2019

First Mile Candidates

27 First Mile Circle members. $153,035 donated to 20 candidates of color across 7 unique counties. 10 powerful leaders elected.

2019 was the inaugural year of First Mile. First Mile’s founding Co-Chairs collaborated with Washington Progress Alliance to recruit and organize circle members, and our organizational partners OneAmerica Votes and Amplify (now Sage Leaders) developed an exciting candidate slate to support.

Wins included:

Increasing representation on city councils.

  • Cynthia Delostrinos Johnson won her bid for Tukwila City Council by just 503 votes, becoming the first woman of color to serve on the city council of a city that is majority (66%) people of color. Her values-based, grassroots campaign focused on registering new voters and inspiring low-propensity voters to turnout. 

  • Varisha Khan ran for Redmond City Council against a white, conservative, long-standing incumbent. Following weeks of ballot-chasing and a vote recount, she won her election by just 66 votes. Varisha is the first Muslim woman elected to Redmond’s City Council, as well as one of the first elected in the state.

  • Senayet Negusse and Takele Gobena - both young, progressive, Black candidates with deep connections in SeaTac’s East African immigrant community - were elected to SeaTac City Council. Prior to their wins, SeaTac - a city that is 68% people of color and 40% immigrants - had only one person of color on their city council of seven seats.

Candidates of color paving the way for a more diverse generation of leaders. 

  • Kristin Ang who ran for Port of Tacoma Commissioner and Sam Cho who ran for Port of Seattle Commissioner both won their elections and are now the single people of color serving on their respective commissions.

  • Satpal Sudhu was elected Whatcom County Executive, making him one of two people of color to serve on a county council in our state at the time, alongside 2019-elect King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay.

First Mile is making a difference. 

  • First Mile contributions made up an average of 17% of candidate’s total campaign contributions, with 5% on the low end and 75% on the highest. 50% of supported candidates won their races - a win rate that is 15% higher than success rates for candidates of color in these jurisdictions over the last decade would have predicted.

“[First Mile] meant freedom. Freedom to reach more voters. Freedom of time that I didn't have to spend fundraising or at house parties. Freedom to not be beholden to special interests. It meant that I could run on the values of our community. I felt like a political Cinderella with a political fairy-godmother.”

— Kristin Ang, Port of Tacoma Commissioner Pos. 5

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Kristin Ang

Port of Tacoma Commissioner, Pos. 5

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Sam Cho

Port of Seattle Commissioner, Pos. 2

Satpal Sidhu

Whatcom County Executive

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Ruth Perez

Mayor of Renton candidate

Chanan Suarez

Bellingham City Council, Pos. 5 candidate

Sofia Aragon

Burien City Councilmember, Pos. 6

Hira Singh Bhullar

Kent City Council, Pos. 3 candidate

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Mizan Rahman

Kent City Council, Pos. 5 candidate

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Awale Farah

Kent City Council, Pos. 7 candidate

Varisha Khan

Redmond City Councilmember, Pos. 1

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Rituja Indapure

Sammamish City Council, Pos. 6 candidate

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Senayet Negusse

SeaTac City Councilmember, Pos. 1

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Takele Gobena

SeaTac City Councilmember, Pos. 5

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Mohamed Egal

SeaTac City Council, Pos. 7 candidate

Cynthia Delostrinos Johnson

Tukwila City Councilmember, Pos. 4

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Jorge Chacon

Wenatchee City Council, At-Large Dist. A candidate

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Eliana Macias

Yakima City Councilmember, Pos. 1

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Berenice Ponce

Yakima City Council, Pos. 3 candidate

Maria Flores

Olympia School District Board Director, Dist. 1

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Lindsey Luis

Vancouver Public Schools Board Director, Pos. 4 candidate

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“[First Mile contributions] made up more than 30% of my entire budget for my campaign. What that meant for me was being able to use that time it would have taken to raise those donations, when I could now spend my time on is more voter contact, more engagement with communities who ordinarily wouldn’t vote.”

— Cynthia Delostrinos Johnson, Tukwila City Councilmember Pos. 4

Disclaimer

First Mile's community partners develop a slate of recommended candidates for support annually by First Mile Circle members based on the information provided by candidates or otherwise made publicly available during the course of their campaigns. First Mile partners do their best due diligence to ensure candidates hold progressive values. First Mile is not responsible for and does not endorse, guarantee, or warrant any views, opinions, or actions of candidates or elected officials who have received First Mile support. First Mile may remove candidates from the site if, in our sole discretion, we find that pertinent information was withheld during the vetting process.