Seattle City Council taps SPD crime prevention coordinator to fill District 2 seat

The Seattle City Council has selected Mark Solomon to represent District 2, after former Councilmember Tammy Morales vacated the seat earlier this month.

Solomon's name may be familiar to voters in the district, which stretches from the Chinatown-International District to Rainier Beach. He challenged Morales for her seat in 2019 but lost by a decisive 21 percentage points.

"Out of all the people ... I can speak the highest of Mark’s integrity and Mark’s moral character," District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka said, noting he served with Solomon at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and has known him for two decades.

The Council voted 5-3 Monday to appoint Solomon to the seat after five rounds of voting. A candidate needed five votes to secure the seat; Solomon received four votes in the first four rounds before reaching the threshold he needed to win.

"Let’s stop talking, and let’s get some work done," Solomon said after accepting the appointment, seemingly referencing the lengthy hearing in which several members offered kind remarks to each of the finalists.

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Solomon is a crime prevention coordinator with the Seattle Police Department, a position that seems to align him with the Council's public safety priorities. He was one of six finalists — all men — selected from a list of 20 candidates.

"If this is the future of our city, our future is bright," District 6 Councilmember Dan Strauss said of the finalists.

Strauss went on to address Solomon: "A public commenter said they breathe a sigh of relief when you walk through the door. I am one of those people."

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To keep his new position, Solomon will have to run for the seat in a special election this year. The winner of that election will serve the remainder of Morales' term through 2027.

Morales announced she was stepping down in December, saying she was "targeted with bullying and gaslighting" by other members of the council. She also alleged that the "council is sliding towards really undemocratic behavior."

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The other five finalists considered Monday were:

• Hong Chhuor
• Adonis Ducksworth
• Thaddaeus Gregory
• Edward Lin
• Chukundi Salisbury

The final vote came down to Solomon and Ducksworth, a transportation advisor to Mayor Bruce Harrell.

This is the second year in a row the Council has had to appoint someone to fill a vacant seat.

Last January, citywide Position 8 was left open when Teresa Mosqueda left for a seat on the King County Council. Tanya Woo was appointed to replace her in a move that left her detractors aghast; Woo had just lost her bid to unseat Morales in November 2023. Woo then lost Position 8 in November 2024 to Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who currently sits on the Council. Rinck voted for Ducksworth on Monday.

Some wondered if Woo would seek the District 2 appointment, but her name was not on the Council's shortlist. Woo has still not ruled out running for the office again, though, and could make a play for the seat in the special election this year.