Discover Who Will Be on the Everett City Council in January

Two members of the council will be newcomers.

The Everett City Council will see two new faces in January, 2026. Let’s take a look at who is coming, going, and staying on the council.

Staying on the Council:

Paula Rhyne (District 2), Don Schwab (District 3), and Ben Zarlingo (District 5) all ran for reelection and won their seats.

At large council members Scott Bader and Judy Tuohy, both retain their seats and were not up for reelection.

Leaving the Council:

Both Mary Fosse from District 1 and Liz Vogeli from District 4 decided not to run for reelection, which opened up the door for newcomers. Fosse will continue to serve as a State Representative for the 38th district.

Joining the Council:

District 1:

Fosse’s seat will be filled by Erica Weir who is a third generation Everett resident. She graduated from Everett High School, EvCC, and the University of Washington.

Erica Weir will represent District 1 in 2026

Weir has a diverse, locally-focused background, including as a former Everett tavern owner, a former Scott Paper mill worker, and a former pre-school teacher. She is currently the General Manager of Village Theatre at the Everett Performing Arts.

District 4:

Liz Vogeli’s Distict 4 seat was hotly contested by three candidates, with some controversy, but was eventually won by Luis Burbano.

Luis Burbano will represent District 4 in 2026

Luis Burbano describes himself as a sustainability advocate, engineer, father, husband, and small business co-owner.

Burbano was born in Ecuador and immigrated to the United States when he was a teenager. He started to advocate for safer roads in district four after he was hit by a car twice while commuting to work by bicycle.

Luis served on the Sound Transit Community Board for the design of the Light Rail coming to Everett. He is a long-time Boeing engineer and co-owns Tamia Cakes with his wife. You can learn more about Burbano as a person in our interview with him.

Here’s what Burbano state he would be excited to work on:

Improving quality of life for the residents of District 4. District 4 is quite vibrant due to its diversity and is very well located. Unfortunately, it has not received the attention it deserves. I hope I can change that.

In District 4, we have roads that are not designed for all users and that have vehicle speeding issues. A replacement for the Fred Meyer needs to be found, and the buffer zone needs to be renewed.

Casino Rd residents will be affected by the Everett light rail. It is important that we mitigate this issue by creating more dignifying housing for low income residents. We need to encourage workers to live in Everett.

South Everett hosts one of the largest employers in the state. However, we have been unable to use that resource, and instead of keeping the paychecks in the area, we only kept the pollution and the traffic. These are things that we need to change for a better Everett.