“As America zigs, Washington zags." That was the name of our election night episode. And you might remember hearing from a lot of places, for days or even weeks post-election, that Washington was the only state in the country where Trump did not gain ground compared with 2020.

The national vote shifted toward Trump by about 6 points.

But Washington is special – we take our sweet time counting all the votes. And now that the election is certified, we can say with certainty: Washington state did swing toward Trump… a little. About a quarter of a percentage point.

Still, that's less than any other state in the nation. You have this across-the-board political shift toward Trump, and Washington barely budges. Why? What is Washington state missing that the rest of the country sees, or… what do we see that they're missing?

To answer that question, Sound Politics host Scott Greenstone was joined by Andrew Hong, a data and research analyst with the Washington Community Alliance with experience working with HaystaqDNA, a Democratic-aligned analytics firm this past election. The show was also joined by Paul Graves, a former Republican state Representative, and current president of Enterprise Washington, a campaign organization for the business community in Washington State.

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundpoliticsnotes.

Sound Politics is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Gabe Spitzer. Our producer this week is Alec Cowan. Our host is Scott Greenstone.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve gotten two major announcements from local politicos: First, Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales has announced she’s resigning from her seat on the council come January.

Morales was re-elected this year, and is one of the two remaining incumbents of the 2020 council, which pushed for more progressive policies like police reform.

What’s behind the toxic and “harmful” atmosphere within the council Morales alleges, and how did it possibly impact her ability to pass legislation?

And, we’ll discuss King County Executive Dow Constantine’s decision to not run for reelection next year. Host Scott Greenstone, political consultant Sandeep Kaushik, and PubliCola editor and publisher Erica Barnett hash it out on this week’s Sound Politics.

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundpoliticsnotes.

Sound Politics is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Gabe Spitzer. Our producer this week is Noel Gasca. Our host is Scott Greenstone.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s everyone’s favorite time of the year… budget season.

Washington state legislators are facing a deficit of over $10 billion dollars for the 2025-2027 budget. And, the state’s not alone: King County is looking at maybe a $150 million deficit by 2026. Seattle is about to pass a budget that filled a $250 million budget hole without massive cuts.

Sound Politics host Scott Greenstone sat down with KUOW government reporter Jeanie Lindsay, and Seattle Times politics and community reporter Daniel Beekman to figure out what’s on the chopping block, and how it affects our lives.

Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundpoliticsnotes.

Sound Politics is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. Our editor is Gabe Spitzer. Our producer this week is Sarah Leibovitz. Our host is Scott Greenstone.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.