Progressive slate leads in closely watched 2017 Seattle School Board contests

Grass­roots edu­ca­tion advo­cates in Seat­tle can take com­fort in ear­ly results for this year’s con­tests for school board posi­tions. Emer­ald City vot­ers are enthu­si­as­ti­cal­ly back­ing a trio of can­di­dates whose com­mit­ment to pub­lic schools is not in doubt.

In the con­test for Posi­tion #4, Wash­ing­ton’s Para­mount Duty cofounder Eden Mack is tru­ly clean­ing up with an aston­ish­ing 67.46% of the vote. She has more sup­port than all of her oppo­nents com­bined… times two. That’s real­ly impressive.

A jubi­lant Mack com­mem­o­rat­ed the big lead on Face­book by post­ing pho­tos from her elec­tion night par­ty, where every­one was in high spir­its. “Cel­e­brat­ing 67% of the vote with my neigh­bors at our block par­ty! Thank you all who vot­ed for me!!!!”

In the con­test for Posi­tion #5, Zachary Pullin DeWolf has estab­lished a com­fort­able lead of his own, although not as impres­sive as Mack­’s. He’s got 43.19% of the vote, trailed by Omar Vasquez at 18.18% and Andre Helm­stet­ter at 16.46%.

Helm­stet­ter is close enough to Vasquez that he may be able to move into sec­ond place as late bal­lots are count­ed. Grass­roots edu­ca­tion activists would like to see Vasquez elim­i­nat­ed, as he is a sup­port­er of char­ter schools.

In the con­test for Posi­tion #7, Bet­ty Patu appears on her way to a third term. The wide­ly respect­ed incum­bent school board mem­ber is crush­ing it with 65.52% of the vote. Chal­lenger Chelsea Byers is far behind at 22.76%.

Mack, Pullin DeWolf, and Patu were all backed by the King Coun­ty Democ­rats and the city’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic leg­isla­tive dis­trict organizations.