As she seeks a second term, Seattle Council President Sara Nelson has drawn a serious challenger in Dionne Foster, and the election is poised to act as a referendum on the entire city council’s direction. A South Seattle resident with a long résumé in progressive policy work, Foster announced her campaign for the citywide Position 9 seat currently held by Nelson earlier this month.
Foster is backed by a long list of progressive elected officials from around the region, including a sizable contingent of Seattle’s delegation to the state legislature. Her campaign reported crossing the threshold to qualify for the Democracy Voucher Program — 400 signatures and 400 campaign donations — in just one week, which they say is a record.
Foster recently served as the executive director of the Progress Alliance of Washington, where she worked to pass Washington’s capital gains tax in 2021. Before that tax passed, Washington’s tax code rated as the most regressive in the country, but its passage moved the state down a slot.
Previously working as a senior program officer at the Seattle Foundation, as a senior policy advisor at Seattle Public Utilities and in the Seattle Mayor’s Office, Foster knows her way around City Hall. She also has direct experience in working with communities on the frontlines of the policy choices made there. As a policy analyst with Puget Sound Sage, she’s worked on environmental justice and climate issues through the lens of those who are most impacted by the status quo.
Foster talked with The Urbanist about her vision for Seattle and issues that she would seek to prioritize if elected.
“Trying to create a Seattle that works for everyone”
While the timeline for the adoption of Seattle’s 20-year growth plan is up in the air due to pending legal appeals, Foster may take office after pivotal votes spell out the framework the city’s housing growth. But Foster is open about what she wants to see from that plan, and that includes added density throughout the city. Nelson, by contrast, hasn’t been forthcoming about her stance on the growth plan, instead focusing on other housing issues like permitting reform and adding housing in SoDo as part of a vision for economic development.
“For me, we’re at a place where we have a tremendous opportunity to plan and deliver on growth in a way that can be great for our housing, so that we can have housing that is affordable and also housing that is abundant,” Foster said. “Abundant housing can also improve housing affordability in terms of, when we have both units that are subsidized and stabilized, and also when we have more market-rate units. And so I see that as those two things, abundance and affordability, being where we need to be focused as a city.”
Foster specifically brought up a need to retain all of the neighborhood centers proposed in the mayor’s plan — 30 clusters of additional multifamily density around existing commercial hubs and transit nodes. Homeowner-dominated neighborhood groups have strenuously opposed many of those new neighborhood centers, particularly in areas of the city that have long been exclusive enclaves, like Bryant, Green Lake, and Fauntleroy.
“It’s really an opportunity for us to create the opportunity to create more density. To allow density in places where there is more transit, to start to undo our history of exclusionary zoning,” Foster said. “I think it’s important to note that when we think about growth, it really is important that we are ensuring that we are not doing an updated version of redlining, where we’re only allowing growth in some districts of the city.”
Foster described increasing density in Seattle as multisolving a myriad of issues, from climate to affordability to the city’s need for progressive revenue.
“Housing growth and density is good business for the city, and I do think that’s something that’s often not a part of the conversation,” Foster said. “Density not only is part of solving our climate goals. It’s part of solving our affordability goals, but it’s also part of the way, when you think about city revenue — construction is good for the city.”
Foster doesn’t see increasing density as the only thing that Seattle should be doing on housing, though — far from it. “It’s so important that we are laser-focused on how we address our homelessness crisis and how we keep making progress, whether that means collaborating with [King County Regional Homelessness Authority] or other regional cities, thinking about how we have both the investments in permanent supportive housing and investments in things that are long-term solutions.”
When it comes to the idea of allowing housing uses in north SoDo around the stadiums, a proposal that Nelson has put forward that’s set to come up for a final vote this week, Foster told The Urbanist that she isn’t on board.
“When I was at the City, I got to work on the Duwamish Valley Action Plan. And those experiences really shaped my perspective in a lot of ways when it comes to: how we think about where people can live, where people can afford to live, and any challenges that come along with, whether it’s pollution or truck noise,” Foster said. “And then the other thing that I think is really important, having worked on both local, regional and state issues, is the port is Port of Seattle, but we’re really not just serving Seattle, but the state and region. […] Those two things for me, combined, tell me that this is not a proposal that I would have supported.”
Foster described a vision for a Seattle where artists can continue to live in the city, and where small businesses can continue to thrive as the city grows.
“The voice that I want to bring is, like, we’re trying to create a Seattle that works for everyone,” Foster said. “I think most people share the same belief, that when we allow growth, we can actually do it in a way that creates thriving communities.”
Taking an “all of the above approach” to public safety
With public safety and crime consistently at the top of public polling laying out Seattle voters’ top issues, the issue of how Foster distinguishes herself from Nelson will be a major one in this campaign. Nelson has prioritized police hiring and retention over her first term, along with supporting policies that expanded the ability of police officers to make arrests, including criminalizing simple drug possession, and stay out of drug areas (SODAs) and stay out of areas of prostitution (SOAPs).
Foster, while making it clear she doesn’t think Seattle should pivot away from police hiring, wants to see the city take a more comprehensive approach to public safety.
“My approach is really influenced by my experience and what I’ve seen both in my personal life and in my work life, and in my neighborhood and community. Really for me, it’s about both this need to get our police force staff to get a reflective police force and a police force that’s going to be accountable,” Foster said. “But it’s also — professionally, I’ve had the experience to work with and help resource organizations that are doing community safety, and I’ve just seen the absolute transformation that’s possible from that kind of work.”
She cited the Community Assisted Response & Engagement (CARE) department, specifically created to respond to crisis calls with civilian professionals when a full police response isn’t needed. Citywide expansion of that team is expected to be complete by the end of this month, but those 24 responders still represent just a tiny fraction of the overall public safety response framework at the city, with clear room to grow — once the City either circumvents or works out a deal with the police union to allow further expansion.
“I think a top priority for me is really thinking about how we can continue to expand CARE team and expand CARE team deployment,” Foster said. She also wants the city to be looking at how the public interacts with the City when it comes to public safety, such as knowing who to call for a non-emergency when police clearly aren’t needed. “For me, I’m really thinking about it as an all-of-the-above approach.”
Foster would bring a knowledge base to the council it currently lacks, she said, with few of the current councilmembers having any direct experience working in the public safety, public health, or homelessness fields.
“One of the things about me is, I’ve actually trained. I have my master’s in social work. I’ve worked in the systems world,” Foster said. “One of the things that I think bring to the table is thinking about those prevention components, and thinking about those community components, and thinking about the City’s role, what the City’s role is in doing those partnerships with folks.”
Refocusing Seattle on climate
With her background in climate work at both Puget Sound Sage and at City Hall, Foster told The Urbanist she’s interested in refocusing the City’s attention on climate change, in the wake of significant backsliding at the federal level. She touted her endorsement from Representative Joe Fitzgibbon, the state House’s Majority Leader and one of the state’s biggest climate hawks. In Mayor Ed Murray’s office, Foster worked on the city’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory after working on 2016 legislation to reduce building emissions while at Puget Sound Sage. She worries about the planet we’re leaving future generations, including her son.
“I think that cities are just going to be the most important places to actually make progress on these goals,” Foster said. “I have a 12 year old, and he’s sturdy, you know, but when I talk to him about climate, there’s just nothing I can do other than feel incredible urgency around it.”
Taking on policy issues across many different areas, Foster’s campaign is clearly positioning itself as a competent alternative to Nelson, who has become a divisive figure.
Nelson campaigned against progressive colleagues and endorsed a wave of centrists in 2023, who proceeded to elect her council president in 2024. She has used her powers as council president liberally to steer the body toward her priorities and undermine her opponents. Councilmember Tammy Morales resigned in January, citing mistreatment by Nelson and other colleagues. Nelson has openly feuded with Councilmember Dan Strauss, abruptly removing him as vice chair of the Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan last week.
Foster has pledged to be more a bridge builder and collaborative problem-solver. “I’m a really strong collaborator, even if I disagree with people,” she said. “That’s definitely part of the approach that I want to bring to council if elected. It’s just how I run.”
Between renewed collaborative spirit and a new skillset on council, Foster sees a path to making progress on key issues facing the city.
“I think I have the professional experience to tackle some of the biggest problems that we that we have right now,” Foster said.
Visit Foster’s website for more information. She is participating in the Democracy Voucher Program.
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including Capitol Hill Seattle, BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
