Alexis Mercedes Rinck resoundingly won election to the Seattle City Council with 58% of the vote last November. Already in her first four months in office, she’s proven herself, and we want to see more. We endorsed Rinck last year, and we took the rare step (for us) of endorsing early this year to underscore the value of her leadership on Council and our alignment in both values and approach.

by The Urbanist Elections Committee

Seattle's housing challenges are about to hit the table once again. Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck has announced the second meeting of the City Council's Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy Changes, set for Thursday, April 3 at 2 p.m., according to a statement on the City Council's website. A major topic of discussion at the roundtable will be the intersection of federal policy changes and the affordable housing situation in Seattle.

by Brian Cook

Monday was Presidents’ Day but thousands of people in Seattle did not appear to be in the mood to celebrate the current president, who they see as usurping democracy and trying to install himself as an above-the-law dictator. Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck attended the protest in Downtown Seattle outside the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building, which houses the Department of Education and Internal Revenue Service — both under attack from Trump Republicans.

by Doug Trumm

Seattle Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck said Tuesday she’ll seek re-election to her citywide seat on the City Council. It will be her second campaign in 12 months.

by Seattle Times staff reporter

Alexis Mercedes Rinck didn’t have the luxury of time. Normally, newly elected city politicians have months to build their administrative teams, iron out a punch list for their first 100 days in office, complete their onboarding alongside other fresh faces, and buckle in for a four-year term. Rinck, who won the Position 8 special election on November 5, had just four weeks to recruit a four-person staff before her swearing in on December 3.

by Adam Willems

When Alexis Mercedes Rinck was elected to the Seattle City Council in November, progressives celebrated.

"I wanted to send a message," voter Jeff Paul said of his decision to support Rinck. "I do think that Alexis has some strong things in their platform that I really hope she'll be able to deliver on."

by Katie Campbell

Alexis Mercedes Rinck is Seattle’s newest at-large City Council member, one of two who represent the whole city. She was sworn into office on November 26 after winning a special election against Tanya Woo. Woo served in the seat starting in January this year, after she was appointed to fill the vacancy from Teresa Mosqueda’s departure for the King County Council.

by Chetanya Robinson

On Tuesday, Dec. 3, Seattle's newest councilmember, Alexis Mercedes Rinck, was formally sworn into office at City Hall. Rinck defeated incumbent Tanya Woo for the citywide Position 8 seat in November on a more progressive platform, campaigning on policies like progressive revenue, affordable housing, and alternative models for crime intervention.

by Nimra Ahmad

Alexis Mercedes Rinck has been elected as Seattle’s newest council member, representing District 8, beating Incumbent Tanya Woo in the November 2024 election.

by FOX13 Seattle Digital Team

The progressive held a commanding lead over incumbent Tanya Woo 57% to 42% in the special election for the Seattle City Council citywide Position 8 seat.

by Josh Cohen

Mercedes Rinck, who is running as a progressive candidate, is challenging Councilmember Tanya Woo, who was part of a slate of centrist candidates who vied for council seats last year on a more law-and-order view of public safety, most of whom were elected.

by Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks

Watch Seattle City Council Position 8 candidates Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Tanya Woo face off in a debate.

by KUOW Staff

With just a few uncounted ballots remaining in the August primary for Seattle City Council’s citywide Position 8, Alexis Mercedes Rinck has shifted from challenger to favorite against incumbent Councilmember Tanya Woo as they move on to November’s general.  

by Josh Cohen

Seattle City Councilmember Tanya Woo continues to trail challenger Alexis Mercedes Rinck in results from last week's primary election, setting up a tough battle for Woo to retain her seat in November.

by Melissa Santos

Seattle City Councilmember Tanya Woo, appointed to the citywide Position 8 seat last year after narrowly losing the race for District 2 to incumbent Tammy Morales, trailed behind progressive challenger Alexis Mercedes Rinck on election night, with 41.4 percent of the vote to Rinck’s 46.6.

by Erica C. Barnett

Progressives don’t sacrifice anything by voting for Rinck. She’s more than just a safe bet to knock out Woo. Of the three progressive challengers, Rinck would be the strongest, most consistent fighter for progressive revenue, which we desperately need to keep libraries open, labor standards enforced, and homelessness services running. 

by The Stranger Election Control Board

I worry if our city council will be up to the task. Instead of pursuing policies to protect our freedoms, balance the budget, reduce gun violence, and address overdose deaths, this year the council has instead focused on how to roll back minimum wage legislation for gig workers, scrutinized programs serving Black, brown, and frontline communities, and remained frustratingly silent as a corrupted US Supreme Court makes it easier to modify guns into deadlier weapons and erase legal protections for uhhoused neighbors. 

by Alexis Mercedes Rinck

Rinck is uniquely experienced with building effective coalitions across disparate viewpoints and advancing broad solutions to our housing affordability challenges. She also articulated a clear need for and path toward progressive revenue options that adequately fund the city programs and development that Seattle needs. She’s ready to throw her weight behind an ambitious comprehensive plan that actually meets our city’s future housing requirements. And Rinck is prepared to bring pragmatic problem-solving to filling Seattle’s looming budget deficit, making the city safe and affordable, and doing the work of governing as directed by voters, not corporations. We need her experience, her vision, and her grit. Vote Alexis Mercedes Rinck.

by The Elections Committee

In a little over three weeks, King County Elections will mail ballots for the August 6 primary. Among the positions for which you’ll be narrowing the fields is Seattle City Council Position 8, one of the council’s two citywide positions. It’s on the ballot because of the complex situation resulting from Teresa Mosqueda moving to the King County Council midway through her term – under city rules, first the council had to appoint a replacement to serve until the next general election, and now someone will be elected to serve the final year of the unexpired term.

by Tracy Record

Alexis Mercedes Rinck is a Queer Latina who hopes to fully fund city services and get corporations to pay their fair share in taxes. She said she came before the 43rd Dems “as a living testament” to investments in early childhood support and education, and that she understands the importance of investing in youth and city services as someone whose family used these services.

by Hannah Saunders

Rinck is an assistant director at the University of Washington working on state budget and policy issues for the school. Prior to that she held engagement and policy analyst positions at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and the Sound Cities Association.

by Josh Cohen

Referencing her experience educating communities on the influence of money in politics, Alexis Mercedes Rinck said, “I’m of the belief that big business shouldn’t be deciding who represents this city. Woo was appointed by five people. I’m looking to be elected by 200,000 people.”

by Amy Sundberg

UW assistant policy director Alexis Mercedes Rinck announced her campaign for Seattle City Council position 8 last month.

Rinck’s campaign prioritizes Seattle’s needs, including affordable housing and renter protections, increasing the safety of communities by targeting firearm- and opioid-related harms, and leveling up worker protections.

by Morgan Bortnick

A 28-year-old Central District resident and homelessness policy advocate, Alexis Mercedes Rinck, has announced her campaign for Seattle City Council Position 8, which is citywide. Rinck is thus far the first challenger to run against current interim councilmember Tanya Woo, who announced her attempt to secure a permanent seat earlier this month.

by Vee Hua

Seattle will have one City Council race on the ballot in November.

Councilmember Tanya Woo will face off against at least two challengers in her bid to keep the citywide Position 8 seat.

by Katie Campbell

She’s a Renter, a Transit Rider, a Policy Wonk, and a Nose Ring-Haver.

by Hannah Krieg

March 25, 2024

UW Assistant Policy Director Alexis Mercedes Rinck 

Announces Campaign for Seattle City Council

Mercedes Rinck will bring needed expertise in affordable housing, regional policy, and budgeting to the Council, relying on professional and lived experience to advocate for an affordable, safe, and welcoming Seattle.

This analysis provides a snapshot of the homelessness services available across King County. In addition to depicting the regional distribution of services, this analysis also demonstrates the gaps in homelessness response in each sub-region and how each sub-region works collaboratively to fill these gaps.

by Alexis Mercedes Rinck

The promise with which the King County Regional Homelessness Authority was created looks one step closer to being fulfilled. 

by Greg Kim

Alexis Mercedes Rinck (Class of 2021) is the Sub-Regional Planning Manager at King County Regional Homelessness Authority.

For students in the Renée Crown University Honors Program, the honors capstone project can be a challenge to complete. The project typically requires intensive research, writing, professional or creative work over the course of already busy junior and senior years.

by Kathleen Haley

Alexis Mercedes Rinck was the recipient of this prestigious award in 2017.

Alexis was among a group of 35 Remembrance Scholars at Syracuse University during the 2016-17 school year.

Alexis Rinck, a senior political science and sociology double major at SU who was also one of the organizers, said college campuses need to be safe spaces for undocumented immigrants and people of marginalized identities.

by Madeleine Davison & Satoshi Sugiyama

After interning for the New York Public Interest Research Group, Alexis Rinck decided she wanted to make a change in the political world, so she launched a Syracuse University Chapter of Democracy Matters to spread awareness about corporate funding.

by Molly Berger

A high school Youth-to-Youth Mentoring and Prevention program continues to make strides in helping students avoid alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and misuse/abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medications. Freshmen needing a little extra support are referred to the program and provided with a year-long mentor.

by Jane Northrop