The rhythms of Council resignations, temporary appointments and special elections might feel like familiar territory to Seattle voters at this point after two rounds of churn in two years.
This fall, voters in southeast Seattle’s District 2, which stretches from the Chinatown-International District through Rainier Beach, will elect someone to finish the remaining two years in former D2 Councilmember Tammy Morales’s four-year term. Morales resigned from the Council at the start of 2025, just one year after being reelected, alleging toxic treatment by her colleagues.
The Council appointed crime prevention coordinator Mark Solomon, who had run and lost against Morales in 2019, to temporarily fill the seat, but he committed to being a “caretaker” for the office and vowed not to seek election.
Four candidates are running to represent D2 next.
Jeanie Chunn
Jeanie Chunn is the former director of community engagement at Northwest Harvest, a nonprofit that provides food assistance and advocates on food access issues. Chunn also co-founded Seattle Restaurants United to help local restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic and served two terms on Seattle’s Labor Standards Advisory Commission.
On her website, Chunn said she wants to “stand up for the progressive values that the people vote for.” Her priorities include housing, public safety and labor rights.
Chunn supports Seattle’s social housing developer and pledges to stop sweeps of homeless encampments. On public safety, she wants to see stronger efforts toward police accountability. When it comes to workers’ rights, Chunn wants to use the office to combat wage theft.
Adonis Ducksworth
Adonis Ducksworth is a transportation policy advisor in Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office. Prior to that role, he worked as a capital projects coordinator and deputy chief of staff at the Seattle Department of Transportation. Ducksworth was a finalist for the D2 appointment in January, nominated by Councilmember Dan Strauss. His top priorities are kids and families, housing, public safety and transportation.
To help kids and families, Ducksworth said he will advocate for more access to training and apprenticeship in the trades, partner with gun violence prevention organizations, fight for more state and city funding for child care in southeast Seattle and, as a lifelong skateboarder, work to complete the Rainier Beach Skatepark.
On housing, he wants to focus on implementing the comprehensive plan update and anti-displacement efforts. On public safety, he wants to continue rebuilding Seattle’s police force and scaling up alternative responses and services. On transportation, he wants to use the renewed transportation levy to work on bicyclist, pedestrian and traffic safety in the district.
Jamie Fackler
Jamie Fackler is a building inspector with Seattle’s Department of Construction and Inspections and a shop steward with PROTEC17, a union representing 3,300 city workers. Fackler’s progressive policy stances largely align with former Councilmember Morales’ — she has endorsed Fackler in the race — and he said he’ll bring a “much-needed” blue-collar perspective to City Hall.
Fackler’s top priorities include housing affordability, road safety and addressing the city’s public drug crisis.
Fackler supported Proposition 1A, the social housing tax measure, and wants to help Seattle’s Social Housing Developer get up to speed. He also wants to reduce permitting red tape to speed construction of affordable housing.
Rainier Avenue has long been considered one of Seattle’s most dangerous streets for crashes and fatalities. Fackler wants to improve road safety along the corridor and elsewhere in D2. When it comes to homelessness and the city’s public behavioral health problems, Fackler wants to stop spending money on homeless sweeps and redirect funds to outreach and treatment services.
Eddie Lin
Eddie Lin is an attorney with the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, where he primarily represents the Office of Housing, which he says gives him insight into addressing the city’s housing crisis. Lin was a finalist for the D2 appointment in January, appointed by Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck. His top priorities include housing, taxation and public safety.
On housing, Lin wants an all-of-the-above approach, with more market-rate construction and subsidized affordable housing. He sees the city’s comprehensive plan update as critical to addressing the problem. (Thanks to delays by the mayor and Council, the next D2 representative likely will have the opportunity to work on the comp plan.)
Lin said Washington’s regressive tax structure is a moral issue. While acknowledging that much of the work on taxes must happen at the state level, he said he would fight for a city-level capital gains tax and work to protect the Jumpstart payroll tax on big businesses.
As with housing, Lin said public safety needs an all-of-the-above response, including rebuilding Seattle’s police force and expanding alternatives that send social workers and mental health professionals to address crises.
Correction: A previous version of this story said Jeanie Chunn currently works at Northwest Harvest. She left the organization in December 2023.
