Early results show Manion leads Ferrell in King County Prosecutor race

Leesa Manion and Jim Ferrell vie for the position of King County Prosecuting Attorney.

Last updated on Nov. 12 at 4:03 p.m.

Total votes counted: 742,831 out of 1,383,660 registered voters (53.69%).

Leesa Manion 56.85 % (374,001 votes)

Jim Ferrell 42.62 % (280,408 votes)

Following the retirement of longtime prosecuting attorney Dan Satterberg, two candidates now compete for the position of King County Prosecuting Attorney.

Leesa Manion has served as the chief of staff for Satterberg’s office for 15 years, where she supervised a staff of over 600 professionals. She has the endorsment of Satterberg, as well as King County Executive Dow Constantine, and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell.

In past debates and discussions, Manion has supported investments and coordination between agencies to create a better mental healthcare system that more effectively interacts with the criminal justice system and she has been a vocal proponent of program that divert certain offenders out of encarceration, like King County’s Restorative Community Pathways program – which works to offer justice alternatives to juvenile offenders of certain crimes.

Jim Ferrell is the current mayor of Federal Way and boasts 19 years of experience as a prosecutor. He is endorsed by several police officers unions and has campaigned on frustrations with rising crime levels in the region. Ferrell has also been a vocal opponent of King County’s Restorative Community Pathways program – which he says was implemented by the county without local input, transparency and accountability measures. Ferrell also raised concerns that the program includes offenders of certain robbery and possesion of an illegal weapon charges among others.