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Snohomish County primary elections are right around the corner, with ballots due Aug. 5. Two out of four open seats on the Lynnwood City Council on the August ballot, with six candidates vying for Positions 1 and 3.
To inform residents regarding who’s running for local office, Lynnwood Today sent the same set of questions to each candidate regarding their run for city council.
Council Vice President Josh Binda, elected in 2021, seeks re-election to his Position 3 seat. His challengers are Tyler Hall and Bryce Owings.
Visit Lynnwood Today’s Election 2025 page to learn more about what’s on the ballot in Lynnwood this year.
Minor edits were made to candidate responses for brevity, grammar and clarity.
Bryce Owings
Bryce Owings, 39, is a lifelong Lynnwood resident. He is a husband and a father to three sons, and has worked as a carpenter since he was 16. He’s active in the local carpenters union, having served as a delegate and the current treasurer of a local carpenter’s union, UBC local 425. He’s also chaired multiple union committees and is set to begin teaching an apprenticeship program at Edmonds College.
After a decade of struggling with addiction, Owings completed a rehabilitation program at Praisealujah Discipleship – a faith-based program offering treatment for substance abuse and support for those experiencing homelessness. After completing the program, Owings served as the men’s director for two years.
How do you plan to apply your personal experiences to better the City of Lynnwood?
Give an elevator pitch of your platform/why you are running for council.
(Owings said he answered both questions in the following response:)
“I have lived experiences dealing with the homelessness, drug addiction and the mental health crisis Lynnwood is experiencing. I would like to bring that knowledge to the table. I believe working with already established programs known to work and get the information out about long-term programs, like the one I attended, we can start some of these folks on the right path to success. I would like to bridge the gap between pre-apprenticeship and people in recovery,giving [these] people a sense of purpose.
I believe we can use the same technique for some of the violence we’re seeing arise in the high school age group. I was diagnosed [with dyslexia] at a young age and my family never had an excess of money, therefore I never saw college as a true option. I was not very educated in trade schools and apprenticeships, which led me to not have much hope for a future and in turn led to some very poor decisions in my 20s. I believe if we can educate these young folks on options including college, but not forgetting about apprenticeships. Some of them might see at a younger age that they can make a livable wage working with their hands, hopefully saving some of them [from] making some of the mistakes I made.
With all my years working in the construction industry, I believe I can bring a different outlook to how we should be building the city, including working on zoning. The current council is highly focused on building apartments – which I do agree is highly important – but it’s only one aspect to what we should be building. The lower levels of these buildings should be storefronts. We should also be mixing in condominiums with the apartments, allowing younger families to actually invest in the city and start to build equity. We need to remove barriers that are preventing contractors from building newer construction, allowing more homes to be built as well.
I would also like to see more people that live in Lynnwood working on these projects in Lynnwood. We can [prioritize local hiring] language in contracts for upcoming [city] infrastructure projects, allowing for money to be kept within our community. The biggest revenue for the city right now is sales tax. …I believe [Lynnwood could generate more revenue by putting money directly] in the hands of our citizens… rather than other tax hikes.
If elected, what’s one thing you’d like to see happen or change in your time on the council?
“I would like the council to truly be a voice for the people we represent [through] more community outreach to get a true opinion from [residents] before making decisions.”
If elected, how do you plan to remain professional and productive even though your opinions or values may conflict with those held by other councilmembers?
“Not only am I running on a nonpartisan platform, but I truly am nonpartisan in my thought. The great political divide that we’re experiencing in America these days [has] given me a bad taste for choosing sides. I personally would rather objectively look at each issue and come to my own opinion, not based [on] the letter after somebody’s name giving me the information. Therefore, I have an interesting ability to work with all sides of the political spectrum. I can’t promise that I will always agree with everybody, but I can promise that I will take the time to truly try to understand their opinion.”
What sets you apart from other candidates and current councilmembers?
“I have lived in Lynnwood my whole life. I have a great appreciation for the city I grew up in. I know that Lynnwood is not going to be the same Lynnwood I grew up in, but I would like it to be a safe and affordable place that I can raise my children in. I personally feel like I have more at stake.”
What’s something happening in Lynnwood you don’t think is being addressed or talked about enough? How would you address it?
“I can’t say it hasn’t been addressed. I just don’t feel like the city is doing anything that’s truly helpful [for] the homeless, drug addiction and mental health [crises, or] the rise in violence [among] young people. They like to talk about what they’re going to do and what they can do, but don’t really seem to truly do anything about it. We have councilmembers now that go into high schools to give pep talks, without real, true solutions to help these children with their future. I’m on a personal mission to fix that. I believe we have a lot of resources, one of them being trade unions [with] members willing to [tell] high schoolers [about] the kind of future a trade can give them, [with] no expense to taxpayers.”
What’s one issue or topic the council has talked about recently that’s piqued your interest, and how would you address it?
“Forcing contractors to add sprinkler systems to all new builds, no matter what size. The council has not yet made a decision on this, but I believe they should have a meeting with all parties involved – bringing the firefighters [and] contractors to the table to discuss, rather than just making [decisions] based [on] what one party says. If we’re going to add such a large cost to new builds, we should make a truly informed decision.”
In recent years, multiple youth in Lynnwood were injured or tragically lost their lives due to gun violence. If elected to the council, how would you approach this issue, given police involvement with youth is regulated by state law and largely out of city government control?
“My long-term answer is giving hope to these kids. I believe a lot of them don’t have hope for the future and have turned to gangs and violence because of that lack of hope. I think we need to give them true solutions, such as [an] entryway into apprenticeship programs to encourage them to work for their future. I believe that looks like [visiting] high schools [to share] information [about] organizations like Career Connections and B.O.O.T.S. Another approach would be [to target] troubled youth (which I believe they already do some of), while working with men and women in the trades to meet with them to give real hope for a career.”
What do you think the council should do to accommodate growth in Lynnwood while keeping it an affordable and attractive place to live for current residents?
“I believe we need to make sure buildings built in the core of the city are mixed use [developments]. The bottom floors of all these apartment buildings should have storefronts, allowing for more of a downtown vibe, while also mixing in more green areas allowing for a natural look. As I stated before, I believe that we should not only be focused on apartments – even though they are important – but we should be mixing in condominiums, allowing people to actually buy into the city. The city also needs to do its part to make sure that people are being paid the correct amount for the work they are doing, and try [at] all costs to keep Lynnwood [residents] working those jobs.”
To learn more about Owings and his campaign, visit his campaign website or Facebook page.
— Contact Ashley at ashley@myedmondsnews.com.
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