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Round Two Begins in Seattle Mayoral Election Money Race

401(K) 2012

Now that the Seattle mayoral race has been narrowed down, Ed Murray and Mike McGinn will begin their next wave of fundraising, and it’s shaping up to be an interesting money race.

State Sen. Ed Murray won the primary and has so far won the race for campaign dollars. According to the state Public Disclosure Commission, Murray’s raised about $140,000 more than McGinn. And as of the most recent filings, Murray still had five times as much money in his coffers than the mayor.

But none of that includes cash raised by outside political action committees. McGinn gained a lot of that support in recent weeks from unions after declaring that the city should require a new Whole Foods in West Seattle to agree to higher wages.

Karen Porterfield, who teaches nonprofit management at Seattle University and ran for Congress against Dave Reichert last year, says this is an unusual race.

"This is a race that is sort of upside-down," Porterfield said. "With the numbers, McGinn has that ability to run as that underdog outsider. Murray was getting money from groups like the Chamber—that is much more of an incumbent-based financing."

But Murray may need extra money. University of Washington Professor J. Patrick Dobel says Murray has less name recognition than McGinn. And he says McGinn’s union supporters will be able to turn out voters. 

In July 2017, Ashley Gross became KNKX's youth and education reporter after years of covering the business and labor beat. She joined the station in May 2012 and previously worked five years at WBEZ in Chicago, where she reported on business and the economy. Her work telling the human side of the mortgage crisis garnered awards from the Illinois Associated Press and the Chicago Headline Club. She's also reported for the Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage and for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.