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 will appear 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. 

Councilmember Derica Escamilla – appointed to the council in 2024 after the resignation of Shirley Sutton – is running to retain her Position 1 seat. She’s being challenged by Boucsieguez and Brandon Kimmel.

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.

Dio Boucsieguez

Dio Boucsieguez, 32, a business owner and 10-year Lynnwood resident, is taking his third shot at securing a seat on the Lynnwood City Council. He owns a marketing agency, Tusk Marketing LLC and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington, where he triple-majored in political science, history and communications, with an emphasis in journalism. 

By day, Boucsieguez is a Cheesemaster at QFC – but he delves into local politics on the side. He ran for city council in 2019 but lost in the primary. He also applied to fill the council vacancy after former Councilmember Julieta Altamirano-Crosby’s resignation in January. The council selected current Councilmember Robert Leutwyler for the position. This was preceded by an unsuccessful run in 2018 as a Republican for State Representative in Washington’s 32nd District. 

His volunteer experience includes work with local youth through the ACCESS Project – a nonprofit serving Snohomish County youth. He’s also briefly did marketing and production for the Lynnwood Times. In addition, Boucsieguez led a campaign to recall Council Vice President Josh Binda in 2023 – but failed to get enough signatures needed to progress the effort. 

“More importantly, Boucsieguez said, “I’m a family man and the proud son of Mexican immigrants. I love my family and value my heritage.  I help my parents take care of my special-needs sister while working my full-time job.” 

How do you plan to apply your personal experiences to better the city of Lynnwood?

“I come from a traditional family of humble beginnings, and I’ll never forget how hard my parents worked and how much they sacrificed to create a better life for myself and my siblings. My parents are first-generation Mexican immigrants and honorable people who instilled in me the values of hard work, integrity and good ethics. Every day for the past 40 years, my dad has gone to work for his family, without fail. Even going to work sick to provide for his family. I admire, respect and love my dad and his work ethic. My mom is a stay-at-home mom who raised me with a strong sense of honor, respect, loyalty, hard work, honesty and duty to our family. I would not be the man I am today without my parents, especially my mom. I love my family.

I think of my Lynnwood community as an extended family of sorts. I want to care for and protect them. I believe in treating all members of the community with respect, and I have a duty to work hard and represent them with honor and integrity. These are the values and experiences I bring as your next Lynnwood City Councilman.”

Give an elevator pitch of your platform/why you are running for council.

“In short, I love Lynnwood. As a proud 10-year Lynnwood resident, I’m running to restore confidence in our city government. I am committed to transparency, accountability and collaborative leadership to ensure Lynnwood thrives as a safe and vibrant city for everyone. I’m running on:

• Budget and growth management
• Trust and transparency
• Public safety
• Fostering the arts, culture, and entertainment

I am the labor candidate in this race. I am a blue-collar, working-class, card-carrying union member. My union, UFCW 3000, and other trusted community members — like former Lynnwood City Council President Shannon Sessions, current Lynnwood City Councilman Patrick Decker, and others — have placed their full faith and trust in my candidacy. I ask for your vote to get the job done.

If elected, what’s one thing you’d like to see happen/change in your time on the council?

“The biggest thing would be halting distractions. For the past couple of years, our city has become the butt of jokes because of one scandal after another. To borrow a phrase from Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen, I want to make Lynnwood politics boring again. As your councilman, I would encourage community members to become more civically engaged in city affairs. I simply want to put a stop to drama that distracts from issues that truly matter and get the business of the City done.” 

If elected, how do you plan to remain professional and productive even though your opinions/values may conflict with those held by other councilmembers?

“I commit to collaborative leadership. Like other workplaces, the City Council can’t get anything done without fostering relationships with their colleagues and learning to work together through conflict for the good of the community. There’s always going to be disagreements; for instance, there are current councilmembers who voted for the 52% increase in city property taxes, and I disagree with that vote. Just because disagreements occur, doesn’t mean that I can’t work with them to find solutions, for finding middle ground is paramount to moving forward as a city. The last thing I want is [for] there to be deadlock on the City Council and for nothing to get done.”

What sets you apart from other candidates and current councilmembers?

“I am the only candidate in this race who is a member of the working class. I’m a proud card-carrying member of my union, UFCW 3000. I carry it everywhere. I understand the issues facing my union brothers and sisters: Rising property taxes and how they affect housing costs for both renters and owners; the increasing difficulty for working people to provide for their families, put food on the table, and enjoy life in general; lack of public trust in local governance; public safety concerns such as escalating youth and gang-related violence. I bring a blue-collar perspective to the council. I know how these issues affect working people and will work with my city council colleagues to effectively address them for the good of all residents.”

What’s something happening in Lynnwood you don’t think is being addressed or talked about enough? How would you address it?

“Communication, in general, but the rise of coyote sightings and attacks in Lynnwood as a public safety issue. Many community members have talked to me about lack of communication from the City and coyote sightings when I go doorbelling. Right now, the only agency who can address coyote attacks or sightings is the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW). Lynnwood residents want answers, but they don’t know who to call or what to do. The city must communicate more with residents about these issues. This helps to restore the public trust. To do that, I’ll advocate partnering with the WDFW for a public information campaign including community informational meetings and social media posts from the City of Lynnwood official social media pages to empower residents on what to do if coyotes are sighted in their neighborhoods.

Additionally, no one is really talking about the lack of an arts scene in Lynnwood. If they are, not enough people are listening. As part of my platform, I want to grow the arts, culture and entertainment in Lynnwood. As a singer, songwriter [and] guitarist, I value the arts and would love to see Lynnwood expand its arts and culture with more music/concert venues, clubs, comedy clubs, piano bars, etc. I want to make Lynnwood more of a live, work, play environment, and a destination city. Not to mention that it’s an amazing opportunity for the City to grow its tax revenue. It’s high time, particularly as a growing city, to have those diverse entertainment options for residents of all ages so that they don’t feel that they have to leave the city to have a good time.”

What’s one issue or topic the council has talked about recently that’s piqued your interest, and how would you address it?

“The Council recently voted to adopt the Unified Development Code (UDC), which is a comprehensive ordinance that consolidates and updates Lynnwood’s development regulations to streamline processes and align with state mandates.

I am mostly in favor of the UDC, which addresses the City’s planned increase in housing density. However, I am quite concerned about the fire sprinkler amendment. The amendment would’ve mandated fire sprinklers in all new residential constructions, including single-family homes, middle housing, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs). While I understand some councilmembers’ concerns of increased housing costs of several thousands of dollars if the fire sprinkler amendment was adopted, I believe them to be well worth the cost. Fire sprinklers save lives, and with higher density comes a greater number of people at risk of fire spread. I am of the belief that one life is worth more than a couple thousand dollars. I would have fought to include the fire sprinkler amendment in the UDC vote.”

In recent years, multiple youth in Lynnwood have been 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?

“We need to reinstate School Resource Officers in Lynnwood schools. Removing them [from the Edmonds School District] in 2019 was disastrous for our kids. At a May 21 Lynnwood City Council work session, Lynnwood Police Department Detective Russ Sattarov reported that the number of case reports and arrests involving juvenile violent crime in our community have gone up exponentially since 2022. For instance, juvenile violent crime arrests increased from 133 in 2023, to 270 in 2024, a 49.3% increase. Case reports involving juvenile violent crime increased from 198 in 2023 to 336 in 2024, a 58.9% increase. Without the SRO program, Meadowdale Middle School. (MMS) saw an unprecedented rise in school related-case reports. From 2018-2020, MMS had only six case reports when the SRO program was in place. However, from 2022-2024 when there was no SRO program, MMS had 23 case reports, a nearly 300% increase in cases from the previous time period.

As your Lynnwood City Councilman, I will advocate for after-school programs and a return of School Resource Officers to resolve youth violence – talk isn’t just cheap, it’s deadly.”

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?

“Lynnwood has traditionally had a neighborhood character, a blue-collar, working-class identity. But in the near future, Snohomish County as a whole and Lynnwood in particular, will grow by 308,000 residents. To help welcome new residents to our city, I want to work with the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County to create a second Economic Opportunity Zone along Highway 99, extending from South Everett to Edmonds, where new housing and businesses can grow. Not just apartments, but condominium complexes, too. To spur growth, the City would offer a sales tax deferral to allow businesses to delay paying taxes associated with new construction. This would apply to new businesses and new housing.

I will work to maintain our single-family zoning and neighborhood character while working to welcome new neighbors to our community with diverse housing options to fit their needs.”

To learn more about Boucsieguez and his campaign, visit his Facebook page or campaign website: electdio.com.