Spokane voters in early returns Tuesday mirrored national trends in their support for left-leaning politics and demonstrated an appetite for more taxes in spite of economic uncertainty.

South Hill voters handed a decisive victory to Kate Telis over challenger Alejandro Barrientos, who’d been supported by a well-funded effort to drum up concerns about downtown crime and issues surrounding homelessness. In the north, voters preferred Zack Zappone, a member of the progressive majority of the city council, and narrowed the lead of Jonathan Bingle, who’d run as a Republican for U.S. Congress and also centralized crime prevention and safety in his campaign, over a left-leaning newcomer in Sarah Dixit. Bingle had 51% of the vote in northeast Spokane to Dixit’s 48.3%.

Spokane Public Schools and

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