The 2020 elections are nearly concluded and progressives have made significant gains in the State of Washington. Progressives celebrated success with candidates, housing, and police reform all passing on the ballot. The world celebrated a change in the White House.
Renton saw its own progressive candidates have success. Kirsten Harris-Talley and David Hackney both secured over 60% of the vote, making them State Representatives of our city beginning next year.
The King County Charter Amendments all passed with a certain majority of the vote. The most contentious vote being Amendment 5, which hands the authority of the sheriff from its own department to the King County Council, which passed with nearly 56%. Supporters of police reform hold this up as a success and a pathway towards more accountability and “re-imagining” policing. Other police reforms passed across the nation, propelled by Black Lives Matter protests this year.
LGBTQIA+ advocates and feminists celebrated the passage of R-90. This referendum will allow the state to continue its implementation of a modernized sex ed curriculum. This will be age-specific education which will be inclusive of LGBTQIA+ communities and have a focus on teaching consensual practices.
Housing advocates found some delight in the passage of Charter Amendment 2. This will allow the county to create an affordable housing market with its resources.
Finally, cities around the nation and the world celebrated the election of President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, being the first woman, Black woman, and woman of South-Asian descent to hold the office. The candidates handily won the White House with both the popular vote and electoral college, seen by many as an indictment by the American voter on the Trump administration.
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