Dan Strauss will seek re-election to Seattle City Council in 2023

Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss will run for re-election this year.

In a statement announcing his 2023 campaign, Strauss said Seattle is experiencing "another rebirth" after a decade of growth.

"This work is already underway, the proof-of-concepts have already been tried, the prototypes are currently being used, and now we are scaling these plans city- and District 6-wide," Strauss said. "Born and raised in this city, I know where we have come from, and I see the horizon of the next growth spurt that our city will take to the world’s stage — all while taking care of our own backyards.”

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Strauss represents District 6, which covers much of Seattle's northwest neighborhoods, such as Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia, Phinney Ridge, and Green Lake. Strauss, who was first elected to the council in 2019 with 56% of the vote, and officially took office in January 2020, will run for a second term.

“During the past four years, we’ve been hit with a pandemic, an exploding homelessness population, a racial reckoning over policing practices, increasing crime rates, and a shortage of housing,” Strauss said. “I’ve worked hard to help improve northwest Seattle, and I have an ambitious plan to tackle Seattle’s problems."

In his announcement, Strauss laid out a list of accomplishments, leaning heavily into law enforcement and public safety. He noted that he's supported fully funding the Seattle Police Department's staffing and hiring plans, holds weekly meetings with law enforcement and local residents, and created a public safety coordinator position for Ballard.

Strauss has also said in the past that he supported defunding SPD by 50%, and wanted to discuss how that would break down.

Strauss said that with a second term, "reforming and fully funding public safety is what is needed most."

"I will continue fully funding the police to address criminal activity because police time should be focused on crime," Strauss said in his campaign announcement, adding that he wants to "scale up" his public safety task forces in each neighborhood.

The councilmember also said that homelessness and housing will be among his top priorities.

As an incumbent, Strauss is so far facing at least one challenger in District 6. Jace Donnelly has filed with the city's election commission and is participating in the city's democracy voucher program. Small business owner Pete Hanning has also announced that he is running for District 6, but his name is not officially listed on the city's election website.

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Seattle District 2 Councilmember Tammy Morales is also running for re-election. District 7's Andrew Lewis is also running as an incumbent.

Councilmembers Kshama Sawant, Debora Juarez, Lisa Herbold, and Alex Pedersen have all opted not to run for re-election in 2023.