As of Monday, King County Council candidate Girmay Zahilay still led incumbent King County Councilmember Larry Gossett with over 50% of the vote in a race for the King County Council seat for District 2.
Zahilay, 32, the son of Ethiopians refugees, is an attorney and non-profit founder who says that his life experiences have shaped his desire to pursue public service and fight for his poor and working-class neighbors.
Gossett, a highly respected community leader, is a long-time advocate for the underrepresented and underprivileged in King County for his entire career. He is also an advocate for programs that help inner-city youth and reduce racial and class disparities in our local criminal justice system.
Both candidates are graduates of Franklin High School and will move on to the General Election in November. However, Gossett’s camp, despite the results of the primary election, is optimistic about their chances of victory in the fall.
“When you look at the percentages – 56% for Girmay and 37% for Gossett – it looks like Girmay is running away with this thing,” said a political consultant speaking on anonymity. “But when you look at the raw numbers Gossett is trailing by a little more than 10,000 votes, and Gossett definitely has the ability to make up the difference in the General.”
“There’s about 85,000 registered voters in the district that did not vote in the primary election,” he added. “If past election results for Gossett are any indication, I would assume that Gossett still has a significant number of supporters who will show up in the General election that did not vote in the primary.”
“My guess is that this is still a 50/50 race and both candidates have a lot of work to do between now and November,” he concluded.
King County Council District 2 encompasses the Central Area, Capitol Hill, Beacon Hill, the Rainier Valley, Seward Park, UW, Fremont, Ravenna, Laurelhurst and the Skyway neighborhood in unincorporated King County.
