Locally, a special election in Seattle Council District 5 presents an opportunity for the progressive coalition to gain a seat and momentum heading into the 2027 election when all seven district seats will be on the ballot. Progressive standard-bearer Nilu Jenks has the advantage based on primary results, when she won 54% of the vote. The Urbanist Elections Committee (on which I serve) endorsed Jenks.

However, centrist donors are spending aggressively to prop up former bank chair Julie Kang in hopes of closing the gap. They're using a familiar formula, seeking to paint Jenks as soft on crime.

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In their haste, a pro-Kang political action committee (PAC) called North Seattle Neighbors potentially broke election laws to rush attack ads out the door, and the Jenks campaign is calling on the PAC to fully disclose its donors and has appealed to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission seeking a cease-and-desist order barring it from "any further political advertising until it files every overdue report and discloses all its contributors and the true sources of its money."

John Wyble, a spokesperson for the Jenks campaign, argued this dark money-fueled attack ads has no place in Seattle politics.

"This is how Republican super PACs operate in swing states: scary pictures, old quotes, and money nobody can trace. It has no place in a Seattle council race," Wyble said. "The PAC can't keep its own donor list straight, and the people who put up most of the money won't say who they are. District 5 voters deserve to know who's paying to fill their mailboxes, and they deserve to know before they vote."

Interestingly, a major funnel of this dark money was Seattle's former Council president who lost her seat in a 2025 election drubbing: "SeaFor is a 501(c)(4) formed by former Councilmember Sara Nelson. It is not registered with the PDC or SEEC and does not disclose its donors," the Jenks campaign noted. "According to PubliCola, its website pitched the structure as protecting 'the privacy of businesses and individuals.'"