The race for Spokane's next mayor has generated some big amounts of money.
Mayor Nadine Woodward, who is running for reelection, has raised $343,000. Lisa Brown, the former state Commerce Department director, has raised $174,000.
In a distant third place for fundraising is Tim Archer, who has reported $725 in contributions to the state Public Disclosure Commission.
The other candidates — Patrick McKann and Kelly Stevens — have reported $0 to the PDC. (McKann has a GoFundMe with $530 that has yet to be deposited, and Stevens says she isn't accepting donations.)
Sure, money isn't everything in local politics. We get it. We live in a democracy. Anything can happen.
So, even with the greenbacks stacked against them, we wanted to hear from the underdogs — the dreamers taking on the political establishments of Brown and Woodward — and see what they have planned for the Lilac City.
PATRICK McKANN — THE YURT-BUILDER
McKann is standing at a panoramic overlook near Ben Burr Trail on Spokane's east side, pointing to parks and drawing invisible lines that map out his vision for the future of Spokane's greenspace.
"I want trails to go from Beacon Hill through Hillyard, Shiloh Hills, Whitman, Indian Trail, all the way there to connect with Riverside," McKann says. "Just to make this big triangle of this network of trails with protected lands in it, also connected."
The former wildlife biologist is running on two issues: traffic safety and greenspace preservation.
McKann, who currently builds yurts and sells them online, decided to run because of frustrations over the city's traffic calming process. He lives in the South Hill's Lincoln Heights neighborhood, on a residential street where cars often speed while coming off nearby arterials. He's spent years asking the city to install more stop signs and speed bumps to no avail.
Central to McKann's campaign is the "Spokane Moose Project," a proposal for the city to connect moose populations separated by I-90 by buying and preserving undeveloped land across Spokane.
McKann is less concrete when it comes to the homelessness and public safety issues other candidates are focused on.
"I don't know, I would have to talk to people," he says when asked if Spokane needs more cops.
For homelessness, McKann points to his greenspace plan.
Most of the undeveloped land he wants the city to purchase — near places like Orchard Prairie, Bigelow Gulch and Glenrose — would be preserved as a natural area. About a quarter of each parcel, McKann says, could be set aside as trailer parks for formerly homeless people.
"It's not like a Camp Hope. It's a trailer park with rules and regulations," McKann says. "The city will charge rent and actually make the money back."
McKann hopes an open public process and the prospect of empty land preserved as a natural area could help convince skeptical neighbors.
"There's no shortage of ideas for ending homelessness," McKann says. "I think there's just a shortage of acceptance that it could be near you."
But neighborhood opposition can be fierce. McKann himself successfully led outraged neighbors against recent proposals to build a dog park in a park near his house.
In a later email, McKann clarifies that he supports the idea of a South Hill dog park — as long as it doesn't destroy wildlife habitats. He adds that the Moose Project doesn't need to be tied to the trailer parks idea.
"I don't want the trailer park haters to be turned off from this conservation effort," McKann says.
TIM ARCHER — THE FORMER FIREFIGHTER
Archer pulls up to our interview on a motorcycle. It fits his personality — or at least the version he's pitching to voters.
Aggressive. Brash. Confident. A tough leader ready to clean up the streets, preserve law and order, and fight for conservative values.
"If you want strong change to happen quickly, I'm the guy to do that," Archer says.
Archer spent 20 years as a Spokane firefighter and took over as president of the fire union in 2019. He loved the work, but in 2021, Archer and 19 other firefighters were fired for not getting vaccinated against COVID.
Archer was devastated — and furious at Woodward for not standing up for him and his colleagues. That's when he decided to run for mayor.
"Honestly, it started out visceral, I'll admit that," Archer says. "But then I cooled off... You need to be doing it for the right, constructive reasons."
Archer paints Woodward as a weak, ineffective leader — a center-right moderate who backs down from fights. He thinks her administration's reluctance to fight the state Legislature's recent police reforms has "allowed Spokane to function in decay."
As mayor, Archer says he would direct the city attorney to fight the Boise v. Martin appellate court decision that prevents cities from enforcing anti-camping ordinances without adequate shelter space.
Archer thinks his tough-on-crime approach would weed out Spokane's "criminal element" and allow the city to concentrate resources on the "truly homeless."
"There's a large percentage of folks out there that need a consequence so they'll straighten themselves out," Archer says, adding that the uptick in arrests he proposes would require a new jail.
Archer, who is endorsed by the brash former Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, has a surprising level of admiration for Brown. She's a progressive on the opposite side of the ideological spectrum, but Archer describes her as competent and effective — a worthy opponent.
"The other side needs a strong champion to run against her, and I am that," Archer says. "You'd be a fool not to respect her."
KELLY STEVENS — THE POTHOLE FIXER
Stevens just got off a long shift filling potholes with the city's streets department. With pride, she notes that she's still wearing her work clothes and covered in oil.
"My gloves will always be in my back pocket when I'm in office, ready to go," Stevens says.
Stevens has thought about running for mayor for close to a decade. She's running now because she wants to bring the dedication with which she attacks potholes to the city's larger problems.
"I get so much satisfaction out of filling potholes," Stevens says. "I'm helping with some of the most annoying things that we deal with. I guess a big part of my desire is to make a bigger impact."
On homelessness, Stevens thinks Spokane needs to do a better job with a "housing first" approach that meets people where they're at. The city probably needs more shelters, she says, but for now, the city should focus on making the shelters it has safer and more inviting.
Affordable housing is another big concern for Stevens. She describes almost losing her housing during the 2008 recession, and notes that she currently lives near Minnehaha Park — not the more affluent parts of town so many other politicians call home.
"I don't remember the last time we had a mayor that lives in some of the rougher areas, or close to the rougher areas," Stevens says.
Stevens stresses that she wants every city department to have what they need to be successful. She doesn't name specifics when asked if there are areas where the city is spending too much or too little, but she says there are lots of inefficiencies she would "love to have an opportunity to look at."
As a city streets employee, Stevens has on-the-ground experience with city operations that most politicians lack. With all that firsthand knowledge, is there anything Stevens thinks the city could be doing differently when it comes to streets?
"I'm not gonna talk about that," Stevens says. "I don't want to get myself in hot water if I say the wrong thing." ♦
CORRECTION: This article was updated on June 15 to clarify how much money Tim Archer has raised.
