Telis, Zappone win Spokane City Council seats; Bingle leading race too close to call

The political status quo in Spokane appears unchanged after election night, with progressives keeping their supermajority for another two years while conservatives were holding their ground.

The progressive City Council majority held onto seats in northwest and south Spokane, while the conservative minority was leading the third seat up for election this November, but that race was too close to call Tuesday night.

In northwest Spokane’s council District 3, incumbent Councilman Zack Zappone handed delivery driver Christopher Savage his fourth electoral loss in as many years, earning 54.6% of the vote Tuesday night.

If Zappone’s margin holds, he’s gained ground over his 2021 election victory over Mike Lish, when he won by just 1.3 percentage points. It remains to be calculated how much of this improved standing is due to the more favorable map Zappone drafted and the council adopted in 2022, which made his district more liberal.

It’s also possible that Zappone pulled some of the wind out of Savage’s sails last week by championing tougher laws criminalizing homelessness in Spokane. Savage’s campaign had largely centered on arguing Zappone’s policies were too soft on quality of life crimes, particularly drug use and on-street homelessness in downtown Spokane.

“I’m honored from the voters in Spokane who approve of the work I’ve been doing and affirmed the vision that we have for Spokane,” Zappone said Tuesday night. “They believe in our vision for a future where working- and middle-class families have a fair shot.”

Savage continued to hold out hope that later ballots would swing his way in the coming days but vowed to stay active in Spokane politics one way or another.

“Whatever the results are, and if we don’t see what we want to, this isn’t the end. It’s just a checkpoint,” Savage said. “I’m going to keep fighting for my city.”

Former prosecutor Kate Telis, progressives’ favorite in the south Spokane race, led her conservative-backed Democratic opponent Alejandro Barrientos Tuesday night with 60.8% of the vote.

Though both are Democrats and speak in broadly similar languages about the issues facing the city, the most easily noticeable difference had been their backers; Telis earned the support of the county Democratic Party and the city’s most prominent liberal politicians, while Barrientos earned the financial backing of conservative business interests who had hoped for an opportunity to crack the progressive supermajority.

Asked to comment on her clear victory Tuesday night, Telis was brief: “Money can’t buy elections.”

Barrientos expressed disappointment with the election results but also pride in the campaign he ran and stopped short of conceding Tuesday night. The political newcomer also said he planned to stay involved in city politics regardless of the election results.

“I’ve loved the experience of connecting with people and what people care about,” Barrientos said. “I’m not going anywhere, so I’ll be involved, because this is not necessarily about me, it’s about Spokane.”

Barrientos faced something of an October surprise in recent weeks, as questions arose about whether he met the residency requirements to represent the district. If he had won, he would have faced a lawsuit filed last week to disqualify him from serving on the council.

South Spokane has consistently rejected conservative candidates in the past several election cycles. This time, they rejected a Democrat who had more conservative positions on homelessness issues.

Conservative Councilman Jonathan Bingle was in a tight race with abortion rights advocate Sarah Dixit Tuesday night.

Bingle led Tuesday with 51.2% of the vote. The margins are notable, given he won his first election in 2021 ago by 13 points, marking the biggest leftward shift in the city compared to four years ago.

Though Bingle had recently taken a number of controversial stands on social issues, including proposing a ban earlier this year on transgender people using the bathroom of their choice in city facilities, Dixit had largely avoided attacking Bingle’s policies despite the wide gulf between their politics. Instead, she largely argued that Bingle was an absentee councilman, noting he had missed more council meetings than another other member of the body, particularly during his failed run for Congress last year.

For his part, Bingle had largely spent the election season ignoring Dixit, except to attack her in recent weeks for speaking at a candidate event hosted in part by the local branch of the Communist Party and to say she would be more of the same if added to the council majority.

Bingle expressed confidence but stopped just short of declaring victory Tuesday night, conceding that the race was closer than he had hoped.

“Sarah did a lot of hard work, and I commend her for running and the campaign that she ran,” he said. “I mean, it did really good, and so it was closer than I would have wanted, but it still looks like it’s going to be a good result for us.”

Dixit remained optimistic that late ballots could swing further her way and noted that people at her election watch party were ready to work on ballot curing if the margins continued to shrink.

“I account this really close race to the work we’ve put in as a campaign and our strong ground game, meeting people where they’re at,” Dixit said. “We’ve been really dedicated to reaching people in various forums, whether at concerts or coffee shops or podcasts… showing community members we want to show up for them.”

Ballots will continue to be counted in the coming days as mail-in votes are processed.

Reporter Cannon Barnett contributed to this reported.