Spokane progressives post strong showing on Election Night as voters signal they’re receptive to taxes

By Mitchell Roland, Spokesman Review, Nov. 6, 2025

Spokane voters in early returns Tuesday mirrored national trends in their support for left-leaning politics and demonstrated an appetite for more taxes in spite of economic uncertainty.

South Hill voters handed a decisive victory to Kate Telis over challenger Alejandro Barrientos, who’d been supported by a well-funded effort to drum up concerns about downtown crime and issues surrounding homelessness. In the north, voters preferred Zack Zappone, a member of the progressive majority of the city council, and narrowed the lead of Jonathan Bingle, who’d run as a Republican for U.S. Congress and also centralized crime prevention and safety in his campaign, over a left-leaning newcomer in Sarah Dixit. Bingle had 51% of the vote in northeast Spokane to Dixit’s 48.3%.

Spokane Public Schools and the city’s park system also appeared to be making a mutual pitch that resonated with voters. A bond issue for schools that needed 60% to pass had just that amount with ballots returned Tuesday, while the park levy was passing with 54% of the vote.

The results were heralded by past officeholders in the city aligned with progressive politics, despite races for municipal offices being nonpartisan. Former City Council President Ben Stuckart drew a straight line from Tuesday night’s results in northeast Spokane to the New York City election of Zohran Mamdani and the White House.

“Dixit didn’t have that much support financially, and to come that close, I think it reflects national trends where you saw Mamdani win, and you saw both the Virginia and New Jersey governorships go Democrat,” Stuckart said. “I think there’s a little bit of anger at the Republicans right now.”

Candace Mumm, a former Spokane City councilwoman who served two terms representing the northwest section of the city and ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for county commission in 2016, said Dixit’s performance was likely tied to concern about cost-of-living issues credited for spurring Mamdani and other Democratic candidates campaigning against the trade policies of President Donald Trump.

“She talked about a lot of the same issues that are being talked about at the national level,” Mumm said.

But former City Councilman Bob Apple, who represented the northeast on the council from 2004 to 2011, said he believed Bingle better represented that area of town and showed concern for growing taxes and city spending that he believed was shared by a majority of city voters.

“I understand the liberals are doing well on the East Coast,” said Apple, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican in the 2022 primary election for Spokane County Commission. “I don’t think it will translate here, but we won’t know until we know.”

Still, the votes on parks and schools appeared to demonstrate a willingness even in the midst of a federal government shutdown and uncertainty about the effect of Trump’s planned tariffs to pay more in taxes for public services. Ballots counted Tuesday favored a $200 million bond for schools with 60%, 21 months after a February 2024 measure for the same amount failed. That proposal, however, is too close to call.

Mumm said pairing the sales pitch for schools with parks made good sense, given the region’s largely bipartisan support for open spaces.

“I think they did a good job packaging that,” Mumm said.

In other city races, Democrats said voters rejected efforts to unnerve voters and instead supported the progressive candidates with stronger bona fides.

Stuckart said Zappone found greater success than previous candidates in northwest Spokane, while the money spent to defeat Kate Telis didn’t move the results “at all.”

“I think you’re seeing a solidifying of districts,” Stuckart said.

Mumm pointed to a voting ad mailed by the campaign for Alejandro Barrientos that identified him as an “independent Democrat” as part of a trend in nonpartisan races that seemed unthinkable a decade ago. Campaign signs for the mayoral election of David Condon, who had worked in the office of Republican U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, identified him as “nonpartisan” in the early 2010s, she said.

“I think the thing that seems different now is definitely people are more polarized with the national party system,” Mumm said. “I always felt, at least in my day, people were voting for the person and for the track record.”