Sara on Public Safety: the “Yes/And” Approach
"I take a yes/and approach to public safety. Yes to enforcing the law AND providing services AND holding officers accountable. Yes to fully staffed police response for violent crime AND trained crisis responders AND treatment programs that address the root causes of crime.
My opponent? She's running on a no/who knows? platform. No to hiring bonuses when we're down 400 officers. No to disrupting open-air drug and sex trafficking markets. No to technology that prevents crime and solves cases. So what's her plan for public safety? Who knows? Because she hasn't told us.
The Great Debate #WhereisDionne?
My opponent has already taken the public’s vote in November for granted. That’s the only conclusion I can draw for Dionne Foster dropping out of “The Great Debate” on Saturday Oct. 11th – a five-hour affair broken into one-hour segments for each citywide race on the ballot plus the District 2 race. It’s been on the calendar for months and she dropped out last Friday.
Fact vs Fiction
Right before the primary election, a PAC supporting my opponent sent an attack mailer with false claims about my record to 65,000 households. It cost $60,000 which is a lot. For scale, that’s about 25% of the spending limit for candidates using democracy vouchers (so much for getting big money out of campaigns!).
I’m talking about this now because the same themes will undoubtedly surface again — that I’m anti-worker, anti-housing, blah, blah, blah — and I want to correct the record.
Round 2 begins: Onward to the Seattle General Election!
What happened
The primary results in my race are a wake-up call: Trump has fundamentally shifted Seattle's political landscape, and business-as-usual isn't cutting it anymore.
The numbers tell the story. All three competitive races are showing tough results for the incumbents. I get it. The campaign's making some necessary adjustments, but what matters most is what works for Seattle.
Proven fighter
I'm not going to let Trump destroy our city. You need someone who won't just talk tough but who’s already proven they can take the hardest fights and win them. Someone with the experience to stand up against Trump’s attacks on our most vulnerable, our climate protections, our schools, and our way of life.
Four years ago, when I ran citywide, Seattle was in crisis. Parks were no-go zones for families. Tents and needles had taken over public spaces. Downtown was dead. People said we were ungovernable.
Look around today. We've reversed years of police staffing hemorrhaging and the city is finally hiring more cops than we're losing. I took on entrenched business interests to bring workforce housing into the Stadium District when they said it was impossible. I’ve put real addiction treatment at the center of our homelessness response instead of just watching people die in our streets.
I'm just getting started. Millions in housing funds are sitting unused while families are getting displaced and I'm pushing to turn that money into homes. The treatment infrastructure we're building now will save lives.
This election is about protecting our city against an external threat, not insider politics or playing nice. It's about protecting our city against an external threat.
When everything you care about is under attack, you don't want someone learning on the job. You want someone who's already been through hell and kept fighting. Someone who won't let you down when it matters most. That's the only way we can all rest easier.
This is no time for on-the-job training or “leaders” with no record of leading the way. I'm ready for this fight, and I'm going gloves-off to win it for Seattle. Round 2 begins now.
Sara