The council overturned Durkan’s veto by a vote of 7-2, securing exactly the number of votes needed to put the legislation into effect.

“In the wake of a racial reckoning, a $300 million budget shortfall, a pandemic, a climate crisis, a homelessness crisis... and a lack of federal leadership, our fundamental duty remains: to balance the City’s budget and meet the needs of Seattle’s most vulnerable residents,” city council president Lorena Gonzalez said in a statement.

City lawmakers also negated vetoes for two other bills unrelated to law enforcement, however the police defunding bill, originally passed in August, will cut some $3 million from the Seattle Police Department’s $400 million budget and reduce the force by 100 employees, including 32 patrol officers. The legislation will also abolish Seattle’s “Navigation Team,” an agency that works with police to disband homeless encampments around the city.

While the $3 million cut is far from the massive 50-percent budget reduction sought by the council over the summer, police accountability activists have nonetheless celebrated the overturned veto, including local groups Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now, which issued a joint statement after Tuesday’s vote.

“Today, we are encouraged to see the City Council...resist Mayor Durkan’s bullying tactics and anti-Black obstructionism,” the activists said. “Specifically, City Council upheld their decision to divest from the Seattle Police Department (SPD) by 3 million dollars – less than 1% of SPD’s annual budget – and invest modestly in Black communities.”

The organizations were joined by other supporters in hailing the move, including local residents, one of which declared “I love my anarchist jurisdiction” – a play on a designation recently slapped on Seattle, New York City and Portland, Oregon by the Department of Justice, which has vowed to strip the localities of federal funding.