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Four incumbents on the Seattle City Council are up for re-election this year, but only two of them face a fight in the primary.Freshman Councilmember Mike O'Brien is being challenged by businessman Albert Shen and artist David Ishii. Veteran Councilmember Richard Conlin is facing Socialist Alternative Party candidate Kshama Sawant and Amazon manager Brian Carver.KUOW's Deborah Wang sat down with all six candidates to talk about their campaigns and why they want to serve on the Seattle City Council.

Seattle City Councilmember Mike O'Brien Stays Focused On Social Justice

KUOW Photo/Deborah Wang

Mike O'Brien is running for re-election to Position 8 of the Seattle City Council. He is currently serving his first term.

Prior to joining the council, O'Brien served as CFO of the downtown law firm Stokes Lawrence. He has a degree in economics from Duke University and an MBA from the University of Washington.

O'Brien is a close friend of Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, who also took office in 2009. The two men joined forces to oppose the building of the deep-bore tunnel through the city's downtown, a battle which they lost. O'Brien championed a ban on plastic bags in the city, an opt-out registry for telephone books, and is now pushing for campaign finance reform. He is widely regarded as one of the more progressive members of the City Council.

O'Brien faces two political newcomers in the August 6 primary — civil engineer Albert Shen and artist David Ishii.

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Year started with KUOW: 2005