Yes, Tacoma has a real mayor’s election this summer. Here’s who earns our endorsement

Every mayor should have to face the crucible of a competitive reelection. Victoria Woodards is the only sitting Tacoma mayor this century to face it in two stages, ahead of the Aug. 3 primary and the Nov. 2 general election.

Tacoma voters are better off for having three choices in 2021. Picking a mayor shouldn’t be like pressing the Golden Buzzer on the TV variety show “America’s Got Talent,” where the judges can give an act a free pass through the audition rounds.

Not in a city of 220,000 people. Not after the series of adversities that Woodards had to juggle in her first term — a deadly pandemic, its devastating blow to Tacoma’s economy and tax revenues, the Manuel Ellis homicide and the reckoning for Tacoma’s police force that followed.

While she didn’t pass every test with perfect marks, Woodards has been a model of hope and compassion in a year of unprecedented crisis. The South End resident has played to her strengths by bringing people together.

The News Tribune Editorial Board endorses Woodards for Tacoma mayor, as we did in 2017, on the understanding that her second term must be about significant policy strides that go beyond hand holding and hugs.

Kudos to a pair of challengers, Jamika Scott and Steve Haverly, for giving Tacoma an actual mayor’s contest.

Scott, 34, is a Central Tacoma resident, artist and community organizer. She grew up on Hilltop, served as an Americorps volunteer and caught the activism bug fighting on behalf of at-risk children.

What’s thrust her into the spotlight, however, is her unflinching mobilization against social injustice as co-founder of the Tacoma Action Collective. Scott drew headlines in January after being arrested while protesting near the scene where a police officer drove through a crowd.

Scott gives voters a choice between two passionate, purposeful Black women. She says she’d be the better mayor because she’s free of political and corporate influences. But we were surprised she didn’t come at Woodards more aggressively in her Editorial Board interview, or offer a radically different leadership vision.

Haverly, 52, is a fourth-generation Tacoman who says his 27 years in construction management could help Tacoma develop affordable housing in a coherent way.The West Tacoma resident said he’s been thinking for years about running for office; he wants to regain the service focus he had as a Tacoma elementary school counselor long ago, which is admirable.

But Haverly acknowledges his values and goals mirror his opponents’, while his record of civic involvement can’t compete. That makes him the weakest candidate of the three.

Woodards, 56, has walked a long path of Tacoma public service: Metro Parks Board president, City Council member and Tacoma Urban League president/CEO.

Several credits short of a Pierce College degree, Woodards told us in 2017 that she aimed to be the first Tacoma mayor to graduate while in office. That hasn’t happened. But she was part of a group of mayors selected for the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Institute. She’s also in line to be president of the National League of Cities, the first Tacoma mayor to achieve that since Harold Tollefson in 1966.

On police reform, Woodards has been a strong voice locally and statewide; in the wake of the Ellis homicide, she urged the Legislature to create an Office of Independent Investigations. The governor signed it into law in Tacoma.

On confronting poverty, she’s been out front on innovations such as engaging Tacoma in a national guaranteed-income experiment.

But she’s at her best when tapping her deep well of emotion and empathy face to face, such as consoling Tacomans laid low by COVID-19.

At times that emotion can be a problem. She got ahead of her skis (and her city manager) last June when she publicly ordered the firing of the officers who killed Ellis long before an investigation was done — an action that a Tacoma mayor has no authority to take.

She also showed questionable judgment when she failed to say a word about COVID in a major televised address, days after the governor declared a state of emergency.

To this point, many of her initiatives have centered on feel-good talk. Yes, let’s “Heal the Heart,” but let’s also demand more substantive action on issues like homelessness and affordable housing, and the endless “interim” regulations for heavy industry at the Port of Tacoma.

Still, Woodards deserves credit for passing a stiff endurance test in 2020-21. The former soldier was willing to re-up when mayors in many cities, including Seattle, are stepping down.

We’re counting on her to lead Tacoma out of the shadows of pandemic, division and economic shutdown, and into a brighter future for all.

News Tribune election endorsements reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Misterek. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; Matt Driscoll, local columnist; Jim Walton, community representative; and Pamela Transue, a community representative who serves during election season. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom and does not influence the work of news reporting and editing staffs. Endorsements are merely recommendations based on candidate interviews, research and discussions among the board. We do not endorse any candidates who do not interview with us. For questions, email matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com

This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 1:00 PM.