§ Drain the Swamp · Seattle · May 6, 2026

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“I have a District 3 budget. And then a black budget.”

At the State of Africatown 2026 conference in late February, Seattle City Council President Joy Hollingsworth (D) — representing District 3 — told attendees she maintains two budgets at City Hall, on the record: a District 3 budget for her constituents, and “a black budget” for what she described, in a written statement to Fox News, as“targeted investments and resources directed toward historically impacted communities in Seattle.” In the same address she called on Black residents to organize as “the most powerful political party in the city of Seattle.” When KTTH talk-radio host Jason Rantz emailed to ask what percentage of Seattle’s $8.9 billion city budgetshould be the “black budget,” Hollingsworth replied: “8.9 billion dollars.” She then cancelled a scheduled radio interview. The remarks land as Mayor Katie Wilson (D) has ordered every city agency to cut their 2026 budgets by 5–10% against a projected $140 million deficit. Sourced.

• $8.9BSeattle 2026 city budget — total — South Seattle Emerald · Dec 12, 2025
• $8.9BHollingsworth’s stated ‘black budget’ allocation — Hollingsworth email reply to Jason Rantz
• −$140MSeattle 2026 projected deficit — Capitol Hill Seattle · Nov 2025
• 5–10%Mayor Wilson’s ordered cut to all city agencies — Seattle Mayor’s Office directive

The State of Africatown conference is a public town hall held in Seattle’s Central District — the historic core of the city’s Black community — organized by the Africatown Community Land Trust. The 2026 conference was held in late February. Hollingsworth, the sitting council president, was a featured speaker. The recording surfaced in late April and was excerpted by Jason Rantz on May 6.

“So, I got two budgets every time I go to council member Dan Strauss every year. I have a District 3 budget and then a black budget.”

Joy Hollingsworth (D) — Seattle City Council President · State of Africatown 2026, late Feb 2026

Dan Strauss (D), the council member from District 6, chairs the council’s select budget committee. By Hollingsworth’s own description, the “two budgets” she brings him each year are her District 3 line items and a separate line of priorities defined by race rather than geography. She did not name the line items.

Later in the same address, Hollingsworth made the political case for what she described as a Black voting bloc:

“There are political parties in Seattle, and I believe that if Black people come together, we can be the most powerful political party in the city of Seattle.”

Joy Hollingsworth (D) — State of Africatown 2026

She also told the audience she had organized roughly 70 Black residentsto testify at the council’s 2025 budget hearings — an event she referred to as “Black Budget Day.”

On May 5, Rantz emailed Hollingsworth’s office and asked, in writing, what percentage of Seattle’s $8.9 billion 2026 budget should be allocated to the “black budget” she had described at the conference. Hollingsworth’s reply, in full:

“8.9 billion dollars.”

Joy Hollingsworth (D) — email reply to Jason Rantz, KTTH / Seattle Red, May 5, 2026

That is the entire city budget. Asked the same question verbally on a scheduled radio appearance, Hollingsworth cancelled the interview and instead provided a short written statement defining the “black budget” as “targeted investments and resources directed toward historically impacted communities in Seattle” and adding: “In Seattle, we need to stay focused on delivering the city basics. That’s what communities across our city are asking for and what they want to see government deliver on every day.”The two statements — the email and the radio statement — describe the same line item in mutually contradictory terms.

Seattle’s council elections are technically non-partisan. In practice, the elected officials are all Democrats. Here is the cast that the “black budget” remarks implicate.

What the council president said is on the record. She has two budgets. She will not specify the dollar value of one of them in any answer that is internally consistent with the other. She has called for Black residents to organize as a political party. The mayor of the city is simultaneously cutting every agency by 5–10% on a $140 million deficit. None of those four sentences contradict each other; together, they describe a city government in which spending priorities are being defined by demographic categories and the council president declines to put a number on the result. Voters in Seattle’s November 2027 council elections will weigh that as they choose.