Nilu Jenks leading in Seattle City Council Dist. 5 race

I want to talk about the, you know, Seattle City Council race because there was one race that a lot of people were paying attention to. A crucial race because of all the prostitution, the Johns, the gunfire on Aurora Avenue. And so this city council seat is going to really be the one that needs to address those issues. Yeah, District 5, North Seattle area, that's where reporter Dan Griffin, he's been covering this race for weeks now. He is live there with one of the candidates, Neelu Jenks, who, by the way, is leading Julia Kang right now. Dan. Thank you, please. Yeah, she is leading right now, and this is a race that has been intense, and it has a lot of issues tied into it. You mentioned Aurora Avenue. There are a number of issues. Neelu Jenks, you've been outspoken on Aurora, on CCTV cameras, on crime, and on alternative responses, as well as grocery stores and food deserts. Can you talk a little bit about how you're feeling at this point in the race? I'm feeling pretty good. I'm excited. You know, for me, it's really important to spotlight the needs of District 5, and Which includes, like you said, some public safety issues, but also food desert. I live in Lake City, lost my grocery store in our last pharmacy just in this past year. And so really at this moment, I feel blue cities have to show they can govern. And I'm ready to think more about that. I know it's something we've been talking about a lot. And I hope we show that in the next year, whoever wins. What is your message to people throughout the district? You gave a speech just a little while ago. You touched on a lot of different things. What is your message to people at home tonight? Why? Yeah. I mean, I think voting is how you decide who is going to be the leader, but accountability is showing up and telling me how I'm doing, or telling Council Julie Kang how she's doing. And I hope District 5 will engage in that way. And that's really important to me, that the public be engaged in the political process. That's democracy. As someone who works in democracy, I want to see people turning out, and we're seeing people turning out across the nation. So I'm super excited about the energy across the United States, and I hope people stay engaged. What would you say you've learned? What's been the most surprising thing about this race and in this spot? Because if you are to win, you'll have it for one year, but then you've got to do it all over again. People have to go vote again. Yeah, you know, actually, what strikes me is sometimes I'll have people from the western part of the district ask me, how could somebody from Lake City represent us? But when I talk to my neighbors in the Lake City area about our grocery store laws, our pharmacy, and also public safety issues, They're very sympathetic about Aurora and do want them to have their needs met. And then when I go to Aurora and I mention that Fred Meyer's gone, they all feel it. And so I think the thing that I have loved and enjoyed the most is how much we care about each other. And I hope that's what we see is that District 5 shows up together to get our needs met together. And that's what I've loved the most. We're neighbors and I love that we feel that way. And that's the message that I saw from your campaign as well as Julie Kang's was unity and brotherhood. Bringing together these different neighborhoods, your Northgate, your Lake City, your Aurora. There's a lot of talk about being available, about having those offices where people can come in, open hours. What do you envision that looking like? Let's say you are the one. What can people expect from you when it comes to being available, to hearing them out and hearing their experiences? So I've talked about having office hours in district so people can find me here. But sometimes you have to be downtown or Olympia or wherever you have to be. So it's very important to me to have a district liaison or a constituent services person. So there's always someone for someone or reach if I can't be in district. I also hope to be at the Lake City Farmers Market sometimes so people who can't just know when to find me or that I'm available. So that maybe they're just walking by and can more naturally share their needs or their joys or things that aren't working well. And I'm going to work really hard and also talk to Representative Paulette, who is here tonight as well, about he does coffees across the district, sitting down with him at the same time. So sometimes you go and it's not the city level where it's a state level and you don't have to track those answers down. Ideally, I'd have a school board member come too and so that people are getting their needs met in one place and trying to just listen to the people. My final question for you, and it goes back to Aurora Avenue. I have been talking with Councilmember Deborah Juarez a little bit on her way out. Obviously she's seen and heard a lot in that area. There have been a lot of letters and emails from people who have described gunshots, who have described crime, bullets flying near their baby's cribs, even recently in the past few weeks. What would you say to those families right now who are sitting at home maybe watching and wondering, is this election going to be the moment that things finally turn around? Yeah, well, I would say to them that- that I've heard them, I've listened to them, and that Aurora will be a priority. Doing what I can to get the needs of Aurora met. But also, they deserve to be safe. Everybody deserves to be safe. And I promise that I will work on that. And I'm looking forward, if I win, to sit down with Council Member Juarez and hear what she's heard, work with her to have a continued plan that works for residents so they're not left hanging. But also with the mayor and my fellow future colleagues, Again, if I win, so that they have their needs met and they get to feel safe just like everybody else. All right, well, we're going to keep an eye on those results. Thank you for taking some time to talk with us, and we'll stay in touch. All right, thank you so much. We really appreciate that. And obviously, there's still more counting to be done. We're going to continue to follow this here. We've talked with Julie Kang as well this evening, and we will keep you updated on what she has to say about the numbers as well as we continue to track this. Julie Kang also talking to us about... About being able to get out there and talk with constituents. This is a district that has a lot of concerns with a lot of varying interests. And people who are looking for answers, so we will keep you updated. But for now, back to you. Well, neither of those numbers look really strong, Hannah, 57% to 44%. She's got a good lead. Not all the votes are counted, of course. And I always go back to that Shawna Swant race where I was pretty sure it was over. And eight days later, she won or whatever it was. So you never know until it's over, until the last vote is counted. But she's looking in a pretty solid position right now. Yeah, and she's a progressive in the race where Julie King was more of the moderate. And they had varying differences, specifically, as you know, on the SOAP ordinance. They deferred on that, Julie wanted- That's a stay out of prostitution. Right, she wanted to promote that, but then Neil Lujang said, no, I don't want that. And Sandeep, it's so funny, because Sandeep was like, wow, progressives are having a good night in Seattle. I said, when are progressives not having a good night in Seattle, David? So, you know. Well, we've got a lot more to talk about. We're gonna talk about the Supreme Court races when we come back. Is there gonna be a super majority in this state? We got a lot more to discuss with you and more numbers to share right after this.