Candidate pool for Tacoma mayor to narrow after primary. Here’s who’s ahead
Anders Ibsen and John Hines, the former and current council members for Tacoma’s District 1, were leading in the race for Tacoma mayor in the Aug. 5 primary as polls closed on election night.
Ibsen and Hines held 35.71% and 19.97% of the vote respectively, according to election results posted just after polls closed Tuesday night. Steve Haverly was the next candidate with the highest number of votes, with 15.25%, closely followed by Whitney Stevens with 14.38%. Jesus “Jesse” Carlos received 11.48% of the vote, and Anthony (Tony) Ginn received 2.92%.
Pierce County officials will continue to gradually release election results until certifying the election on Aug. 19. The top two vote-getters in the primary will advance to the Nov. 4 general election.
Tacoma’s next mayor will replace Victoria Woodards who has held the seat for eight years – now reaching Tacoma’s two-term limit for mayors. The winner of this year’s general election will take on the role of mayor for four years in a time of significant transition for the city, which could see five new members of the City Council. The newly selected council will also be in charge of selecting a permanent city manager and will be involved in the search for a permanent police chief.
Ibsen served two terms on the council until his second term ended in 2019 and has most recently worked as a managing broker at Windermere Real Estate, according to his website. He’s backed by state senators Yasmin Trudeau and T’Wina Nobles, as well as groups including unions like the Tacoma Education Association and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367. Ibsen’s priorities include making homeownership accessible to Tacoma residents and addressing the root cause of crime.
Hines is serving his second term on the council after he was first elected in 2019. He has touted his work experience as a teacher and educator at Tacoma Public Schools on his campaign website. He’s backed by council members Olgy Diaz, Kristina Walker, Sandesh Sadalge and Sarah Rumbaugh, and groups like the Tacoma firefighters union, the Rental Housing Association of Washington and the Tacoma Pierce County Association of Realtors, according to his website. His priorities include finding solutions for homelessness in Tacoma and preventing crime, according to his website.
Ibsen told The News Tribune on election night that he was grateful to the other mayoral candidates who ran in the primary for the “classy” campaigns they ran and said that the city “chose accountability and progress” on election night.
This isn’t the first time Ibsen and Hines have run against each other in a Tacoma election – they last competed against each other in the race for District 1 in 2015. Though Ibsen emerged victorious, it was by a single-digit margin, The News Tribune reported then.
“I personally like John, if I’m successful, I’ll be working with him for two years,” Ibsen said of running against Hines again. “I think that it has less to do with how I feel about him as a person or running against him — it’s more just the different approaches we bring, and I think the voters have spoken.”
Hines told The News Tribune on Tuesday night that he was excited to be moving on to the general election. With six candidates in the primary, he said he knew the results of the election were going to be hard to predict.
“We both represented the same part of the city here in the North and West End, and now it’s about talking to the voters we both represented, and then getting out in the rest of the city and talking about who is right to be the next mayor the city of Tacoma,” Hines said of Ibsen.
This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 8:24 PM.
