Mercer Matters

Mercer Matters is a podcast hosted by Ben Sharpe that focuses on issues that affect residents of Mercer Island, Washington. In 2023, I had coffee with each of the candidates running for local school board and found that it made filling out my ballot so much easier. If only I could sit down and have coffee with every candidate I voted for. So I started meeting with candidates running for office digitally and recording the discussions.

My goal is to interview each person running for office in a primary race that affects residents of Mercer Island. I will also talk with folks on both sides of initiatives, bond measures, etc. and from time to time I’ll interview people to talk about issues that affect Mercer Island but aren’t related to an election or ballot measure.

• City council
• School board
• State & judicial races
• Ballot measures
• Mercer Island issues

You’ll find my interviews to be long form where I give my guest ample time to speak, I try to ask reasonable questions and avoid “gotchas”. While I have opinions on almost everything, I approach each interview with genuine curiosity and aim to provide a level playing field for the discussion.

You can find a full list of episodes on your favorite podcast platform, some of them linked above for convenience.