As Trump Assaults Democracy, Mayor Harrell and Nelson should cut ties with Republican City Attorney Ann Davison

Guest Post by Marc Auerbach

Marc Auerbach lives in the Maple Leaf neighborhood in Seattle, and is active in the 46th District Democrats. The opinions expressed here are his own, and not meant to reflect his employer or anyone ese.

MAGA in Seattle

We’re all watching it. Trump is waging war against Black and Brown immigrants and transgender people, undermining constitutional government, and using every legal and extra-legal tool at his disposal to bend states and cities to his will.

At a time when Seattle needs leaders dedicated to resisting this Republican onslaught, it’s concerning that the two most powerful figures in Seattle’s criminal legal system—City Attorney Ann Davison and Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan—are Republicans.

Bad Cop

Solan drew attention recently for supporting Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, the QAnon promoter and January 6^th truther, Kash Patel. Patel has even gone so far as to claim that the FBI planned the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

Solan brags that his organization, United Coalition of Public Safety, was the first “national” law enforcement group to endorse Patel's nomination, and he even traveled to DC for the confirmation hearings.

Appearing on Ari Hoffman’s KVI radio show afterwards, Solan complained that the FBI had not protected the Constitution and Bill of Rights during the Biden administration and enthused that Patel “just exuded Alpha energy…”.

It’s not surprising that Solan would back Patel. The day after the insurrection, Solan infamously re-tweeted extremist agitator Andy Ngo’s post suggesting that it was instigated by BLM activists. And Solan lamented the firing of two Seattle police officers who went to the Capitol that day and remained through the violence. A little over a year later, Solan had Ngo on his podcast to discuss the latter’s book, Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Plan to Destroy Democracy.

Playing Good Cop

While Solan only needs the votes from Seattle police officers to stay in office, City Attorney Ann Davison has to run for reelection in deep blue Seattle.

That explains why Davison plays the “good cop” to Solan’s bad cop—avoiding Republican rhetoric and public association with far-Right figures, at least since she threw her hat in the ring for City Attorney in 2021.

That doesn’t change the facts, however. 

Davison very publicly joined Trump’s Republican Party at the height of the 2020 election campaign, ran for Lieutenant Governor as a right-winger that year, and openly embraced Solan rather than stand with the Black Lives Matter movement (see Publicola for a thorough breakdown of Davison’s Trumpy politics).

Will the Real Democratic Leaders Please Stand Up?

All of this demands an answer from Mayor Harrell and Council President Sara Nelson – will they choose to maintain their close alliance with the Republican City Attorney when our fundamental democratic institutions are under assault by Trump?

Davison is up for re-election in November and a recent poll shows only 32% of Seattle voters are prepared to support her. Given the national political situation and the fact that there are credible candidates (Nathan Rouse, Rory O’Sullivan, Erika Evans) running for City Attorney, we should all demand that Harrell and Nelson cut Davison loose.

Photo Credit - AP, Campaign Courtesy Photos, Compilation at My Northwest