Mountlake Terrace Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright is one of three candidates who have been nominated to fill the Snohomish County Council District 4 seat vacated by Terry Ryan, who resigned to become the county’s aerospace economic development director.

Other candidates nominated in addition to Wright were State Rep. Jared Mead of Mill Creek and City of Mill Creek Councilmember Stephanie Vignal.

Under the county charter and the state Constitution, since Ryan was a Democrat, the Snohomish County Democratic Party picks three nominees via a vote of its precinct committee officers. Those names are then submitted to the council for their consideration. The top three candidates chosen during a vote Feb. 29 were ranked 1-3 according to the number of votes received, with Mead coming in first, Vignal second and Wright third. The council now has until April 9 to pick one of them for the job.

As reported in our earlier story, Wright said that she had been approached by several people to seek the appointment. The appointee must have a majority (three of four) county councilmember votes to win the seat. If the council can’t get a majority to support one of the three, it will be up to Gov. Jay Inslee to fill the vacancy.

Wright, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Bain, said her extensive experience in land use planning and housing issues would serve her well on the county council. She spent five years on the Mountlake Terrace Planning Commission before being appointed to the city council in January 2008, was elected to the seat in 2009 and is now in her third council term. She became Mountlake Terrace mayor after the death of long-time Mayor Jerry Smith in December 2018.

If selected, she would be the first person of color to hold a county council seat.