Politics by Evan Smith: Shari Winstead withdraws bid for third term on Shoreline City Council

Evan Smith

By Evan Smith

Incumbent Shoreline City Councilwoman Shari Winstead withdrew late Friday as a candidate for re-election.

Winstead withdrew shortly after the Friday deadline for candidates to file for ballot position. While candidates had to file Friday by either 4pm online or 4:30pm in person, they can withdraw their names from the ballot through Monday at 4:30pm.

She said Sunday that the filing came late Friday because she had to wait until she returned home from work to complete, sign, and fax the required withdrawal form.

Winstead’s withdrawal leaves three candidates on the Aug. 1 primary-election ballot. One is Susan Chang, a member of the Shoreline Planning Commission. Another is Bergith Kayyali, a retired social worker for the state Department of Social and Health Services who primarily worked with abused and neglected children and their families and with Native American families. The third is Carolyn Ahlgreen, who did not list contact information when she filed.

Winstead said Saturday that she would endorse Chang.

This position and any other position with three or more candidates appears on the primary ballot, with the top two vote getters qualifying for the November 7 general-election ballot.

Other Shoreline council positions will appear only on the November ballot because they have only one or two candidates. Incumbent Councilman Keith McGlashan faces a challenge from Jin-Ah Kim, a Democratic precinct committee officer who is working during the legislative session as a photographer for the legislature. Council members Will Hall and Christopher Roberts both are unopposed.

Winstead said Sunday that she had planned to run but changed her mind because of increasing family responsibilities. She said that those responsibilities would not prevent her from serving the rest of her term, which expires at the end of the year but would prevent her from making a four-year commitment.

State Public Disclosure Commission records show that Winstead had reported raising $4,324 and spending $130, but she said Sunday that most of the money raised was left-over money from her 2013 campaign. She said she expected to return what she could and give the rest to charity. None of the the three active candidates has reported raising or spending any money for the campaign.

She said that she had waited to withdraw until she found another candidate that she could support. She added that she now would help with Chang’s campaign. She said that she doesn’t know the other two candidates.

Winstead first won election in 2009, when she defeated then-incumbent Councilwoman Cindy Ryu, now a Democratic state representative. She won re-election unanimously in 2013.

She presided over the council as mayor in 2014 and 2015. She has been deputy mayor in 2016 and 2017.