Moderate candidates leading liberals in Seattle’s top races

By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — Moderate candidates were leading in early Seattle election returns following a months-long debate about how to address the city’s problems of homelessness, policing and racial and economic injustice. In the mayor’s race Tuesday, Bruce Harrell, a former City Council president, was ahead of current City Council President M. Lorena González. Harrell had criticized his opponent for supporting the goal of cutting the Seattle Police Department’s budget in half. And in the normally low-key contest for city attorney, which also drew national attention, Ann Davison was leading police and jail abolitionist Nicole Thomas-Kennedy. Davison had said Thomas-Kennedy’s policies would jeopardize public safety.