Does it matter if Bellevue pays for its city council campaigns? It is a chance for residents who can't vote to have their opinion recognized. Should the opinion of Seattle and residents in other cities count?
Individual contributors comprise over 75% of the contributions in the 2019 Bellevue City Council races. Candidates who entered the race early, Jeremy Barksdale and Stephanie Walter, as well as incumbents, Janice Zahn and Jennifer Robertson, were clearly able to get high numbers of individual contributors on their list of supporters.

JD Yu's campaign started on the filing date but has caught and surpassed some.
Seattle residents play a small role in terms of dollars, with the exception of James Bible's campaign. Seattle individuals outnumber Bellevue residents in both the count of his financial supporters (46) and dollars (39%) received from individuals. His Bellevue donations are lower than both Seattle and other places. Individual donor tallies are split nearly even between Bellevue, Seattle, and other places.