: State LegislatureCountiesCities Ballots are hitting mailboxes across Washington State, and Seattle has the opportunity to elect a mayor who is a people-powered champion for biking, walking, transit and affordability in Katie Wilson. While incumbent mayor Bruce Harrell is embroiled in a campaign finance scandal over apparent collusion with his big money "independent" PAC that's spending huge amounts on attack ads, Wilson's campaign has volunteers knocking on doors all over Seattle. Join the Wilson canvassing effort to send a message to major funders (including wealthy Republican funders) that they cannot buy a Seattle mayor. Seattle Bike Blog has endorsed Wilson and even helped organize a bike rally for her campaign. Ballots are due back by 8 p.m. November 4. The deadline to register or update your registration online is November 27. After that, you can still register and vote in-person at a vote center up to and including election day. In all the years I've been doing these endorsement roundups, the transportation organizations have mostly aligned on candidate choices. But this year, that changed. Transportation 4 Washington and especially Washington Bikes have both taken turns toward centrist candidates in some key races even when there is an outspoken champion for biking and transit in the race. The biggest discrepancy is that both orgs endorsed Bruce Harrell for Seattle Mayor while the Urbanist, the Transit Riders Union and Seattle Bike Blog have all emphatically endorsed Katie Wilson. The WA Bikes PAC run by Washington Bikes even spent more than $57,000 on mailers to Seattle voters touting their endorsed city candidates, including Harrell, as "pro-bike champions" who are "pro-bike" and "pro-safety." Secretly killing shovel-ready safety upgrades on Lake Washington Boulevard doesn't seem very "pro-safety" to me. It's not just Seattle Mayor, though. Washington Bikes also endorsed Jon Pascal for Kirkland City Council over his enthusiastically bike-loving challenger Kurt Dresner. I mean, you can read their transportation promises for yourself. Pascal wants to "ease congestion" and "balance" sidewalk and bike lane improvements while "recognizing that vehicles remain an essential form of transportation." Dresner talks about working for Kirkland's "large nondriving population" (he's clearly not only read Anna Zivarts' book, he's working her lessons into his platform!) and how "owning and operating a car today is incredibly expensive, and traffic crashes injure and kill millions each year." He's not some outside candidate, either. Kirkland's Mayor Kelli Curtis and Kirkland City Councilmember Amy Falcone have endorsed Dresner, as have State Senator Vendana Slatter and King County Councilmember (and WA Bikes-endorsed candidate for Executive) Claudia Balducci. (UPDATE 10/20: Transportation for Washington has also endorsed Dresner). I don't understand how a bike org can snub a candidate who has put this much care into embracing the core mission of safe streets. So we find ourselves in a situation where Seattle Bike Blog is telling you to vote against the candidate listed on the WA Bikes PAC mailer you received in your mailbox. It feels very odd. An unhappy mailer recipient, via Bluesky. I have gathered endorsements from several organizations working for safer streets and better transit in our area: The Urbanist (URB), Transportation for Washington (T4W), Washington Bikes (WAB), and the Transit Riders Union (TRU). Once again, the Urbanist did an exceptional job of explaining the reasoning behind their choices, so if you want more details on a specific race I highly recommend reading their write-up. […]
🌧️ Jay Holler 🌧️
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