Seattle School Board Elections Updates

Update

The Seattle Times is not happy with D4 candidate, Laura Marie Rivera. Her campaign took an excerpt from their endorsement editorial for D4 and used it in a flyer. The Times took exception because the reference makes it sound like they endorsed her and they didn't.  

In endorsing Mizrahi before the primary, we noted: “He has four opponents. Among them, Laura Marie Rivera is the strongest, and she clearly has a heart for kids. But her views on fiscal stewardship are not grounded in reality.”

Rivera’s campaign extracted the middle sentence, slapped it onto a campaign flyer and printed the newspaper’s name underneath. It conveniently elided the remark about her lack of practicality on money matters and implied, inaccurately, that The Times has endorsed her candidacy.

Is this wordsmithing illegal? No.

Is it disingenuous? Less-than-forthright? Absolutely.

Her political consultant apologized and complained, somewhat absurdly, that since Rivera did so poorly in the primary, netting only 17% of the vote, making an issue of her campaign’s dishonesty “feels disproportionate.”

Was this a great idea on the campaign's part? No. But I will say that in other previous races, the Times didn't call out missteps. It appears they are miffed because they were the ones who had their words misused. This reads less as a wag of a finger but more like a slap. 

I do find it interesting that The Times is staying mum on the Song/White race and the issue of the Jewish PAC. 

But maybe that's just politics.

end of update

Updating the August 5, 2025 election results via King County Elections. 

D2 - 43% of eligible voters voted

Kathleen Smith has widened her lead over incumbent Sarah Clark, 47.89% to 41.91%. Third place finisher Eric Feeny lost ground going from 11% to just under 10%. 

Question is: who will get his votes? 

Also to note in this race, the reason there are four seats open is because of the resignations of two directors, Lisa Rivera and Vivian Song, in 2024. However, one of those directors was at the beginning of her term and the other one was in the middle of her term. 

What that means in this particular race is that whoever wins will only have a two-year term. Why?

Because when resignations occur, the rule is that it doesn't matter where you are in the terms, in the very next general election, the seats that had resignations have to be on the ballot. 

D4 - 35% of eligible voters voted

Joe Mizrahi also widened his lead in this race against Laura Marie Rivera who gained a bit, 70.03% to her 17.15%.

D5 - 41% of eligible voters voted

Vivian Song also gained more votes and is now at 74.01% to Janis White's 15.25%. 

D7

We won't know how the race in D7 will play out until the general election.  However, in examining both candidates' webpages, Carol Rava has a number of current/former electeds endorsing her with just a single group endorsement (Moms Demand Action) while Jennifer LaVallee has seven group endorsements (including Moms Demand Action) as well as personal endorsements. Those group endorsements may serve LaVallee more.

Of course, The Stranger still has its endorsement to do in this race; I'll be interested to see who they pick.