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Woodinville Decides 2025
Informed Voters Make Better Decisions
As Woodinville approaches its first primary in 11 years, citizens may be noticing an influx of signs throughout the city. Nine candidates have placed election signs around Woodinville with an unprecedented thirteen candidates having filed to run. With so many options, it can be hard to choose which candidate to vote for.
OneWoodinville was started over 3 years ago to better inform the people about their city government and boost civic engagement. Our method has been to inform people on the facts and implications of proposed city policies before decisions are made. It is not hyperbole to say these could be the most important two elections ever in Woodinville (August 5th and November 4th 2025).
Campaign Financials through May 31st 2025
Contributor Distribution
Funding sources can indicate the level of local support a candidate has. This chart uses public records to identify the inside versus outside Woodinville City limits for each dollar in each campaign.
Analysis Notes:
- WA law gives candidates the option run a "mini-reporting" campaign in which contributions and expenditures are limited to $7,000 and no details are reported to the state. Therefore candidates using mini-reporting must be assumed to have raised & spent $6,999 in all analysis (grey bars).
- WA PDC rules give an option for candidates to conceal the identity of donors who give below $250. Therefore these anonymous contributions are treated as outside the city limits (red).
Spending Types
City Council campaigns will always have some basic expenses: setup a website, buy some signs, t-shirts/buttons, etc. This chart breaks out the reported expenses by type in filings with the WA state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).
Analysis Notes:
- WA law gives candidates the option run a "mini-reporting" campaign in which contributions and expenditures are limited to $7,000 and no details are reported to the state. Therefore candidates using mini-reporting must be assumed to have raised & spent $6,999 in all analysis (grey bars).
- Future commitments are considered expenditures by PDC, even if the money has not yet been spent. This is most apparent in the billboard contracts showing more spent than contributed for one campaign.
- PDC reporting allows for a category of "below $200" incidental expenses.
F1 for position #1
Michelle Evans has held the seat for 4 years. She reports an income between $200,000 and $530,000 as a business consultant at two separate companies, Allyis and GP Strategies. Her spouse reports an income between $200,000 and $500,000 from Microsoft as a data systems administrator while also working as a photographer, earning up to $30,000 annually. Her spouse has stock options from Microsoft of up to $60,000. Her spouse also has a personal brokerage account consisting of up to $100k in Microsoft. Her spouse has a 401(k) with up to a million dollars a year. Together, they currently own a $1.167M house and have at least $560k out on house in the form of line of credit and mortgages. Their debt sources include 2 mortgages and a line of credit on their home, 3 credit card debts, and 2 auto loans for a total of 8 sources of debt totaling to up to $1.27M in debt. They hold at least $2.037M in assets, with a debt-to-asset ratio of 0.36. Michelle additionally has 100% ownership of a marketing consultancy business. She was a member of the Woodinville Arts Alliance during the past year when it received $10,300 from the City of Woodinville and another $12k minimum from another government agency. She also reports a gift of $300 for a Cancer Pathways fundraiser and dinner in Seattle on October 19th, 2024, the same charity where the sitting mayor’s wife was a CEO, this group was promoted at city functions regularly.
Jeff Lyon is currently an engineering manager at Coinbase who reports income of at least $750,000 and no more than a million dollars plus stock options not exceeding $500,000. In addition, his spouse makes between $60,000 and $100,000 as an executive assistant at Amazon. Jeff also receives disability payments from Veterans Affairs of up to $30,000. He has stock options of up to $750,000 in his company. He has up to $5.64M in his personal brokerage account with SentinelOne as the biggest holding. He has 19 syndicate investments of up to $30,000 of which one is providing at least $2,400 in income. His retirement account is up to $660,000 while his wife has up to $60,000. They both report a 401(k) worth up to $30,000. His spouse has an IRA worth up to $60,000. His spouse has stock options of up to $30,000. He owns a $1.888M house and has over $1M out on the house in the form of line of credit and mortgages. Their debt sources include a mortgage, 2 auto loans, and a margin for a total of 4 debt sources totaling up to $1.12M in debt. He has at least $5.277M in assets and a debt-to-asset ratio of 0.19. He runs Democratic Woodinville Sponsored by Jeff Lyon, a political action committee that has not received any City of Woodinville money.
F1 for position #3
Troy Anderson works as a real estate broker for an eponymous company, earning over $200,000. He has 2 life insurance policies of over a million dollars and a revenue share with eXp World Holdings of up to $30,000. He and his spouse each have separate IRAs worth up to $30,000. The candidate falsely claims a privacy exemption reserved for prosecutors, police officers, and judges to avoid disclosing his address. However, he owns a house in Kirkland worth $1.196M with over $400k out on a mortgage. He receives no rental income from that home. Their debts include a mortgage and a line of credit totaling to up to a million dollars in debts. The candidate has over $3.203M in assets (counting life insurance) and a debt-to-asset ratio of 0.12. The candidate remains a board chair for the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce despite promising to resign when he was appointed to Planning Commission in October 2024. The Chamber received $79,500 from the City of Woodinville in the past year.
Lukasz Bakun works as an IS/IT projects facilitator at Ventegra, earning between $60,000 and $100,000. He has a 401k worth up to $30,000 and a personal brokerage account of up to $900,000 with top holdings including GameStop and US treasury bills. He has at least $151k in assets and no debt exceeding the $2,400 reporting threshold. He owns no real estate. His debt-to-asset ratio is unknown because neither his debts nor his assets meet the reporting threshold.
Rachel Best-Campbell has held the seat for 6 years. Her spouse works for Broadcom as a Director of Product Management, earning over a million dollars. Additionally, an investment in a Seattle restaurant provides up to $30,000 in annual income. Rachel and her husband have up to $530,000 in stocks across two accounts. They have a 401(k) worth over a million dollars. They have up to $500,000 of Schwab Large Cap Growth ETF in a personal account and her spouse has a personal account of over a million dollars in Broadcom stock. They have an investment of up to $30,000 in a Seattle restaurant. She and her spouse have 2 retirement accounts of up to $30,000 each. She and her spouse own a $1.811M house and have over $300k out on the house in the form of line of credit and a mortgage. Their debt sources include a mortgage and a line of credit totaling to up to $700,000 in debts. She has at least $4.351M in assets and a debt-to-asset ratio of 0.069.
Amber Wise currently works as a union organizer for UFCW 3000, a union that represents grocery, healthcare, and retail workers, earning between $60,000 and $100,000. Her spouse works as a general contractor in Snohomish, earning between $30,000 and $60,000. Neither had assets above $2,400 in a savings or retirement account or a bank account with at least $24,000. Additionally, neither has any debts in excess of $2,400. Neither individual owns a house or mortgage. Any bank accounts they have never exceed $24,000 annually. Their debt-to-asset ratio is unknown because neither their debts nor their assets meet the reporting threshold. Her spouse has 50% ownership of an eponymous LLC where he works.
Rebecca Elbaum is unemployed though her spouse works at Google as a network engineer earning between $200,000 and $500,000. Neither she nor her spouse report any assets of at least $2,400 or a bank account with at least $24,000. Her spouse own a house worth $1.585M with over $200k out on a mortgage. Their debts include a mortgage of up to $500,000. She has at least $1.585M in assets for a debt-to-asset ratio of 0.13.
F1 for position #5
Ahmad Amiri is retired and receives social security. His partner works as a nanny. Both earn between $30,000 and $60,000 annually. They report no assets other than their checking accounts. Together, they own a $1.315M house with at least $100k out on a mortgage. They have no other debts. Their debts include a mortgage of up to $200,000. They have at least $1.315M in assets and a debt-to-asset ratio of 0.076.
Sarah Arndt has held the seat for 4 years. She also works as an executive manager at the North Urban Human Services Alliance. Her spouse works at Microsoft as an account engineer, earning between $200,000 and $500,000. They each have a life insurance of over a million dollars. They have up to $500,000 in a stock brokerage, two 529s of up to $30,000 each, 4 IRAs totaling to up to $320,000, and a 401(k) worth up to $750,000. Her family has up to $1.8M in stock with top holdings being Microsoft and Amazon. Her spouse owns at up to $200,000 in cryptocurrency. Together, they also own a fraction of an unnamed painting in New York worth at least $60,000. Her spouse reports an investment of up to $30,000 in Israeli bonds. Her husband has a pension of up to $100,000. They own a house valued at $1.055M with at least $200k out on a mortgage. Their debts include a mortgage of up to $500,000. They have at least $4.311M in assets and a debt-to-asset ratio of 0.046. She is a secretary of the Common House Vineyard Church and the vice president of her HOA. These groups have received no funding from the City of Woodinville. She has received $700 in gifts to attend charity auctions in Woodinville in the past year: $300 from Radius Recycling for a pair of Woodinville Chamber Charity Auction tickets on March 2nd and $400 from Glen Hoagland for a pair of tickets to the 2024 Homeward pet Fur Ball Charity Auction on May 4th. Both the Chamber of Commerce and Homeward Pets have received funding from City of Woodinville in the past year.
Susan Milke is retired, her spouse receives 2 pensions from UPS and Teamsters plus social security, each providing an income between $2,400 and $30,000. She and her spouse have a combined 6 CDs worth up to $380,000 and a personal stock portfolio of up to $590,000 with top holdings in Tesla and Netflix. She receives an annuity of up to $200,000. Together they have 2 life insurance policies: hers in worth up to $200,000 while his is worth up to $30,000. She and her partner own a house worth $1.205M with no mortgage in addition to property in Shelton, WA worth between $100,000 and $200,000. She and her partner have no debts in excess of $2,400. Together, they have at least $1.943M in assets. She has 100% ownership of an epononyous media buying company that has received no City of Woodinville funding.
Tanner Mills [CANDIDATE HAS WITHDRAWN FROM THE RACE] works as a continuous improvement engineer at Astronics Advanced Electronics Systems, earning between $100,000 and $200,000. Records indicate that he doesn’t own property in the city. He has at least $2,400 in student loan debt. His debt includes student loans of up to $30,000. He has at least $4,800 in assets and a debt-to-asset ratio of 0.50.
F1 for position #7
Brandon Finley works as a flight attendant on SkyWest, earning between $30,000 and $60,000 while his partner works as an applications engineer at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. Brandon Finley also receives child support of at least $2,400 and no more than $30,000. He has a 401(k) of up to $500,000 and stock worth up to $30,000. He shows as owning no real estate. He rents an apartment for $2042 a month. Their debts include 2 buy-now, pay-later loans, an RV loan, an auto loan, and a student loan totaling up to $410,000. Together, they have at least $226k in assets and a debt-to-asset ratio of 0.74.
Jaren Hanson works as a maintenance worker at the Cedar Park Church, earning between $30,000 and $60,000 while also enlisting in the army reserve at JBLM, earning between $2,400 and $30,000. Neither he nor his spouse owns any real estate. He doesn’t have any debt greater than $2,400. He has undisclosed assets in the form of stocks, bonds, securities, annuities and mutual funds not exceeding $90,000.
James Randolph has held the seat for 4 years. He works at Salesforce as an engineering manager, earning between $200,000 and $500,000. His spouse also receives between $60,000 and $100,000 renting out part of their home. Together, they have a retirement portfolio of over a million dollars. He has a mixed portfolio worth up to $500,000 and a personal stock brokerage of up to $890,000 with Salesforce as a top holding. He additionally has 2 stock accounts worth up to $200,000 each. Their home is worth $1.153M with at least $200k out on the mortgage. They have up to $500,000 in debt. They have at least $2.97M in assets and a debt-to-asset ratio of 0.067. He is a board member of Alliance for a Just Society, a group that has not received City of Woodinville funding.