WATCH: Savage looks to unseat Zappone after advancing in Spokane’s District 3 primary

(The Center Square) – Looking ahead to Nov. 4, Spokane City Council candidate Christopher Savage sat down with The Center Square on Thursday to discuss what’s next in his bid to represent District 3.

Savage advanced to the general election on Tuesday after receiving the second-most votes in the Aug. 5 primary. He’ll face incumbent Councilmember Zack Zappone in November, who led with more than 50% the vote this week as of Wednesday evening, though that could change as ballots are counted.

Zappone’s opponent had 29% of the vote when this was published, knocking out the third candidate, Cody Arguelles. The current margin is about 2,900 votes, so Savage needs to gain support from some of Arguelles’ voters to close the gap, especially considering Zappone’s advantage in campaign funding.

“One of the big reasons why I’m running for Spokane City Council is I do not quit on my home, and my home really needs me right now,” Savage said. “It is being destroyed by the progressive politics that are coming out of city council, that are giving talks of compassion, that are killing many people.”

One of Savage’s priorities includes reinstating a voter-approved camping ban that many called Prop 1 and directing homelessness funding toward nonprofits that provide a measurable impact in the crisis.

While the city recently recorded a decrease in overall homelessness, fatal drug overdoses increased by roughly 15% last year. Savage wants to ensure taxpayer funds are spent efficiently, given an ongoing trend of multimillion-dollar budget deficits, including one that staff recently estimated at $13.4 million.

Part of his plan includes bolstering funding for providers with wraparound treatment services, but also bridging housing gaps for low- to middle-income families, hoping to transition out of the rental market.

Savage said there are 10 areas of semideveloped and fully developed land around the city that it could potentially annex from Spokane County. He thinks prices have gone up so much because of the city’s restricted housing supply amid high demand, suggesting his free market approach could change that.

“Like instances in northern Spokane, in the Indian Trail area, or more towards the South Hill in the Morgan area,” Savage said, listing areas that Spokane could potentially annex. “Or up in kind of the deeper South Hill at 55th Avenue, or going a little bit more West, where there’s a couple more on the side of where our district is, and there’s also some on the sides of District 1 on the east.”

Savage has run for a seat on the council unsuccessfully three times in the past, most recently in 2023.

Despite Zappone’s significant lead, Savage believes he has a better chance this year than in the past.

In 2022, the council adopted new district boundaries based on a map Zappone drew up that many said favored liberal candidates. According to reporting by The Spokesman-Review, a judge then found that Zappone and his peers were not technically gerrymandering, but said he violated the spirit of the law.

Zappone repeatedly denied the allegations at the time, citing an effort to unify the community.

In 2023, Savage ran against Councilmember Kitty Klitzke, who knocked him out of the race during the primary along with her challenger Earl Moore. Klitzke beat Moore that November with almost 60% of the vote, but Savage narrowed that lead with Zappone this week to roughly 51%; however, Savage still received about the same amount of votes in this year’s primary as he did against Klitzke in 2023.

“He gerrymandered the district and added Brown’s edition and Peaceful Valley; he should have had a stronger lead, like what happened in 2023 with Kitty Klitzke,” Savage said. “A lot of people that should have been voting for him aren’t, and that is a good sign that we can actually reach these voters.”