Yakima voters are electing the first majority female city council in history

Seat­tle media may not care about what hap­pens east of the moun­tains, but we cer­tain­ly do. We’re incred­i­bly excit­ed to report tonight that change is com­ing to Yaki­ma… big change. As a result of the city’s adop­tion of dis­trict elec­tions (ordered by a fed­er­al judge), it appears Yaki­ma will soon have its first female Coun­cil major­i­ty in his­to­ry. It will also have its first two Lati­na councilmembers!

This is a big deal. A real­ly big deal.

Take a look at the ear­ly results in the Yaki­ma City Coun­cil races:

“Until Tues­day, Yaki­ma had nev­er elect­ed a Lati­no or more than three women to the coun­cil. At least five of the sev­en seats will now be held by women if ear­ly results hold; a sixth seat remains too close to call,” notes the Yaki­ma Her­ald-Repub­lic.

I had the plea­sure of hear­ing both Hol­ly and Dulce talk about their cam­paigns ear­li­er this year when the Wash­ing­ton State Democ­rats met in Wenatchee. I’m real­ly pleased to see them both doing so well. And so is the state party.

“Con­grat­u­la­tions to Dulce Gutiér­rez and Avina Gutiér­rez on their amaz­ing vic­to­ries,” said Wash­ing­ton State Par­ty Chair Jax­on Ravens. “Large­ly due to the Vot­ing Rights Act, a com­mu­ni­ty that had been dis­en­fran­chised will now have a voice in their local gov­ern­ment. That’s progress, but we are not done.

“This result fur­ther under­scores not only the con­tin­ued need of the Vot­ing Rights Act, but also the need to pass the Wash­ing­ton Vot­ing Rights Act (WVRA), which has been stalled in the state leg­is­la­ture. We need what hap­pened in Yaki­ma to rip­ple across the state, and that will only hap­pen if we pass the WVRA.”