The2019 Spokane mayoral election took place on November 5, 2019, to elect themayor ofSpokane, Washington. The previous mayor,David Condon was unable to run due to term limits. It saw former local news anchorNadine Woodward defeat former Spokane City Council president Ben Stuckart by a margin of just over one percentage point.
While both general election candidates officially listed themselves as non-partisan, each represented one side of the right-left political divide in the United States with Woodward on the right-wing[2][3] and Stuckart on the left-wing.[3]
Despite sitting in a long-timeRepublican-held Congressional district, the City of Spokane itself had becomeDemocrat-leaning in the years leading up to the 2019 mayoral election. Stuckart led a city council with a liberal super-majority — which persisted after the election — and the Democratic challenger to congresswomanCathy McMorris-Rodgers won the city by 17 percentage points in theprior year's election. Woodward's ability as a right-wing candidate to win the left-leaning city was due in large part to her popularity as a nearly three-decade presence on local TV news at bothKREM andKXLY as well as her ability to turn the race into a referendum on homelessness and crime.[4]
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