17-07-2025
TNT Editorial Board endorsement: Tacoma City Council Position 6 (at-Large)
Tacoma's City Council has an open seat this year, and the whole city has a vote. Position 6, an at-large seat on the council, has six contenders in this primary election. The News Tribune Editorial Board sat down with them all for a group interview.
With so many candidates to choose from, the board compared notes and found things to admire and critique about all of them. But one candidate managed to get all of our attention. That was Jessica Johnston, a resident of Hilltop who's active in the business community.
Her involvement in revitalizing downtown would be an asset. Johnston, 44, is vice president of the Downtown Tacoma Partnership, a chair of the City of Tacoma's Events & Recognition Committee and ambassador for the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber. She's also a director of Court House Square downtown, and property manager for the KSP Buildings on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Hilltop.
Johnston's focus goes beyond the basic interests of the downtown business community. She lists public safety, economic development with equity, and mental health and addiction services as her top three on a long list of issues she'd like to address. The approach combines a focus on revitalizing the city's businesses and neighborhoods with a desire to help people struggling with homelessness and other issues to stabilize their lives.
She spoke credibly on specific policy ideas for improving downtown Tacoma, like bringing city employees back to the office and increased communication between Tacoma Police Department and the Downtown Tacoma Partnership safety team.
It's true that Johnston's work has focused on downtown, and an at-large seat calls for a candidate who can represent the whole city's interests. Still, it's a point in her favor that she's in touch with the needs of a neighborhood that in many ways is the face of Tacoma. It's also a microcosm of the city's larger issues.
Other notable contenders were Krista Perez, Latasha Palmer and Todd Briske.
Perez, 39, boasts endorsements from Tacoma mayor Victoria Woodards, several sitting city council members, and Washington State house speaker Laurie Jinkins. Her experience in workforce development at the Washington State Department of Commerce is also noteworthy, giving her insight into programs that build job skills and help people earn higher wages.
However, she talked about workforce development to the exclusion of other policy areas and didn't put forward a clear enough vision of what else will move the needle for housing affordability, homelessness and public safety in Tacoma.
Palmer, 38, also names eye-catching endorsements, like city council member Jamika Scott, the Tacoma public school teacher's union and the Tacoma local of the grocery workers' union UFCW.
She already works directly on many issues facing the people of Tacoma. Among other things, she works in community organizations to address housing access and to prevent the displacement of longtime residents as the Hilltop neighborhood sees improvements. That made it surprising that her policy ideas for these issues lacked specifics.
And Briske, 45, impressed the editorial board with his passion for issues of housing affordability and road quality. While he's lacking in the experience or relationships some of the other candidates bring to the table, his genuine concern for Tacomans' quality of life was clear. He's not our pick for this city council position, but the board hopes he'll keep looking for opportunities for community involvement.
Also running are Hunter Henderson and Lindsey Wills. Henderson, 36, lost the board when he said he would support mandatory services for people experiencing homelessness and addiction, a clear violation of individual rights.
Wills, 37, who lists a career in local government permitting offices, focused primarily on making access to building permits easier for business and residential property owners. While it's an issue worth looking at, it's too small of a step to hang a campaign on.
The News Tribune Editorial Board is: Laura Hautala, opinion editor; Stephanie Pedersen, TNT president and editor; Jim Walton, community representative; Justin Evans, community representative; Bart Hayes, community representative.
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