Mark Dorsey, candidate for Burien City Council Position No. 3, conceded to his opponent, incumbent Jimmy Matta on Monday afternoon, Nov. 8, 2021.
As of the most recent returns on Monday, Dorsey was losing to Matta by by 1,136 votes.
“First and foremost I want to congratulate Jimmy Matta for a successful re-election campaign,” Dorsey said. “Thank you for being respectful and for keeping our race professional. As I mentioned in the debate, leadership starts at the top and I am hopeful that your professionalism and respect will filter down into the next iteration of the Burien City Council.”
“When I first decided to run for office, I was treated like a martyr of sorts,” he added. “I assume this was because of the potential attacks that political candidates face when running for office. We have all witnessed behavior that people display online and the irrelevant stories that are posted to shine a candidate in a negative light, etc. Imagine if we instead lifted up candidates and asked thought provoking questions, not to poke a hole in their character, but to truly vet them for the challenge of leading Burien. Imagine the quality of candidates we would get if we spent our energy building our candidates up instead of attempting to tear them down. With better quality candidates, comes a better quality City Council, which ultimately benefits Burien and all residents of Burien (win-win-win). None of us in Burien are under the obligation to be who we were 9 minutes ago, let’s do this!”
Here’s Dorsey’s full statement:
“The past six months have been filled with many emotions and a ton of education, all of which I would not trade for anything. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process throughout this election cycle and I am grateful for the experience.
“As the numbers continued to come in last week, my thoughts transitioned from how I would make the biggest impact in office, to how I can begin to thank everyone who has been so supportive this election year. First and foremost I want to congratulate Jimmy Matta for a successful re-election campaign. Thank you for being respectful and for keeping our race professional. As I mentioned in the debate, leadership starts at the top and I am hopeful that your professionalism and respect will filter down into the next iteration of the Burien City Council. I am rooting for you to have a successful second term and hope that you will be influenced by the nearly half of Burien voters, who want an advocate for Burien leading Burien. I also want to thank our other primary opponent Charles Schaefer for loving Burien and fighting the good fight.
“More so, I want to thank all of the supporters who got behind my campaign. Whether it was monetary support, your time, or your connections in our community, or just letting me bounce ideas off of you. Thank you so much. You were the fuel for this campaign. You taught me that a campaign is not about one candidate, it is about the entire support system and community behind the candidate. I quickly learned that I was not running alone, you were all there with me every step of the way asking how you could help. Thank you for your selflessness and love of Burien.
“In closing, I want to share one gem I gleaned from this process. When I first decided to run for office, I was treated like a martyr of sorts. I assume this was because of the potential attacks that political candidates face when running for office. We have all witnessed behavior that people display online and the irrelevant stories that are posted to shine a candidate in a negative light, etc. Imagine if we instead lifted up candidates and asked thought provoking questions, not to poke a hole in their character, but to truly vet them for the challenge of leading Burien. Imagine the quality of candidates we would get if we spent our energy building our candidates up instead of attempting to tear them down. With better quality candidates, comes a better quality City Council, which ultimately benefits Burien and all residents of Burien (win-win-win). None of us in Burien are under the obligation to be who we were 9 minutes ago, let’s do this!
“Thank you Burien. I am excited for our future.”
Best,
Mark Dorsey
