[3] Johnson and Maddux had previously defeated 12-year incumbent Jean Godden in the August primary election.

Both Johnson and Maddux ran as progressive urbanists (favoring denser city planning rather than urban or suburban sprawl[4]), defeating slow-growth candidates Godden and Tony Provine.

Prior to the election, Johnson was executive director of Transportation Choices Coalition, an advocacy group in Washington state, where he managed their campaign for the Sound Transit 2 rail expansion programs.

[6] Several days later, he was appointed to the Sound Transit board of directors by King County Executive Dow Constantine, replacing fellow councilmember Mike O'Brien.

After his resignation, an interim council member was appointed to take Johnson's place until the November 2019 election.