Oct Election Forum: Two seats on your ballot that decide more than you think

Some of the decisions that most directly affect life in Leschi aren't made at City Hall. They're made by King County and the State Legislature.

This November, Leschi will vote on two offices that get much less attention than a mayor's race but reach further into daily life here: King County Council, District 2, and the 37th District State House, Position 1. Rebecca Saldaña and Toshiko Grace Hasegawa are on the ballot for County Council; Sharon Tomiko Santos and Kelabe Tewolde are running for State House.

On October 7 from 7–9 pm at Grace United Methodist Church, the Leschi Community Council’s Election Forum gives you a chance to hear directly from these candidates and ask about the issues that matter to you.

How do these offices affect your day-to-day life? Consider this example:

The man sitting on the sidewalk

You’ve walked past him. He’s clearly unwell, maybe using, maybe in a psychiatric crisis. People want something done. The something they usually name is "the police should do more."

But here's how that ask would actually be addressed:

The county runs the regional behavioral health system. Voters approved a levy in 2023 to build five walk-in crisis care centers across King County, plus mobile crisis teams and 988 dispatch. If your county councilmember wants to change how fast someone in crisis gets seen, or how well the workers in that system are paid and trained, that's within their reach.

The state decides whether he can be made to accept help. Every rule about involuntary commitment lives in Olympia: who qualifies, what "gravely disabled" means, how long someone can be held, and whether substance use disorder counts. Two bills on exactly this died in the 2026 session. They'll likely be back in 2027.

The county can build the door. Only the state can decide who can be brought through it, and only the state funds the beds behind it. A county candidate who promises to compel treatment is promising something the office can't deliver. A state candidate who changes the commitment standard without funding capacity has changed a law, not an outcome.

SPD or the city’s social workers operate within this framework that the state and county set up for them.

The mental shortcut to who controls what

"Is that even legal?" and "why is there no money?" are almost always state questions. Rent stabilization, property tax exemptions, education funding, AI regulation, how tax revenues are allocated – it’s all state. This is relevant to the county: King County's budget gap traces directly to a state law capping property tax revenue growth at 1% a year, and the county's stopgap was a regressive sales tax the Legislature had to authorize first. Every "we can't afford that" you hear on 10/7 somewhat runs back to Olympia.

"Why isn't this service working?" is usually the county. This applies to transit services, the criminal legal system, the regional homelessness authority, staffing and resourcing or other county authorities etc.

“Why is this street like this?" is the city, and our candidates can’t fix it. Same for zoning, noise issues, SPD.

What would you like to hear our county council and state house candidates speak to? Scan the QR code to submit your questions or find the form in the event details on our website leschicommunitycouncil.org.

~Matthias Linnenkamp