Sessions won’t run again for Lynnwood City Council

Published 1:30 am Thursday, January 5, 2023

LYNNWOOD — After eight years on the Lynnwood City Council, Shannon Sessions announced she will not run for re-election.

“With a lot of prayer and after talking to my family, we decided that I would not be running again for another four years,” Sessions said in an interview Tuesday with The Daily Herald. “It has been an honor. We’ve done a lot of really good things.”

Outside of the council room, Sessions serves as executive director of Support 7, a Snohomish County nonprofit that serves first-responders dealing with trauma. She says she’s excited to focus on that “critical, sensitive work.”

She is also a mother of five. Sessions said she served on the council to show her children, particularly her four daughters, what it looks like to get involved and make a difference in the community.

“Now it is time for the council to have fresh voices leading and shaping Lynnwood in this vital stage of growth and development,” Sessions said.

In 2015, Sessions won the seat with 59.9% of the vote, beating Van AuBuchon. She ran for re-election in 2019 against Shirley Sutton and won with 60.9% of the vote.

“I do the work. I do the research. I talk to people. I listen, and then I make a decision based on those things,” Sessions said. “Regardless of emotion and ego, I want to make sure that I can sleep at night, that the decision I’m making I feel like is the best for the majority.”

As top accomplishments, Sessions cited her work on downtown core infrastructure plans for the Link light rail, as well as her collaboration in creating the town center legacy park. She is also proud of her work to expand the community justice center and its Recovery Center addition.

Kayla J. Dunn: 425-339-3449; kayla.dunn@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @KaylaJ_Dunn.