Woodards is cruising to victory in Tacoma mayoral race. Now comes the real test
What’s the current state of Tacoma? It depends on whom you ask.
If you were paying attention Tuesday night, the city’s mayoral race provided a firm reminder of just that.
Packed inside the Urban Elk Bar and Restaurant, incumbent Victoria Woodards gathered with supporters, hopeful for good news. After a few rounds of drinks and appetizers, when results finally dropped, they revealed what everyone in attendance had been eagerly anticipating: Confirmation that she’ll almost certainly get four more years in office.
Just outside?
A cold rain fell on a city where the sentiment often feels nowhere near as unanimous.
Somehow, some way a campaign that pitted the heavily backed Woodards against challenger Steve Haverly — a middle-aged man with zero political experience who few people had ever heard of six months ago — still managed to reveal deep divisions in our community. Despite the celebratory tenor of the Woodards party — which predictably brought out a who’s who of her prominent local supporters — it was clear long before results showed the mayor with a commanding lead that serious work is ahead.
Homelessness. Affordable housing. Systemic racism. Police reform and the concept of public safety. Like other large urban cities across the country, these issues dominated local conversations leading up to Tuesday night. Fair or not, they’re national crises that every mayor must now face, including our own.
Sadly, perhaps, we might remember the 2021 Tacoma mayoral race for the thoughtful debates that never happened. For all his obvious enthusiasm (and, perhaps, naïveté), Haverly was an unserious candidate whose challenge never amounted to much. Woodards’ victory appeared resounding Tuesday night, but we shouldn’t mistake that for an endorsement of the status quo from anyone, conservatives or liberals alike.
For her part, Woodards glided to center stage Tuesday night to deliver her victory much like she always does, with her heart on her sleeve. She painstakingly credited so many Black civil rights leaders who came before her — like Lyle Quasim, Dolores Silas, Willy Stewart and the late Harold Moss — while keeping one eye fixed on the future. With deliberate purpose, she promised to keep pushing the city forward in its response to COVID-19, affordable housing, homelessness and policing while vowing to continue helping transform Tacoma into an “anti-racist city.”
All of these issues remain on her checklist, she said, and her work isn’t done.
“This campaign isn’t about what was. While we have to honor the past … I believe we all have a clear picture of what’s broken,” Woodards told the crowd. “So now it’s time to face that picture, and to make a difference.”
As a candidate and a leader, Woodards is often defined by her outpouring of emotion, for better or worse. To hear her tell it — as she did Tuesday night — her first four years as mayor were filled with small victories, like the creation of the Mayor’s Youth Commission of Tacoma, that laid the groundwork for the more substantial challenges ahead. Some critics might chalk her leadership style up to warm feelings and incremental progress, but Woodards remained adamant that she’s got much more than pragmatism and empathy to offer.
“If you think I’m just about hugs, don’t get it twisted,” Woodards said. “While I love a good hug and I believe in approaching everything from the positive side, we still got a lot of work done in the last four years, but we won’t rest on that.”
Unspoken Tuesday night, but undoubtedly true? The firm majority of Tacoma voters are counting on it. While the 2021 election might be all but decided, the problems that defined Tacoma’s race for mayor have yet to be solved.
The good news is, Woodards seems to know it.
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 8:35 AM.
