About 40,000 votes in the city of Spokane have now been counted. Where incumbents are running, all seem to be the clear winner except for the race for City Council's District 1 seat, where incumbent Jonathan Bingle currently leads by roughly 200 votes.
Spokane City Council will likely welcome one new face to the dais, and it seems almost definite that will be Kate Telis, the more progressive candidate for District 2.
Votes are still being counted, and the next update will come from the elections office tomorrow. Final results won't be certified until Nov. 25, 2025.
City Council
DISTRICT 1, POSITION 2
Jonathan Bingle (50.98%)
Sarah Dixit (48.32%)
District 1 typically has the lowest voter turnout, and that seems to be the case this election, too. Currently, about 7,500 ballots from District 1 have been counted, while totals for the other two districts both have over 15,000.
District 1's current representatives, Michael Cathcart and Bingle, are the most conservative on the dais. Dixit, who previously worked for Planned Parenthood, has campaigned on a far more progressive agenda.
This tight race shows that District 1, which is home to Gonzaga University, has a more liberal contingent than some may have assumed. If Dixit were to come out ahead, Spokane City Council would lose half of its minority and likely become even more progressive than it is now.
DISTRICT 2, POSITION 2
Alejandro Barrientos (38.82%)
Kate Telis (60.66%)
District 2 currently has the highest voter turnout. So far, more than 16,500 residents' ballots have been counted. It also has the widest gap between candidates.
Barrientos faced some criticism during his campaign for being employed—and in large part, campaign financed—by Larry Stone, one of the largest developers in Spokane. Barrientos did not say whether he would recuse himself from voting on the decisions that could affect his employer.
About a week before the election, his run faced more scrutiny by District 2 residents who weren't sure he had lived in District 2 for a year before running. That would render him ineligible. Three of them sued him over the residency issue.
The hearing isn't set until next year and it may not matter. With Telis already securing 60% of the vote, it is unlikely any more ballots will flip the tide.
Telis has aligned her priorities closely with current council members Paul Dillon and Zack Zappone. It seems likely she will vote and vision cast similarly to her predecessors Lili Navarrete and Shelby Lambdin.
DISTRICT 3, POSITION 2
Christopher Savage (45.05%)
Zack Zappone (54.52%)
This is Savage's fourth run for council, and it now seems certain that he will lose this run as well. Zappone currently leads by more than 1,400 votes.
Savage campaigned on fear and frustration in the city's downtown core. His campaign was largely funded by the Good Government Alliance, a conservative PAC. Zappone, a high school teacher, repeatedly said he would champion middle class working people through transit and housing reforms.
Zappone has already sent out a statement thanking voters for re-electing him and promising to "keep fighting for everyone to have a fair sh[ot]."
Municipal Court
Spokane voters have retained the city’s three municipal court judges.
The presiding judge, Kristin O’Sullivan, ran unopposed. Judges Mary Logan and Gloria Ochoa-Bruck each overcame challenges.
JUDGE 2
Mary Logan (60.69%)
Lynden Smithson (38.73%)
JUDGE 3
Gloria Ochoa-Bruck (73.56%)
Sarah Freedman (25.49%)
Logan defeated former city prosecutor Lynden Smithson. Ochoa-Bruck easily defeated defense attorney Sarah Freedman, 74%-26%.
Ochoa-Bruck was first elected to Spokane’s municipal court bench in 2021. She also served as a judge in the Spokane and Kalispel tribal courts, in addition to her work as a prosecutor and defense attorney.
“One of the things that I strongly believe in is that it's important to take a balanced approach to criminal justice. It's important to give people the opportunities for rehabilitation through restorative justice practices, connected to services. But it's also equally important to hold people compassionately accountable, because the foundation of recovery is accountability. Also, it's important not to forget that there are people that are harmed when crimes are committed,” she said at a candidate forum sponsored by the NAACP.
Attorneys polled by the Spokane County Bar Association had rated Ochoa-Bruck as well qualified and Freedman as qualified.
Mary Logan has been a judge in Spokane’s municipal court since 2009. She was first appointed while serving in the city’s public defender’s office, then re-elected four times. She is perhaps best known as the judge who presides over the city’s community court, which convenes every Monday at the city’s Central Library.
“What I have learned, is that if you give someone the opportunity, if you give them their voice in the courtroom, that they are much more receptive to whatever sentence it is or whatever determination that you make on their case because you've given them an opportunity to be heard,” Logan said at the NAACP forum.
Lawyers participating in the bar poll rated Logan as exceptionally well qualified and Lynden Smithson as well qualified.
