With the latest results showing her trailing by 135 votes, Edmonds City Council Position 2 candidate Janelle Cass conceded to opponent Will Chen Tuesday night.
In a statement posted on her campaign Facebook page, Cass congratulated Chen on his sucessful campaign and also offered thanks to “all the volunteers, supporters and donors who made this campaign possible.” She also thanked her family members for the sacrifices they made during the campaign.
Cass said she made her decision to concede “after reviewing the latest numbers on the election results that came out last night.” The Nov. 15 results released by the Snohomish County Elections Office show Chen with 7,784 votes (50.37%), compared to 7,649 votes (49.50%) for Cass. Chen’s lead “is a direct result of a strong work ethic and putting in extra hours to serve our community,” Cass said. “Edmonds will benefit from Will’s dedication. We can all look forward to him hitting the ground running and bringing his fiscal expertise to city council.”
Both newcomers to Edmonds’ political scene, Cass and Chen were running to permanently fill the Position 2 council seat vacated when then-Councilmember Mike Nelson was elected mayor in 2019. Luke Distelhorst, who was appointed in January 2020 to serve the remainder of Nelson’s term, was defeated by Cass and Chen in the August primary. Cass, who owns Ohana Hyperbarics in downtown Edmonds, took an early lead, receiving 52% of the vote Nov. 2. But on Friday, Nov. 5, Chen — who operates the Will Chen CPA firm near Highway 99 — overtook Cass and never relinquished his edge.
In his own statement issued Tuesday night, Chen said he was “deeply appreciative of having the opportunity to run against such a strong candidate. Edmonds is not only a special place, it is also very lucky to have such passionate people that are willing to step up to run for office and represent our community.”
“I am confident, that we will accomplish great things as a community, and even though it may appear at times that we are far apart on many issues, we share an equal love for this city,” Chen continued. “I look forward to working with Janelle and her supporters on the issues facing our city so that we can find common ground and make Edmonds a better place for everyone.”
Chen also offered thanks to his “family, friends, volunteers, campaign team, supporters and the countless members of the community who stood by my side during the last 10 months of campaigning.”
Thanks to both Janelle and Will for their generous and respectful statements, modeling civility for the rest of us.
We’re still waiting for similar graciousness from the other two council contests. Given that their margins were much larger, I would’ve expected concession statements and congratulations to have been offered by now.
Yes, one would think so. I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one. But I do agree.
Thank you both Will and Janelle for putting yourself out there and run for office. Our city is truly fortunate to have individuals such as yourself willing to help guide our city to a future we want. You’ve both demonstrated the way democracy should work by running strong campaigns and accepting the results. Congratulations, Will!
Excellent gesture Ms. Cass. This shows grace, sportsmanship (sportspersonship?) and dignity. A class act! Equally impressive is Mr. Chen’s response. Then again, both actions are not a surprise considering the excellent caliber of people they are.
It is time for the other candidates to congratulate the winners and be graceful.
Adrienne Fraley-Monillas – do you have it in you to concede?
Alicia Crank – what about you?
Follow the example and rise to the occasion!
I believe that if Janelle and Will had run for different seats they would both be on city council this cycle. Clearly voters saw both as compelling candidates or it wouldn’t have been as close as it was. Good job to both and congratulations to Will.
Looking forward to concessions from the candidates in the other races.
Echoing many thanks to both Ms. Cass & Mr. Chen, two very strong candidates. Here’s hoping our special city get’s back to a place where the city council can govern in some much needed harmony. Congratulations to the new members & best wishes to the sitting members.
Excellent campaigns by both candidates! The final margin was razor thin. I have great respect for both of them, and hope Janelle considers running again in the the next cycle.
Joan Bloom ran a very competitive and effective campaign against DJ Wilson in 2011 winning by about 114 votes. The Chen/Cass campaigns are for sure in the same league with Bloom/Wilson. I recall that candidates seemed to have a better handle on their allies and the trash-talk was minimal compared to today. We had better all-around leadership models then also. https://myedmondsnews.com/2011/11/dj-wilson-concedes-to-joan-bloom-says-he-will-continue-work-on-good-government-issues/
Matthew,
Thanks for linking to that article. It is ten years, to the day, since DJ’s concession to me in a very close election. And yes, Edmonds politics is different now, in many ways.
These two ran the best campaigns ever seen in Edmonds.
As the close numbers indicate, this was most likely a win for Edmonds either way. Even though I didn’t vote for him, I really look forward to seeing Mr. Chen on the Council. While I don’t particularly like the idea of C.P.s endorsing each other, the fact that Vivian Olson backed Mr. Chen makes me think he will be more than just O.K. in the job, and look at the issues from a more non-partisan and independent viewpoint that the position requires to be done properly.
This was a race between two excellent candidates. How fortunate we are in Edmonds to be witness to noteworthy role modeling from both Ms. Cass and Mr. Chen. These fierce competitors showed their worth by being compassionate learners, hard workers, and ultimately graceful humans. Thank you to both.
Matthew, great comment and link to Joan Bloom’s campaign in the past. The comments in the link are very interesting to read. Thanks for the link.
It is scary to see the amount of money raise for this one seat. Over $100,000. Other races had some big numbers as well. No answers just concerns.
Mr. Haug, concern or interest here is very appropriate. Using the 10-12-21 chart supplied by MEN, a total of $203,780.91 in financial support was reported by all candidates combined for Edmonds City Council races.
The most money raising candidate did not always win as evidenced by one candidate reporting roughly 20K less.
Is this a good end result for Edmonds residents to have this much cash in local elections? How much influence does it wield? Each person must decide.
This is just another reason to look at changing up how things are done here. For example, what if the Council Person was running out of a specific district of the city with a population of around 6000 total, rather than trying to chase the votes of 42000+ people? (assuming a seven person council; a five person council would possibly be even better for a town this size). Less signs, easier outreach, the chance for neighborhood meetings and smaller election events, should equal less money to have to spend just to get the job.
My idea would be to cut the number to five elected C.P.s working full-time for a reasonably good salary to attract good people. Require two evening meetings per month by the C.P. with his or her constituents in a public place during evening hours. Anyone in town could attend any meeting they chose but district residents would be given first priority to comment with a very liberal time limit, say five or ten minutes. The C.P.s would have the regular weekly full Council Meetings during the day and generally with no public comment unless they vote to allow it during any given discussion (they should know by then what their own constituents concerns were from the local meetings). The C.P.s would have the power to hire and fire a city manager at will and each C.P. would have some administrative role and presence in each city department on a rotating basis and back up decision control over their assigned department during any time the city was missing the manager for whatever reason. A sixth non-voting (except to break ties) C.P. would be elected at large to be the ceremonial Mayor and run the full City Council Meetings (this could probably be a half-time position). An alternative might be to have an elected full-time City Attorney who could run the full council meetings and act as a ceremonial Mayor.