Maybe no image better represents the swirling passions in Seattle politics right now than one taken nine months ago, 3,000 miles away.

You remember it, I’m sure. The tech titans lined up, with Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), and Elon Musk (Tesla), preening at the feet of Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration last January.

It was a historic concentration of immense wealth at the gates of American democracy.

“That event … it was like it flipped a switch.”

That’s the view of Tim Ceis, a Seattle lobbyist and campaign moneyman. Known as “The Shark” for aggressive tactics when he was a deputy mayor at City Hall 20 years ago, he’s now trying to save incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell’s political life with a $1.4 million independent ad campaign.

I asked him what is the possible

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