It shouldn’t be any surprise that Candace Mumm topped all the candidates for Spokane’s Northwest City Council seat. Her two main opponents lean Republican and were bound to split the vote.

Topping 50 percent in a four-way race, however, is a win of sorts for her and clearly puts her as the front-runner for November.

On the other hand, Mumm was actively involved in this campaign:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we assume Mumm knows that she can’t take Tuesday’s win for granted.

That's because for one, summer turnout is low and few are paying attention. For another, the votes for third-place finisher Curtis Fackler are likely to go to Mumm’s November opponent, Mike Cannon. Perhaps most importantly, the race is likely to have an unprecedented amount of attention for a single City Council election, making it hard to know where the race goes from here.

Even in the primary, the race was starting to feel like a proxy vote for mayor, with Republican-leaning Mayor David Condon backing Cannon and Democratic-leaning Council President Ben Stuckart backing Mumm.

There's no race in the Northeast council district and unless there's some crazy happenings in the next two months, Jon Snyder is an easy bet for reelection in the city's south district. Snyder's opponent, former state Rep. John Ahern is a relentless campaigner, but he may be more conservative than the South Hill can handle. An Ahern win there would be about as surprising as Amy Biviano winning a Spokane Valley legislative seat.

On the other hand, predictions should be made with extreme caution.

 

 

 

 

Spokane political forces in the next few months will be focused on Mumm and Cannon. If Stuckart wants the City Council Democratic-leaning minority to become a majority and if Condon is desperate to hold on to a Republican-leaning City Council the dollars are headed to Mumm and Cannon. As are the real estate agents and unions, the Democrats and Republicans and, of course, the mayor and city council president.

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