OPINION | Why I Will Not Vote for Tanya Woo

by Sharon Maeda

I don’t take this lightly. I’ve spent all of my adult years dedicated to equity and representation of BIPOC communities and nudging so many young people forward to take their place as leaders. Theoretically, I should be supporting Tanya Woo for Seattle City Council, Position 8. She is an Asian American woman. She’s part of a family that has owned neighborhood small businesses and in recent years has volunteered in the Chinatown-International District (CID). Decades ago, I remember a child running around Mon Hei Bakery, where I often stopped for egg tarts and moon cakes. That little girl was probably Tanya. 

So, why would I refuse to vote for Tanya Woo?

Tanya Woo never bothered to vote in local elections until 2021, as discovered by The Stranger when researching her voting record. When asked about it, she first said she was too busy. When that didn’t go over well, she said, “My people don’t vote,” throwing the Chinese and possibly the entire AA&NH/PI community under the bus. She totally negated the decades of hard work by Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Civic Empowerment (APACE), the Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS), the Chinese Information and Services Center (CISC), OneAmerica, and many other community organizations dedicated to helping members of the AA&NH/PI community vote. These organizations conduct citizenship classes, advocate for voter registration and ballot information in multiple languages, and help ensure that new Americans and disaffected citizens can exercise their constitutional rights. As recently as Oct. 12, at a candidate forum at the Eritrean Association in Greater Seattle, Woo repeated the “my people don’t vote” statement.

To me, not bothering to vote in local elections until your 40s is disqualifying for a candidate. Woo has no excuse. She was born and raised in Seattle and has a degree in communications from the University of Washington. And here’s the kicker: Woo apparently worked for KING 5 for years without being a registered voter!

Voting is the most important part of American democracy. People have fought and died for our right to vote. When I was a child, my family had a big celebration when my grandfather became a naturalized citizen. In addition to enjoying all the special-occasion Japanese food, family and friends gathered around a big sheet cake decorated with little American flags all around the edges. To vote for his very first time, Grandpa dressed in his Sunday suit and took my sister and me to the polling place. He closed the curtain and lifted me up to push the lever for the candidate of his choice. The overwhelming sense I got from elders was that if we don’t vote intelligently, “they might put us back in camps,” meaning the American concentration camps that incarcerated 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Virtually everyone in my family who was alive in 1942 was sent to those concentration camps. 

Wing Luke was the first Asian American elected to the Seattle City Council in 1962 and won by a landslide of 30,000 votes. John Eng became the first Asian American elected to the state legislature in 1973, followed the next year by Ruby Chow elected to the King County Council. They and other elected officials, including Martha Choe, Chow’s daughter Cheryl, David Della, Bob Hasegawa, Betty Patu, Sharon Tomiko Santos, Dolores Sibonga, Al Sugiyama, Kip Tokuda, and Velma Veloria were all the pride of Seattle’s AA&NH/PI community. Today, Toshiko Hasegawa and Sam Cho are on the Port Commission, and, of course, Pramila Jayapal is now chair of the Progressive Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives. Is Woo saying that they were all elected without Asian American voters?

In telling her story, you would think that Woo single-handedly saved the elderly residents of the CID during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, there were other organizations and individuals who have been serving the residents and small businesses all along. ACRS, CISC and International Community Health Services (ICHS), InterimCDA, SCIDpda, and more have jumped in and adjusted their work to provide special services during COVID-19. She does not give credit to the pioneers who developed, preserved, and advocated for the community, including the late Cherry Kinoshita, Bob Santos, Donnie Chin, and Paul Mar. 

In January, Woo was appointed to fill the Seattle City Council vacancy left open when former City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda was elected to the King County Council. I had hoped that Woo would learn how to be an effective councilmember and do more than just show up for photo ops. At a time when there’s a huge budget deficit, Woo supported an increase in the Seattle Police Department budget, without adding accountability for officers. On the Equitable Development Initiative, a long-standing program to align land use policy with equitable development in historically underserved communities, she switched her stance on cutting the program only after 100-plus community leaders crowded into Council chambers to protest the proposed cuts and changes. She recused herself from supporting gig workers. Tanya Woo is no Teresa Mosqueda.

I have a few friends who support Woo. I have many more who wonder why she ever got appointed as a citywide councilmember after she lost against District 2 Councilmember Tammy Morales. The Council wanted to appoint an Asian American. Four of the six finalists for the vacant seat were indeed AA&NH/PI, but the fix was in for Woo. She apparently threw in with the corporate-financed majority led by Council President Sara Nelson. 

On an Asian Americans for Democracy (AA4D) national Zoom call, Hollywood artists and cultural leaders came together to present a “power hour” on the importance of the 2024 presidential election. Popular blogger Phil Yu, aka Angry Asian Man, said, “Representation for representation’s sake is not enough.” For Seattle City Council’s Position 8, it is definitely not enough. 

Fortunately, Seattle voters have a real choice. Alexis Mercedes Rinck is a super-smart, talented, honest emerging leader. She has voted since she was 18 years old and knows how to bring together diverse constituencies to find solutions. She does not take instructions or campaign contributions from the corporate sector. She is endorsed by many community advocates, unions, and elected officials. I’m happy to cast my vote for a young, progressive Jewish Latina who listens and cares about the whole city and understands how to get things done for all the people of Seattle.

Editors’ Note: This op-ed was updated to reflect that Tanya Woo registered to vote in 2015, but didn't cast a vote in local elections until 2021, as previously reported by The Stranger.

This op-ed has been updated to clarify that Tanya Woo recused herself from voting on the PayUp legislation, rather than abstaining.

This op-ed has been updated to correct the location where Tanya Woo spoke at a candidate forum. A previous version stated that she spoke at the Ethiopian Community Center; she actually spoke at the Eritrean Association in Greater Seattle.

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