Although De’Sean Quinn recently lost his bid for Tukwila City Council, the Seattle native, Garfield grad, and aide to King County Executive Ron Sims says he has no designs on packing up and heading north to test some friendlier political waters.
“The old-school people are saying, ‘Just move back to Seattle, people are more progressive here,'” Quinn says. “But Tukwila is where I decided to live. I want to stay and better my community. I hope to wait and try again. Hopefully the people who supported me won’t be discouraged.”
The 34-year-old Quinn, who’s lived in Tukwila for more than five years and purchased a home there with his wife a year ago, slugged it out in the primary against a couple of longtime locals for the vacant Position 2 (incumbent Pam Carter decided to run for mayor instead). He came in third with 19 percent of the vote, but was only 68 votes shy of second place. Graphic artist and grassroots organizer Kathy Hougardy, who won 54 percent, and arts commissioner Brian Kennedy, who garnered 24 percent, will face off in the Nov. 6 general election.
Interestingly, Quinn lost despite outraising them both. With more than $5,600, Quinn had nearly twice as much cash as Kennedy, and says he was shocked he didn’t advance to the general. “There was a part of me that didn’t know what to expect. It was humbling,” he says.
Still, Quinn, who worked on Sims’ failed bid for governor in 2004 and helped Richard McIver get re-elected to the Seattle City Council in 2001, says he knew he was up against some credible candidates with deep roots in the community. “She was the clear front-runner,” Quinn says of Hougardy. “And Kennedy had run several times. People knew their names. They didn’t know my name.”
Quinn says he tried to make up for being the new guy by hitting the streets, handing out flyers, and knocking on doors. “I tried to introduce them to me, many for the first time,” he says. “Obviously, in Tukwila, it takes more than once.”
Carter, the incumbent who’s stepping down, says a lack of community connections like Kennedy’s tie to the arts commission or Hougardy’s work in the schools hurt Quinn. “I talked to several people who said he sounded good, but they didn’t know him,” she says.
Former Tukwila School Board member and lifelong resident Ron Lamb agrees. “The older, more established demographic in Tukwila, I don’t see him as having an instant appeal to that constituency.” But Lamb says Quinn was making headway. “It seemed that he did everything right,” he says, adding that the paltry 28 percent turnout didn’t help Quinn’s cause either.
Sims, who lost his first bid for King County Council in 1981, is sympathetic. “You learn a lot of lessons that first time,” he says. “[Quinn] was new to people in and around Tukwila, but he was good on the stump. What happened is that he made a strong impression with the people in the community he lives in. I said to him, ‘You can’t go wrong. That’s cash in the bank.'”
McIver agrees. “It was a good effort for his first time out,” he says. “At least he got out there. I hope it doesn’t discourage him. I think he has a bright future ahead of him and would encourage him as much as I can.”
Quinn’s already dusted himself off. In fact, he may be the most enthusiastic victim of a primary defeat that you’ll ever meet. “I’m not discouraged,” he says. “I learned I have the desire and drive to keep doing this.”
