Endorsements from The Stranger have become a must-have for some politicians, who know to bring snacks to their meetings with the paper’s writers.
By Karen Weise has reported from Seattle for more than a decade. (thanks to Mary Jane F.)
They arrived bearing gluten-free cupcakes and homemade zucchini muffins, a Raggedy Ann doll and a cake creation that looked just like a basket of apples.
Forty-seven candidates for local offices cycled through a Seattle conference room this summer to participate in what has become a local political ritual: courting the endorsement of The Stranger, an alternative-weekly newspaper that has become one of the most influential forces in one of the most progressive cities in America.
What started years ago as a joke that the newspaper accepted tasty bribes has turned into regular offerings to the Stranger Election Control Board, a collection of writers and editors who salt their serious takes on local politics with wry and edgy humor. Their endorsements carried considerable weight in last week’s elections, where The Stranger’s favored candidates nearly had a clean sweep.
On Thursday, Seattle’s incumbent mayor, Bruce Harrell, trailing by almost 2,000 votes, conceded the race to Katie Wilson, a community organizer. The Stranger had championed her as “substance embodied” despite making “deeply awkward TikToks.”
That so many candidates made the pilgrimage to meet with The Stranger’s writers was a reminder that in the age of global social media and hyperpartisan bickering, local political contests can still play out in community centers, union halls and the offices of a news outlet with deep local ties. (continued on Page 2 or here)
The Stranger is typical Seattle. That is: all hat and no cattle. I am sorry to hear that The Stranger has such political power here but it really should not surprise me. It will continue to stymy our political process much like Murdoch stymies the Republicans. It would be nice if we could grow up and pick people who had realistic plans that do not involve overthrowing capitalistic pigs or defunding police. In stead we will continue to behave as Danny Weastneat described as pogo stick voters hoping from one extreme to the other.