Having Food, and Not Mincing Words, With Jeanie Chunn

This is the last of four profiles, running this week, on candidates for Seattle City Council District 2. Profiles will run in alphabetical order based upon the candidate's first name. To break the mold of traditional candidate interviews, I tagged along with each to do something they like that isn't related to their campaign.

You can learn more about each candidate at the South Seattle Emerald Primary Candidate Debate on Monday, July 21, 6:30–8 p.m., at the Rainier Arts Center, where you’ll hear each candidate share platform ideas in person.

Jeanie Chunn is an impassioned candidate. We met at Half Shell, a new Tom Douglas concept in the old Etta's space. While an oyster happy hour might seem in stark contrast to riding motorcycles, skateboarding, or playing ultimate frisbee — activities undertaken with the other District 2 candidates in their Emerald profiles — we opted for oysters for a couple of reasons.

One, she had suggested weeding the NewHolly Rockery Community Garden, but compared to her fellow candidates, who all agreed to purely recreational activities, it seemed too campaign-y. And two, we have the restaurant industry in common.

In keeping with that, the first 15 minutes of our conversation were dominated by discovering who we knew in the industry (she waited tables at Cafe Campagne a lifetime ago with my current general manager, it turns out) and sharing pandemic-era restaurant horror stories.

As if on cue, a friend from her Campagne days walked by. This friend now works for the city and, with a laugh, warned Chunn that, "If you win, I'm going to be right in your door, and there's going to be a list this long. I expect special attention!"

"You got it!" Chunn promised, without asking after the contents of that list. But when it came time to talk politics, Chunn, who showed up in a keffiyah, could not stay off her soapbox: not in an unpleasant, preachy way, but more in the sense of someone with political ambitions who gets so lost in a topic, they forget where they are and speak enthusiastically. No prep, no polish, just genuine conviction.

What does she feel strongly about? Many things, but a lot had to do with governance: how we come up with policy, who we involve in that process, how long it takes, and who it serves.

Talking about transportation safety, she has zero qualms saying the quiet part out loud. Complaining that the solutions have always been there, but not the political will to implement them, she said, "D2 needs less of that. […] They need more people that are willing to be in the room to be like, 'We will not be left behind. We matter, too, not just the North End.' The South End has gotten the short end of the stick for way too fucking long."

Citing her work with small restaurant owners, she argued that most of the people who participated in the group she cofounded, Seattle Restaurants United, were in favor of policies that help workers. It's the large corporations that hold us back.

"These [small] business owners give a fuck about our city, and they recognize that we live in an ecosystem, and they recognize that if we have money for transit, their staff is taken care of. If we have affordable housing, their staff is taken care of. [The staff is] happier. They're able to live close to where they work. These small business owners know that, because they care about our community, unlike corporations that don't give a fuck about our community."

Clearly, Chunn, 49, does not mince words. And she had similarly sharp words for the infamous Seattle process, something she cited as having derailed good things for the South End:

"Listen, we need process, obviously, but let's speed that bitch up. You know what I mean? Why do we need to table for two weeks?"

Moving right through thorny subjects, she talked about the intersection of class and race, as she's a candidate who cites her Asian American racial identity as bona fide. Yet again, she did not miss a beat.

"For me, I'm here to support the working class people, period," she said. "And I think when we look at the working class and overlay gender and race on that — you know what I mean? It turns out there's big [class] disparities with Black versus white."

The working class, she noted, are "already the ones that are overtaxed in Seattle," a nod to the equity implications of progressive taxation. This was her, unfiltered.

She also supports reducing the number of lanes — sometimes called a "road diet" — on MLK Jr. Way South. "Is it going to be popular for me to say, we need a bike lane on MLK and reduce the lanes not to four, but to two?" she asked. "Probably not. But the reality is that I don't think that one life, much less all of the lives that have been lost on MLK, is worth it."

On homelessness, she's against sweeps and in favor of increased investments in housing. Asked about gun violence, she brings up basic minimum income. She's bullish on social housing. She's in favor of a fully independent civilian crisis response. But so far, other than the support of the Maple Elementary fifth-grade class, she's got an endorsement from the WA Working Families Party.

She doesn't care, though. She's confident the qualities that won over fifth graders — compassion, ferocity, a genuine desire to see a better Seattle — will help her win over voters.

"Why can't we agree that housing is a priority and make sure that everybody has a house? Why can't we say that if you love the person you love, you get the same rights as someone else? We make all this shit up. Let's just agree that everybody deserves shelter. Let's agree that if you're LGBTQIA+, you deserve the same rights as everyone else. Let's agree that we care about the planet and we're trying to reduce carbon emissions. And let's prioritize all of those things."

Even without an endorsement from The Stranger, Chunn believes that if she can get in front of voters, she'll be more than capable of inspiring them.

Jeanie Chunn, Jamie Fackler, Eddie Lin, and Adonis Ducksworth will all have a chance to get in front of voters at the Emerald's District 2 Candidate Primary Debate on Monday, July 21, 6:30–8 p.m., at the Rainer Arts Center.

As a 501(c)(3) organization, the South Seattle Emerald™ cannot endorse candidates or political campaigns.

Tobias Coughlin-Bogue is a writer, editor and restaurant worker who lives in South Park. He was formerly the associate editor of Real Change News, and his work has appeared in The Stranger, Seattle Weekly, Vice, Thrillist, Thrasher Magazine, Curbed, and Crosscut, among other outlets.