Ultra-liberal Seattle heads to polls for mayoral primary with 'defund police' push under scrutiny

Voting in Seattle’s mayoral primary opens Tuesday, and voters living in the city plagued by the "CHOP" or "CHAZ" protest zone last summer must now decide among 15 candidates, including at least one city council member who supported cries to "defund the police." 

In June 2020, protesters erected makeshift barricades around a six block radius in the Capitol Hill district, declaring no police were welcome in the space first dubbed the CHOP, or "Capitol Hill Organized Protest." It was later rebranded by participants as the CHAZ, or the "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone."  Pedestrians walk past the Seattle Police Dept. East Precinct headquarters, Saturday, July 31, 2021, in Seattle in an area that was occupied last year when demonstrators took over part of the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) FILE - Seattle's "CHOP" or "CHAZ" zone in July 2020. (Associated Press) (AP) Despite being formed under the guise of racial equity, crime permeated the autonomous zone, and residents who called 911 were reportedly told police wasn’t coming. More than three weeks would pass until several shootings in the zone, including one that killed a 19-year-old Black man, prompting Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan to order city crews to dismantle barriers and disperse lingering protesters.