At their meeting Feb. 10, the Federal Way City Council rescinded the vote that made Councilmember Martin Moore president of the council earlier this year, then elected Susan Honda in his place.
The motion was presented by Councilmember Linda Kochmar and seconded by Councilmember Jack Walsh.
The announcement of the special council meeting brought out crowds of community members to speak at public comment, filling the room with over 100 people.
While the notice of the special council meeting described the reason for the meeting as “potential action to rescind vote naming the city council president” without context, word got out to the community that it had something to do with a recent Facebook post that Moore had made supporting student walkouts in Federal Way.
Kochmar, Walsh and Councilmember Melissa Hamilton shared that their reasons to support rescinding the vote were not just about the Facebook post itself, but instead about concerns over potential conflicts of interest, as well as what they described as misuse of his platform and concerns about partisanship.
“Multiple conflicts of interest exist and the line between those rules has become very blurred. That’s the reason why we are here,” Hamilton said.
Moore responded at the meeting.
“Are there lessons to be learned? Of course. But that’s not why we’re here. We are here because one council person took it upon herself to drive this effort without any communication with me. Because she does not agree with how I serve people,” Moore said, saying that this action was a choice “to weaponize this moment to use it for political retaliation, because a colleague disagrees with you, is just wrong. We should ask ourselves, what message does that send to our youth and to the public? But it’s exactly the kind of conduct that discourages civic participation and erodes trust in government.”
Kochmar, Walsh, Hamilton and Honda voted to rescind the original council president vote.
Honda and Assefa-Dawson were then nominated as council president candidates, but Assefa-Dawson withdrew herself from consideration because she said she does not currently have the capacity.
Honda was the only member of the council not to address the vote to rescind Moore’s status as president or the student walkout. Despite being the only vote to change in between the original council vote and Tuesday’s vote, Honda did not share her reasons for the change.
Councilmember Les Sessoms, Assefa-Dawson and Moore voted against Honda’s confirmation as council president, but Kochmar, Walsh, Hamilton and Honda confirmed her.
Moore is still a council member and Honda was sworn in as council president.
At the meeting, 58 public commentors spoke in favor of keeping Moore in his current position as council president while 15 spoke in favor of removing him.
The social media post in question was from Moore’s official city council president Facebook page, and reads in its entirety:
“As I’ve said before, I am deeply concerned about ICE activity. While we do not have confirmation that ICE has been present in Federal Way, I fully support our students’ right to peacefully protest and exercise their First Amendment freedoms.
“Our young people are clearly feeling fear and uncertainty, and that is heartbreaking. I am proud of them for using their voices, and I stand with them. If you’d like to join them, please PM me.”
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Martin Moore
Councilmember Linda Kochmar (right) brought forward the motion to rescind the vote in which Councilmember Martin Moore was elected council president and Councilmember Jack Walsh (left) seconded it. Here they are listening to public commentors. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror
A local student shares how important it is to young people in the community that they feel seen and heard by the Federal Way City Council in the way that Councilmember Martin Moore has. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror
Susan Honda is sworn in as the council president after the vote at the special election on Feb. 10, 2026. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / the Mirror
