Winners emerge in council races: 27-year incumbent unseated in Lynnwood

EVERETT — City council election results were clear-cut across the county Tuesday night — with at least one notable exception.

Conservative incumbent Vincent Cavaleri, who ran for U.S. Congress, led by 64 votes in a race for Mill Creek City Council, with 50.9% to Tannis Golebiewski’s 49.0%.

Tallies also suggested former Snohomish Mayor John Kartak would fail in his bid to return to city government. He trailed opponent Maygen Hetherington for Snohomish City Council.

Jim Smith, who served 27 years on the Lynnwood City Council, saw his run come to an end with an overwhelming loss to political newcomer Nick Coelho, in the wake of an outside investigation last year finding Smith made people of color feel “uncomfortable.”

Bothell City Council

Mayor Mason Thompson appeared set to retain his seat on the Bothell City Council in one of the three council races there.

Thompson led James McNeal 62.8% to 36.8%, bringing an apparent end to McNeal’s tenure on the council after eight years in Position 2.

In a race between two newcomers, Carston Curd was on course to beat Mark Swanson, leading Tuesday by a tally of 56.8% to 43.1% for Position 4. Curd serves as the vice chair of the city’s planning commission, as well as a natural resources planner for Snohomish County Surface Water Management.

In Position 6, incumbent Amanda Dodd was beating former City Council member Thomas Agnew 61.6% to 38.3%. Dodd was appointed to the seat last year by the King County Council.

Council seats pay $1,300 to $1,525 a month.

Edmonds City Council

The first batch of results were teetering toward Edmonds having two new faces on its City Council.

In Position 1, Christine Eck was leading Roger Pence in the race to replace Dave Teitzel.

Eck, 56, a Snohomish County planning commissioner, had 54.7%. Pence, 78, a former communications specialist for the Pentagon, behind with 45%.

Michelle Dotsch, 56, led Mackey Guenther. Both were first-time candidates, seeking to replace council member Diane Buckshnis in Position 4.

Dotsch, the owner of a local dental practice, had 66%. Guenther, a 22-year-old student at Seattle Central College, came in behind with 33%.

Susan Paine, the Position 6 incumbent, held the lead with 57.6%, against newcomer Kevin Fagerstrom, who had 42.3%.

Paine was elected to the council in 2019. She previously worked as a regulatory adviser in Seattle. Fagerstrom is the former Everett code enforcement director and worked in the King County Sheriff’s Office for 33 years.

Incumbents Vivian Olson and Jenna Nand ran unopposed.

The annual salary for the post is $20,462.

Lynnwood City Council

Two new faces are likely to serve on the Lynnwood City Council with one of two incumbents seeming to hold their positions.

Nick Coelho, with no prior elected experience, took 62.1% to incumbent Jim Smith’s 37.5%, unseating Smith after he served 27 years on the council.

Coelho, 36, is a local business owner with a background in parks and recreation. Smith, 72, is a former business owner, pilot and a musician.

Incumbent Julieta Altamirano-Crosby, 52, will likely hold her Position 5 seat over Robert Leutwyler, 37.

Altamirano-Crosby, a nonprofit owner elected to the council in 2019, took the lead with 64%. Leutwyler, an Army veteran and pension fund manager for Amazon, had 35.4% of the vote.

After Council President Shannon Sessions decided not to run again, two newcomers competed for Position 7. David Parshall, a local high school teacher, was cruising to office with 78.6%, outpacing Derek Hanusch, a piano teacher and student at the University of Washington, who sat at 20.8%.

Council member George Hurst ran unopposed in Position 6.

Lynnwood council members earn $20,000 per year.

Mill Creek City Council

Cavaleri, 58, a longtime Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy in the jail, was narrowly leading Tuesday his race for reelection for his third term in Position 5 on the Mill Creek City Council — the only contested race this year for the city of over 20,000 people.

Cavaleri received 50.9% in the initial results. Golebiewski, 46, had 49%. In the past two elections, Cavaleri won his seat with 53% of the vote in 2015 and 62% in 2019. He lost a bid for U.S. Congress last year to U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene.

Cavaleri, who has expressed conservative stances on vaccines, transgender athletes and other topical issues in a column for the Mill Creek View, said he will prioritize issues surrounding public safety and population growth management in his upcoming term.

“I really love my community and would do anything to protect it,” Cavaleri said in a previous interview.

The role has a four-year term and an annual salary of $12,000.

Mukilteo City Council

In Mukilteo, incumbent Richard Emery took the race with 63.1% of the vote followed by 36.5% for Ashvin Sanghvi for Position 4. Emery, 76, was appointed to the council in 2008 and elected to four-year terms in 2015 and 2019. This is the first run for elected office for Sanghvi, 65, a retired computer engineer.

Riaz Khan lost his Position 5 seat to Mike Dixon, who led with 59.5%. Khan trailed with 40.3%.

Khan, 53, was elected in 2019, on his fifth try for public office. Dixon, 57, is a water and sewer commissioner and serves on the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission.

For the open Position 6 seat vacated by council member Elisabeth Crawford, Donna Vago led with 56.4% with Carolyn “Dode” Carlson following with 43.2%.

Vago, 61, is a first-time candidate. Carlson, 76, lost by seven votes in the 2021 primary for a council seat.

Jason Moon, appointed to the council in 2022, ran unopposed to retain Position 7.

Automated traffic cameras on Mukilteo Speedway, waterfront development, the failed levy lift for emergency services and the fate of 100-year-old Hawthorne Hall are among the issues the council members will tackle in 2024.

The post pays $6,000 a year.

Snohomish City Council

John Kartak was unseated as mayor in 2021, in the aftermath of an incident where armed vigilantes patrolled downtown Snohomish to “protect” it from a purported anti-fascist threat.

The former mayor was losing his bid to return to City Hall on Tuesday night, in a face-off for a City Council seat with political newcomer Maygen Hetherington.

The first ballot drop showed Hetherington garnering 55% of the vote for the at-large position, with Kartak at 44.9%.

Hetherington, the executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, ran on a platform of prioritizing growth management and economic development for small business.

Kartak wrote in his candidate statement he would reduce “social politics and wasteful spending.” His four-year mayoral term ended when he narrowly lost to Linda Redmon, who was then a City Council member.

The four-year position will pay an annual salary of $6,156.

Herald writers Jenelle Baumbach, Andrea Brown, Maya Tizon and Ta’Leah Van Sistine contributed to this report.

Ashley Nash: 425-339-3037; ashley.nash@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @ash_nash00.