Tammy Morales

Tammy Janine Morales (born October 23, 1968) is an American politician from Seattle, Washington. She was elected to represent District 2 on the Seattle City Council in November 2019.

In December 2024, Morales announced she would be stepping down from the Seattle City Council on January 6, citing a hostile work environment from the rest of the council.

Early life and education Morales was raised in San Antonio, Texas by a single mother who worked two jobs.

Career Morales served as Legislative Director for a state legislator in the Texas House of Representatives, where she worked with state agencies and advocates to develop legislation on TANF initiatives, childcare funding, and low-income housing.

Morales moved to Seattle in 2000 and worked for nonprofits focused on community development.

Seattle City Council 2015 election In 2015, Morales ran for Seattle city council in District 2 against two-term incumbent Bruce Harrell. In the general election, Morales lost to Harrell by 344 votes.

2019 election In January 2019, Morales declared her candidacy for Seattle City Council District 2 and received an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Seattle, who co-chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The next day, Harrell announced he would not run for re-election. During the primary, Mayor Jenny Durkan, in an email to supporters, called Morales a "socialist" — Morales's political affiliation is Democrat — and endorsed Mark Solomon, a crime prevention specialist. In the August primary, Morales came in first among seven challengers with 50.07%, with Solomon coming in second with 23.19%. Morales, along with incumbents Lisa Herbold and Kshama Sawant, received national attention when Amazon donated $1.45 million to support opposing candidates via the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce's political action committee, the Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE).

Morales won the 2019 general election with 60.47% of the vote to Solomon's 39.08%.

2023 election In February 2023, Morales announced that she would run for reelection, focusing her campaign on her progressive accomplishments, such as creating the Jumpstart tax. She faced two challengers, community activist Tanya Woo and Green Party member and disabled veteran Margaret Elisabeth. In the August primary election, Morales and Woo advanced to the general election, with 52% and 42%, respectively.

After the primary, Woo held a press conference with councilmember Sara Nelson and community leaders who all criticized the city's and Morales' response to address the drug use and illegal market that had negatively impacted the Little Saigon neighborhood. Morales responded saying, "...if the chief can reallocate where we what we have right now so that the areas that are needing more attention are getting it that would be great." Morales was critical of Woo's activism around stopping the SoDo shelter expansion due to the lack of shelter beds for homeless individuals.

Tenure Morales assumed the office of District 2 Councilmember in January 2020, representing Rainier Beach, Beacon Hill, Chinatown/International District, SODO, and Georgetown. While in office, Morales supported progressive taxes, such as the Jumpstart Tax. Morales would vote in favor of a nonbinding resolution that, in part, supported defunding the police and defended her position, saying, "This is about allocating resources in a way that starts to actually serve the community better."

Morales had been criticized by some constituents in the Chinatown International District for a lack of city response to increased crime and homelessness in the neighborhood. In response to the criticism, she pointed to monthly meetings with community leaders and touring the neighborhood, and stated, "I would say absolutely, all levels of government need to be more authentic in their engagement with the CID in particular." In 2024, Morales would be the lone vote against legislation that would create Stay Out of Drug Areas, including one located in the Little Saigon neighborhood, stating it would be ineffective.

In 2024, Morales introduced legislation to the Housing and Human Services Committee to reduce red tape for affordable housing developers, which was voted down in a committee vote. After the vote, Morales said "Despite the fact that everybody’s talking about the need for more affordable housing, when it comes down to it, there’s either no understanding of how we actually get there, or no willingness to really take action." There is no record of Morales calling other councilmembers "evil, corporate shills." Morales described a "venomous" work culture by her colleagues who she accused of undermining her as a policymaker. She stated, “For all the talk of civility and respecting one another's differences, every time I have expressed a difference of opinion, I've been attacked from the dias. My colleagues have called me lazy, they’ve called me a poor leader, they’ve called me performative. I've been accused of misinforming the public, I’ve been accused of impugning the motives of my colleagues just because I raised a question.”

Personal life Morales has been a Seattle resident for over 20 years. She has three kids - two in the Seattle Public School system and one at Portland State University. Morales and her family live in Lakewood, near Seward Park.

She is Jewish.

Electoral history

2015 election

2019 election

2023 election