Municipal/Other Questionnaire
Candidate Info
Candidate Name: Jude Anthony
Position Sought: King County Council District 9
Are you an incumbent for this position? Non-incumbent
Home Legislative District: 5
Are you a Democrat? Yes
Campaign Info
Campaign Manager or Point of Contact: Tatiana Anthony
Website: https://electjude.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Elect-Jude-2025/61576778030061/
Twitter: https://bsky.app/profile/electjude.bsky.social
Part I – Candidate Background
1. Please briefly describe your qualifications, education, employment, community and civic activity, union affiliation, prior political activity, and other relevant experience. Beyond your qualifications, what makes you the best candidate for this position or office? Please describe any specific background or unique perspective you offer and how those will help you accomplish your goals for the position sought. If possible, give practical examples.
I am a father, citizen, and software developer. I spent 15 years in deep red Florida as a defense contractor with a Top Secret clearance, programming simulations to train officers of the joint armed services without risking soldiers' lives in the process. When Congress deprioritized simulation spending in 2013, I joined Amazon. In my 12 years there, I focused on putting control in the customer's hands and making personal impacts, eventually helping to create and run Amazon Technical Academy (ATA).
ATA was a program that trained Amazon warehouse workers to be software developers. I championed inclusive policies that removed obstacles for under-represented minorities; designed learning activities that connected to the interests and experiences of students who typically had limited access to higher education; and personally hired and managed a team of 6 instructors that included two trans people, a Muslim refugee, and a Hispanic senior engineer.
I learned to seek out opinions from a wide range of people, to seek common ground from recent and past experiences, and to listen effectively so I could incorporate the opinions and needs of others.
This reinforced my experiences from over 20 years of fatherhood caring for three daughters with competing medical and emotional needs: when we build communities and listen to each other, we can find ways to meet each other's needs and support each other's happiness.
2. What prompted you to run for this office?
When I lived in Florida, I saw how long-term regressive and punitive policies turned my suburban neighborhood into a hostile city of scared, isolated families. We criminalized homelessness, then criminalized even feeding the unhoused. We funded charter schools, but we left kids with special needs behind in underfunded public classrooms. Every year, we increased police funding and added officers, but our crime rate went up: we had multiple school shootings, and Trayvon Martin was shot just up the street from my kids' public schools.
I don't want that to happen to King County. Instead of a taller fence, I want to build a longer table. My opponent has held this office for 20 years, relentlessly focusing on lowering taxes and increasing law enforcement. If that was going to work, it would have worked by now. When I saw he was running unopposed, I had to step up. I believe we can switch to progressive tax policies, support our neighbors' needs, and bring in the rising tide that lifts all boats.
3. What steps are you taking to run a successful campaign?
My opponent is a 5-term incumbent with hereditary momentum and a quarter-million dollar campaign fund. I am a newcomer to politics and have less than 5% as much money. The traditional strategy of schmoozing big donors and blanketing every media with ads is unlikely to work in this situation. Especially since the majority of voters make decisions based on the candidate statement in the voter guide.
Instead, I'm stealing Kat Abugazaleh's strategy: grassroots volunteerism. Between 1 and 4 times a week, I volunteer at a progressive organization serving King County and my district or provide direct aid to individuals who request it. I talk with the volunteers and beneficiaries, and take the time to hear their concerns and answer their questions. This demonstrates that I work to improve the county even without the authority that comes with being elected. It also enfranchises the folks who feel they haven't had a voice, and gets them to turn out in an odd-year election.
4. What are your campaign’s most important themes, issues, or priorities (three to five)? Share issues or priorities specific to the office that you’re running for.
People cannot succeed unless they are secure in their food, housing, healthcare, and community. With the federal government delaying or eliminating so much funding, these basic needs are at risk for many King County residents.
Like my volunteerism campaign, while in office I will meet the constituents where they are. I will meet with them in their communities and listen to their greatest needs, then work to ensure that we fill our food pantries and fund our nutrition programs; that we fund shelter programs that fit in our Housing First framework; that we access part of the new $100 million Public Safety Grant Program to train and hire social workers for unarmed crisis response teams and proactively provide behavioral health care; and that we center the human rights of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other underrepresented people.
As a council member, I will work for equity, inclusion, and accessibility. I will attend council meetings from community buildings around the county, inviting public attendance from more diverse constituents. I will work to replace our inaccessible and incomplete meeting videos and transcripts with readable, downloadable, standard formats. And to affect positive change for my constituents, I will lobby and build coalitions with state representatives to replace the regressive sales tax with progressive ones, including mansion, interest, income, and wealth taxes.
Part II – Yes/No Questions, please qualify your answer if necessary
1. Do you support steps to build a fairer economy through tax reform and progressive taxes as wealth increases? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #1 I was disappointed when Governor Ferguson forced state legislators to keep the property tax cap and drop the wealth tax. I would particularly like to replace our regressive sales tax with a progressive local income tax, indexed to the Area Median Income (AMI). We can also address housing affordability with a vacancy tax or homestead credit and a mansion tax, making private equity firms less interested in hoarding homes.
2. Do you support robust investment in publicly owned housing/subsidized housing for elderly and low-income individuals/families, and zoning changes to support such housing? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #2 I'd like to see mass transit routes expanded, especially Eastwards, and subsidized high density housing built nearby. In Florida, I saw our vibrant small town get paved out into a "bedroom community," with hour-long commutes on a parking-lot interstate. I don't want that for Enumclaw. I saw Disney turn Celebration, FL into a corrupt, abusive "company town". I don't want Amazon or Microsoft to do that to Auburn. I saw perfectly healthy seniors draining their life savings in retirement homes, because they couldn't otherwise access the services they needed after losing the ability to drive. I don't want that to happen to the seniors of Lake Holm. Livable, walkable neighborhoods with mass transit links go a long way to address those problems. Co-ops, rent subsidies, and public housing multiply their effectiveness.
3. Developer impact fees are allowed under the Growth Management Act. Should they be increased to help pay for needed improvements to our roads, parks, and schools? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #3 Increasing developer impact fees can stifle development, so we have to balance them carefully with other incentives. For instance, we may negotiate reduced fees if the developer builds some of the public infrastructure themselves. We can also exempt some of the fees for low-income housing development.
4. Do you support building a municipally owned and operated broadband system in your city or jurisdiction? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #4 Internet access is critical to both modern work and personal life, so it should be treated as a public service. However, I prioritize food, housing, and healthcare before internet. I remember how broadband prices shot up when competition went down, and Xfinity has a virtual monopoly on low-latency broadband in King County right now. If we can find a way to fund the necessary infrastructure, King County residents would benefit greatly from a publicly-owned non-profit competitor with costs tied to AMI.
5. Do you support local investments to address climate change where applicable? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #5 Environmentalism is a personal priority for me; so much so that I built my own battery-powered electric car from a Honda Civic Wagon in 2006. Industry is the biggest contributor to climate change, so regulating industry will have the highest impact per dollar. But mass transit reduces pollution, and home weatherization and efficiency renovations have climate, personal finance, and societal equity benefits that are worth investing in. I would double down on Issaquah's low-income home efficiency programs, which improve quality of life and let homeowners keep more of their income.
6. Do you support women’s unrestricted access to reproductive healthcare? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #6 Simply on the principle of bodily autonomy, I support unrestricted reproductive healthcare. As Pete Buttigieg stated, a person facing an abortion, especially later in pregnancy, has already suffered unbearably, and I refuse to cause further trauma by inserting government into that decision.
7. Do you support laws regulating the purchase, ownership, and carrying of firearms? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #7 I spent my formative boyhood years on a small apple orchard and ranch in North Carolina. Many of my neighbors hunted small game, deer, and bear as a good portion of their diet.
I support requiring training and licensing for all firearm ownership. I would not otherwise restrict hunting rifles, but I know from my childhood neighbors that if you have to use more than two rounds, you're doing it wrong. High-capacity magazines, automatic weapons, and armor-piercing rounds belong only in "a well-regulated militia" – not in our communities.
8. Do you support the right of workers to unionize and bargain, including public employees? Yes
Optional: Qualify Your Response to #8 Whenever an imbalance of power exists, abuses occur. While government tries to use procedures and reporting to limit those abuses, the imbalance of power still exists. Collective bargaining is the only known tool that effectively addresses the imbalance, and it should be available to all workers, including public employees. I oppose "Right to Work" laws that degrade unions' bargaining power, and additionally support strengthening legal regulations to improve workers' rights independent of union negotiations.
Part III – Free Response (Please answer at least four fully, and consider the additional three optional)
1. Why are you requesting Democratic endorsement? What aspects of the Democratic platform most resonate with you?
I have been a Democrat for decades, but I actually started adulthood as a conservative Republican. My parents raised me with a focus on religion, the inevitability of success through excellence, and financial responsibility, so in my first few elections I saw myself as well-aligned with the Republican platform. As I matured, I started to realize how much external factors played into success. I watched good people, good technologies, and good companies flounder and fail by a roll of the dice. I watched CEOs at failing companies get multi-million dollar bonuses while the rank-and-file workers got "downsized". I even saw the US abandon diplomacy in favor of economic and military warfare.
Meanwhile, Democrats were fighting for worker's rights, women's rights, gay rights, tolerance, equity, and peace. They believed government should serve the governed, and that we should expect transparency and accountability. Realizing that my beliefs were hurting vulnerable people, I had no choice but to change them.
My experiences parenting disabled and neurodivergent children, volunteering in public schools, and training Amazon warehouse workers repeatedly reinforced my new tenet: people's success relies on their security in food, housing, healthcare, and community. Democrats believe, as I do, that people thrive and contribute to everyone's prosperity when the government ensures that security. That's why I value the Democratic endorsement.
2. What public policy reforms do you support to achieve greater equity and inclusion for BIPOC and LBQIA+ individuals in our communities?
First off, I support improving equity and inclusion for BIPOC, Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer, Intersex, A-spec, and other marginalized individuals – including continued protections for Trans Rights and Gay Rights: the more complete second acronym in this question is LGBTQIA+, as trans and gay individuals are still marginalized as well.
I support clauses in recent legislation that direct agencies to consider disproportionately impacted and historically underrepresented groups. I also support language that instructs agencies to prefer solutions from, and contracts with, BIPOC-led and LGBTQIA+ organizations. I believe our public institutions cannot represent and serve our constituents unless they "look like" our constituency, so I support oversight to measure the diversity of our workforce and to counteract bias in our hiring practices.
Since we see that BIPOC communities are disproportionately impacted by law enforcement, we must address both the causes of crime and the escalation of enforcement. I propose that we invest in community-based restorative justice, proactive social services, and create a class of social workers who are considered law enforcement officers so they can be dispatched appropriately to non-violent crisis situations that would be poorly served by the presence of armed officers. I additionally propose improving law enforcement oversight procedures, and communication between law enforcement agencies in the county, to ensure that nearby departments have records of complaints against fired officers and disciplinary actions before hiring them.
Finally, since poverty is correlated with race and disproportionately affects BIPOC communities, I support replacing the regressive sales tax that falls inequitably on the poor with progressive taxes, such as income tax and mansion tax.
3. What steps do you think need to be taken to improve voter turnout and increase voter trust in our election process?
Having experienced Florida's election process, I can personally attest that Washington's is immeasurably more convenient. That doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.
One obstacle to turnout is many voter's belief that no one represents them. Proportional Ranked Choice Voting addresses this issue by allowing candidates to campaign on less extreme and more nuanced viewpoints. It also promotes voting your conscience without fear of "wasting" your vote since it offers a backup choice.
Another issue is the low turnout for local elections during odd years. I support HB 1339 to move local elections to coincide with general elections. I would also propose consolidating odd-year elections to a single date and making election days into holidays.
Increasing voter trust is more difficult: we can't save people from their own fears. The best we can do is educate them. The "Mark the Ballot" campaign helped demonstrate that and raised confidence 36% in some measures. While surveys have helped us identify some sources of distrust, we will need to hold conversations within our communities to identify solutions that will satisfy our constituents.
4. What important local issues have you worked on (or taken an interest in) that you feel aren’t getting enough attention from elected leaders and the local media?
The King County Council often gets input from their public meetings, but I feel that the input received at those meetings is not truly representative of the constituency. Because those meetings are held during business hours in the King County Courthouse, they rarely hear from constituents outside Seattle or from regular workers. This helps reinforce their biases, as they often confer with organizations they manage and seldom confront themselves with differing opinions.
I would attend meetings remotely from community buildings around the county, and propose moving the times to make attendance more convenient for the people our decisions impact.
5. Please list at least three specific, concrete actions you would support to ease the homelessness crisis.
1: Extend and strengthen the Housing First system, to get unhoused people into situations where they can address their other problems. This includes additional tiny housing, more social workers for case management, and more county-owned permanent housing.
2: Increase low-income housing supply to improve housing affordability overall. I support Councilmember Zahilay's $1B bond for housing, and I propose leveraging a portion of it to offer partial, conditional second mortgages for homeowners who build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) available to families under 60% of Area Median Income (AMI) and/or meet the requirements for Section 8 housing.
3: Disincentivize private equity ownership of housing. A vacancy tax targeted at companies would encourage rentals at lower rates and more renter-friendly terms. Rent stabilization and co-ops also discourage parties who intend to hoard unoccupied housing. A capital gains tax and an additional business tax on non-primary residences would discourage "flipping".
6. What safety, law, or justice issues are currently facing your jurisdiction, and how will you address them?
Recently, someone stabbed a neighbor just one street away from my daughter's house in Renton. That made the crime rate very personal. It also highlighted how decades of investment in enforcement and retributive justice hasn't made us any safer. This seems obvious on close examination: after all, how many officers would have been needed to actually prevent this crime? With a law enforcement system that extensive, how could we ever ensure transparency and accountability?
I believe it is time to implement more elements of restorative justice. We still need law enforcement to investigate and to intervene in violent situations. We also need to determine the social, psychological, and systemic causes of crime, and to proactively provide the support needed to address them.
We know that many people inadvertently invert victim and perpetrator in perception and reality. They believe the unhoused are violent, when in fact they are far more likely to be the victims of violence. They believe that trans people commit sexual abuse against cis people, when they are far more often victims of sexual abuse and violence at cis peoples’ hands. They believe migrants are criminals, when the crime rate among migrants is a fraction of the rate among citizens.
We cannot protect people from their own imaginations. Instead, we must determine appropriate responses and interventions based on data and reality.
7. What are the transportation/transit challenges which face your jurisdiction and how would you address them? What role does green energy play in your proposed solutions?
District 9 is growing so fast that we're overwhelming our infrastructure, as anyone who's commuted on 169, 18, or even I-5 can attest. And most of the cars hold only the driver. Expanding the roads is a very short-term solution that will also increase pollution. Reducing the overall Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) will reduce congestion, shorten commutes, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
King County Metro already offers a variety of innovative transit options, so we have to determine why commuters aren't using them. I know personally that it's unfeasible to use the train from Maple Valley to Seattle: local infrastructure doesn't support biking to Kent Station, and it takes 30 minutes to get to there by car. After adding up the waiting and transit times for the train and shuttles, driving the whole way is much faster.
The bus isn't any better. It runs less than once an hour, makes many stops, and inflicts physical discomfort from the seats. Driving alone is, again, much faster and more comfortable.
A Vanpool subsidized by Amazon was the solution for me. However, the expense and bookkeeping make Vanpools impractical for many.
We must make mass transit more attractive to our communities. Building a train station in Covington or Maple Valley using the existing BNSF Railway line would alleviate some of the congestion on major arteries. More comfortable buses with frequent, reliable schedules may also attract some suburban riders. While electric buses or trolleys would be ideal, the bankruptcy of Metro's partner suggests that proven hybrid diesel buses would be the best short-term option. Metro should also continue to innovate; I would like to see a Vanpool/Rideshare hybrid solution, allowing drivers and commuters to have more flexible schedules.
Of course, parking will also be required for any solution. Centralizing that parking at local transportation and economic hubs will allow us to convert distributed street parking into protected bike lanes, further eliminating congestion and encouraging patronage of local businesses. The centralized could support solar farming or community food production.
By typing my name below, I declare under penalty of perjury the foregoing is true and correct.
Printed Name: Jude Anthony
Date (mm/dd/yy): 06/04/2025
