Tammy Morales sticks with defund police message, leads in South Seattle council race

Tammy Morales, the incumbent Seattle City councilmember for District 2, south Seattle, is narrowly leading after Tuesday night’s ballot drop.

Morales, who took office in 2020, was a strong supporter of the defunding of the police movement during the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests.

Other councilmembers have backpedaled their support for the movement, but Morales still firmly stands with it.

She recently repeated her views about the need to divert funds from the Seattle Police Department into different purposes after last week’s shooting at the Rainier Beach Safeway.

“That was a situation where our community based organizations that are doing work every night to make sure our communities stay safe, need more support,” Morales said.

“Police don't prevent crime. We need to be investing in the things that can prevent crime. And that means changing the community conditions that lead to violence in the first place.”

Both Morales and her opponent Tanya Woo will move into the November election if they remain the top two candidates.

Morales leads by about 300 votes over her opponent Tanya Woo. Woo is running for the first time and grew up in the Chinatown -International District.

Woo also led the movement to stop a proposed expansion of a homeless shelter in the Chinatown-International District and other neighborhoods.

Morales said she’s confident ballot results will continue to be in her favor.

“We know that traditionally, the further we go out from the election night, the more progressive the ballots,” Morales said. More ballot counts will be released Wednesday afternoon.

District 2 includes the Chinatown-International District and Rainier Beach and has been expanded this year to include Mount Baker.

The headline for this post has been updated.