Tacoma chose a new mayor Tuesday. Here’s who is in the lead
Anders Ibsen was leading in the race to become Tacoma’s next mayor Tuesday night.
Ibsen received 13,773 votes or 53.61% of the vote compared to his opponent John Hines’ 11,763 votes, or 45.78% as of election night, with 19.29% voter turnout so far. Pierce County officials will continue to release results in the days to come until the election is certified on Nov. 25.
Ibsen said he was “beyond grateful” and that starting Nov. 5 he’ll be reaching out to city council members, city department heads and community leaders so he can “hit the ground running” when he officially becomes mayor in 2026. He said he’s looking forward to working with Hines on the council. As the city council member for District 1, Hines would overlap with Ibsen on the council until 2028.
“Ive always known John to be a smart, hardworking guy. He’s my neighbor,” Ibsen told The News Tribune.
Hines said he’s “not in the position we want to be in.” But if Ibsen maintains his lead, Hines also looks forward to working with Ibsen on the city council, he said.
“But it’s early, the margin’s still pretty close, so we’ll just be waiting to see what the ballots look like in the next couple days,” Hines told The News Tribune.
If his lead holds, Ibsen would take on the position at a pivotal time for the city. This year’s election has the potential to install new faces in five of the nine seats on Tacoma’s City Council as the city searches for a permanent city manager and police chief and reckons with the impact of a new presidential administration. Tacoma’s next mayor will earn $125,224.78 a year starting in 2026.
By Nov. 4, Hines had raised $269,088.55 and Ibsen had raised $297,328.10. The race for Tacoma mayor was the ninth-most expensive in Washington this year, according to the state’s Public Disclosure Commission.
Ibsen’s win comes after receiving 38.37% of the vote in the primary, compared to Hines’ 19.15%.
Ibsen, 39, previously served on the city council for two terms representing District 1. He campaigned with plans to prioritize issues like affordability and safety. He’s a Realtor and managing broker at Windermere Professional Partners, a real-estate brokerage.
Hines, 42, holds the District 1 seat previously held by Ibsen. The two ran against each other for the District 1 seat in 2015, and several city council members endorsed Hines – but Ibsen ultimately won by a single-digit margin.
Hines has said he plans to prioritize issues like addressing homelessness and public safety. He’s also an educator, currently an instructional facilitator for academic acceleration for Tacoma Public Schools.
The candidates appeared to have more similarities than differences – both longtime Tacoma residents, both representing the same district, both interested in prioritizing public safety in Tacoma. Differences emerged during their appearances at candidate forums and debates.
While Hines has spoken about supporting business in Tacoma as a strategy to address key issues like the city’s budget deficit, Ibsen leans on more progressive talking points like rebuilding Tacoma residents’ trust with their elected officials and investing in Tacoma’s alternative-response teams.
Hines picked up endorsements from several city council members and outgoing, two-term Mayor Victoria Woodards, as well as three of his opponents in the primary race. Ibsen had the backing of several unions, including the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 367, and former city leaders like ex-council member Keith Blocker.
The two candidates, who have remained largely polite to each other in candidate forums, have engaged in heated exchanges over Hines’ now-approved camping ban and Ibsen’s previous ethics violation.
Two people filed complaints with Tacoma’s Board of Ethics in 2018 while Ibsen was on the city council, alleging that he used his position as council member to advance his personal real-estate business. The board found that Ibsen did violate the city’s ethics code but didn’t recommend a penalty against him because he had revised his marketing materials to remove references to his work as a council member.
Ibsen has since described the incident as an error and said he’d work to maintain a “firewall” between his work in real estate and his work on the city council if elected mayor. Hines has criticized Ibsen for the incident and questioned whether Ibsen could maintain such a divide.
Hines, on the other hand, has been controversial in recent weeks for proposing an ordinance that expands the parts of Tacoma in which homeless encampments are prohibited. The ordinance passed in a rare 5-4 split vote, dividing the largely left-leaning council into two camps, with some who felt the city could be doing more to provide shelter and services for Tacoma’s unhoused residents and some who felt the ordinance would bolster safety in Tacoma. Ibsen has been critical of the ordinance, saying it would cause more harm than good.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 8:19 PM.
