Election Anxiety Hits Bothell Businesses: Owners Share Voting Plans

You walk down Main Street in Bothell this October and you feel the hush. It’s not the quiet of a peaceful afternoon. It’s the tense silence of held breath. The election is days away, and for the small business owners here, the political climate is not an abstract concept. It’s a direct hit to their register. Sandra Lee Parker of the local chamber tells me spending at restaurants and shops has fallen by as much as thirty percent. People are anxious. They are pulling back, waiting to see what Tuesday brings.

At Sugar Rush, a candy store, Spring McManus explains the math of strain. Tariffs forced her to raise prices. That decision, she says, made her cry. Her profits have vanished. She does not pay herself a salary. She only employs her children. A question she hears every day, “Are you hiring?” meets a firm no. McManus is voting a straight Democratic ticket, yet she breaks with her party on one issue. She wants to repeal the state’s capital gains tax on high earners. She calls it the millionaires tax. She has never paid it. But she believes it makes her potential customers spend less. For her, change means removing what she sees as a drag on her fragile economy.

Just a few doors down, Chris Butaud sees the same problem from a different political aisle. He is a mortgage broker and a conservative Christian. He also wants the tax repealed. His reasoning is geographic. He watches wealthy clients leave Washington state, taking their capital and their business networks with them. The outflow is tangible enough that Butaud is looking to get licensed in the states gaining these residents. His vote is a bet on a different policy framework, one he hopes will stem the tide. Both McManus and Butaud are targeting a tax they don’t personally pay. Both feel it is a symbol of broader economic decline. Their consensus is found in shared anxiety, not shared politics.

This election anxiety compounds a year that was already difficult. The national economic mood, measured by indexes like the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment survey, has been subdued. Uncertainty over future policy freezes decision-making. People postpone the dinner out, the small luxury, the home improvement loan. They wait. For a business operating on thin margins, a thirty percent drop is not a statistic. It is an emergency.

Richard Olson, a local jeweler, is an outlier. His custom work means a backlog of orders. A slowdown in foot traffic lets him catch up. He jokes that he makes money when nobody walks through the door. But even he is not immune to the national disquiet. He speaks of a deep distrust in political leadership and worry over wars and the environment. His coping mechanism is personal. He votes exactly as his wife does. He trusts her research and her judgment. In a world that feels chaotic, it is a small island of certainty.

The story on this street is a national one, written in local detail. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book has consistently noted how uncertainty, from elections to geopolitical events, can cause businesses to pause hiring and investment. What happens in Bothell is a microcosm. Business owners are not just voting their political identity. They are voting their balance sheets. They are voting for what they believe will restore customer confidence and open wallets. Their choices are rarely purely ideological. They are deeply, painfully practical.

• Election anxiety is palpable.
• Small businesses face a thirty percent drop in spending.
• Customer confidence is wavering.
• Tax policies are a focal point for business owners.
• Economic uncertainty influences decision-making.
• Local businesses reflect national trends.

The polls will close on Tuesday. The results will roll in. But for Spring McManus, Chris Butaud, and Richard Olson, the real measure of change won’t be in a headline Wednesday morning. It will be in the sound of a door chime ringing, the ring of a cash register, and the slow return of a customer who no longer feels the need to wait.