The Victoria Woodards era is over. What’s next for longtime Tacoma leader?
Outgoing Mayor Victoria Woodards thanked at least 30 people by name during her final Tacoma City Council meeting.
After 15 years on the council – seven as a council member and eight as mayor – Woodards was filled with gratitude. For her friends and family, her fellow council members, her supporters and city staff, as well as those who disagreed with her. The list could go on, she said.
In what was likely her final interview with The News Tribune as Tacoma’s mayor, surrounded by mementos of her time in office, Woodards reflected on her career in public service, at times getting emotional. In her usual warm and effusive manner, Woodards said she is proud of how the city endured the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to a new presidential administration, and optimistic about mayor-elect Anders Ibsen’s leadership come 2026.
Her first priority when her term ends this year is to go on vacation – and after that, she doesn’t know. Woodards said she has considered getting into consulting but doesn’t intend to run for office again.
“I will never say never,” Woodards said. “But that’s not in my plans.”
In the meantime, Woodards said, she’s looking forward to being called just “Victoria.”
Challenges Woodards faced
Woodards was among the city’s top leaders during some of Tacoma’s more tumultuous years. In 2017 Woodards won the election to replace now-Rep. Marilyn Strickland, who served as Tacoma’s mayor for two terms.
Since then, Woodards helped steer the ship in the face of criticism over a liquefied natural gas plant under construction on the Tideflats, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of Manuel Ellis and subsequent calls for police reform, the development of a major rezoning effort known as Home In Tacoma and much more.
She faced extensive criticism over the city’s handling of those issues. Looking back, Woodards said she did the best she could.
“I will be criticized for a lot, but that goes with the job,” she said. “Eight years is not enough time to solve every issue, especially eight years when three of those years are COVID years.”
Woodards said the hardest thing to navigate was what she described as the public’s tendency to make assumptions about city decisions without asking questions.
“It’s hard to navigate what people believe is true or assume is true, and then what actually is true,” she said.
Woodards also faced criticism of the so-called “consensus culture” that some say she fostered with her common refrain: “Five votes is politics, nine votes is leadership.” The Tacoma City Council often votes 9-0, which some have said implies a focus on agreement over good policy.
Ty Moore, co-executive director for Tacoma For All, said the group has met repeatedly with Woodards over the years, particularly as it was developing plans for a “tenant bill of rights” in 2023. Moore said the organization has “fundamental” disagreements with Woodards over policy matters, but her desire for consensus “really represented somewhat of a bygone era in the city.”
“We didn’t find that helpful or transparent, and you know, she was on the wrong side of most of the issues we fought on,” Moore said.
In her final speech to the City Council on Dec. 16, Woodards spoke in support of her desire for unanimous council support.
“Don’t let anybody convince you that you have to vote against each other in order to be strong,” she told the council.
Top accomplishments and looking ahead
Woodards said she’s proud of the work she did as mayor, accomplishments ranging from the establishment of the mayor’s Youth Commission and most recently the passage of the Tideflats subarea plan – a nearly decade-long effort to identify a long-term vision for the Tideflats.
She said she’s most proud of how she led the city and the positive feedback she received.
“There’s a quote that says people will forget what you say, but they’ll always remember how you made them feel,” she said. “I hope that I made Tacoma feel the love that I have for the city and the love that I have for the people who live in it.”
Aside from the obvious – the city’s ongoing search for a permanent city manager and permanent police chief – Woodards said addressing homelessness, Tacoma’s budget deficit and the local impacts of President Donald Trump’s administration are likely to be top of mind for Ibsen, who will be sworn in as mayor in January 2026.
Overall, she said, Tacoma residents are increasingly looking to their local city and county leaders and expecting less support from the federal government since Trump took office. Though that hasn’t resulted in different expectations for Tacoma’s mayor, she has noticed more civic engagement in recent years, and more awareness from Tacoma residents of the city manager and what they are responsible for.
“I do think there are increasing demands on local government to solve issues that are in some way, attributed to the decisions of the federal government,” Woodards said.
Supporters
For all her detractors, Woodards has long enjoyed the support of groups like the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce. Tom Pierson, interim president and CEO of the chamber, said the chamber has worked extensively with Woodards throughout her time in office. He said Woodards was “critical” in leading the city through the pandemic.
“She just bleeds Tacoma, and all that she does is about how to make Tacoma better,” he told The News Tribune.
Several community leaders turned out to Woodards’ last meeting to congratulate her. Lua Pritchard, executive director of the Asia Pacific Cultural Center, thanked Woodards for her service. Bill Sterud, chair of the Puyallup Tribal Council, said Woodards improved relationships between the tribe and the city.
“On behalf of the Puyallup Tribal Council, I’d like to thank you for all your hard work,” Sterud said.
Woodards’ concluded her remarks at her final city council meeting after playing a clip of an interview she did with The News Tribune in 2017, moments before she was informed of her win in the mayoral election that year. In the video, she was in the middle of explaining her platform when she heard that she was in the lead – and exploded into celebration. She described it as one of her proudest moments as mayor.
“Thank you, Tacoma, for choosing me eight years ago and giving me the greatest opportunity of my life,” Woodards said in her final comments, appearing emotional. “A hometown girl who gets to be mayor of her hometown.”
This story was originally published December 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
