Obee and Quarles to appear on the November City Council Ballot
Fred Obee, left, and Dylan James Quarles will appear on the Port Townsend ballot this November.
Election news by Nhatt Nichols
The votes are in from the Port Townsend City Council Primary, and Fred Obee and Dylan James Quarles will be appearing on the ballot in November. Mikki Porter, who secured only 127 votes, won’t be continuing the race.
Obee won the lion’s share of the votes, with 69.36% to Quarles’ 25.31%, but the race is far from determined. A whole host of factors may have contributed to Obee’s big win, including a discrepancy between the state and county deadlines on submitting materiel for the voters’ pamphlet.
Obee is pleased with the outcome, stating in an email to the Beacon, “I got the feeling my message was resonating with people, so it was great to get that confirmation. My message remains the same: We need to be more focused on updating the city’s critical infrastructure, more prudent in spending, more effective in reaching out and listening to residents and more transparent as a government.”
The main issue for Quarrles is finding ways to support working families, particularly in housing. However, he feels that it’s a challenging platform, as many working families have already been priced out of Port Townsend and are therefore ineligible to vote for city council members.
“This fight is actually in its twilight hours; we are now trying to chase housing affordability,” Quarles said, going on to outline his focus on new construction impact fees to raise funds for affordable housing.
“I don't want it to be something that is seen as being cost-prohibitive to people who are building modest homes, or ADUs that they plan to rent. There's a slew of ways that we could waive impact fees for nonprofits or, if you're a family on a modest income,” Quarles said, explaining that the fees would be applied to larger building developments to help offset rising housing costs for the housing-insecure.
In some ways, Port Townsend is bucking national trends, with the majority of the vote going to the older, more conservative candidate. Following Zohran Mamdani’s win against Andrew Cuomo in New York, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell came second to longtime progressive activist Katie Wilson. Although this is primarily an urban phenomenon, many pundits predict that progressives in rural areas are taking note of the way many progressive voters are feeling.
Both candidates cited low primary voter turnout as a contributing factor to the large gap between Obee and Quarles. However, current city council member Libby Wenstrom pointed out that the 3,900 votes were on par with ballots over the past ten years.
Obee and Quarles plan to spend the next few months campaigning in person to reach potential voters. “I'll be knocking on doors, putting up yard signs, meeting with neighborhood groups, and attending events. I'm looking forward to the November vote,” Obee said.
Quarles is also moving his campaign into the real world. “Folks have already offered to host me for backyard meet the candidate events. I'm going to engage with people in a place where it's much harder to believe something just because it confirms your bias,” Quarles said.
