NARA SELSON TELLS ALL

WRITTEN BY ADAM WILLEMS

“Nara Selson” is what happens when a local homo who likes to write Wikipedia articles about B-list Seattle politicians from the 1990s — and who’s fluent in RuPaul’s Drag Race lore to an equally encyclopedic extent — decides to run for office. Or, to be more precise, decides to run against City Council President Sara Nelson, and then shows up to high-profile venues (City Hall, gay bars, and the like) as a politically progressive drag parody of her: queening out and holding Nelson’s feet to the fire for failures of leadership.

CHUM is not in the business of outing or doxxing people, but rumor has it Nara Selson and (former) City Council candidate Connor Nash have never been seen in the same room together. Nara may or may not be Nash sporting a $19.99 discount wig from Western Beauty Supply on Rainier Ave, wobbly heels from Goodwill, finger-smeared makeup, and a wrinkled power suit that appears to have been run over by a car. 

It’s helpful to think of Nara and Nash as one does Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana. “The best of both worlds,” as Nash put it: a delightful mix of policy-wonky tirades from Connor Nash and campy drag from Nara Selson. 

“I'm going to run for public office, I'm going to yell at my councilmembers, and then I'm going to drag parody them: I can't think of anything that's more Seattle,” Nash said. “I mean, I even have a mullet.”

In an exclusive interview with CHUM, Nara Selson framed her relationship to Sara as one might Mary-Kate to Ashley Olsen if their sisterhood were best defined by antagonism and estrangement. While Nara’s visits to City Council have allegedly generated “horrified” reactions from councilmember Debora Juarez, hetero confusion from Dan Strauss, and looks of fascination from Rob Saka and Bob Kettle, Sara Nelson has completely ignored Nara Selson on the two occasions they’ve been face-to-face during public hearings, according to Nara. 

“The city is really pissed off at you, and that you can't see that is crazy.”

“She doesn't look at her own sister; it's really sad,” Selson said. “I know I'm progressive and more popular, and people like me and people despise her […] but the Nelson-Selson twins need better.”

Well, the Nelson-Selson twins have now been booted from office. The latest trickle of ballots suggests Sara Nelson got walloped in the November election: nearly twenty points behind progressive challenger Dionne Foster, who ran successfully on a pro-worker, pro-housing, pro-climate, and anti-Nelson platform. (No word yet of a “Fionne Doster” roaming City Hall.)

“The city is really pissed off at you and that you can't see that is crazy,” Nara said to her sister, Sara, through this publication, CHUM, since they’re estranged and don’t talk to each other directly. Nara cited Nelson’s hamstringing of renters’ rights, her greenlighting of new police surveillance systems while a federal invasion looms large, and her dismissal of public protest as key to her losing electoral strategy. 

Connor Nash takes a more longitudinal view. He wrote all those Wikipedia articles, after all, including parts of Sara Nelson’s. Seattle politics consistently bounces between conservatism and progressivism, Nash said, which partially explains how politicians like Nelson and (outgoing) City Attorney Ann Davison—who backed expansions to policing and incarceration, often at the literal expense of affordable housing construction—could come to power so quickly after the 2020 uprisings against white supremacy and police violence. That dynamic rhymes somewhat with the way progressive politician Charlie Chong operated so prominently in the ’80s and ’90s, even as conservative rules like the teen dance ordinance were passed, Nash said.

Nash’s personal experiences also make him think the abysmal nature of running for office weeds out good people, contributing to a regressive city politics; anyone who says they like running for office is either lying or a sociopath, he said. Honest and nice, Nash wants to join a newly elected councilmember as part of their staff. (“If any of them are reading: ‘Please.’”) And he’s learned how to survive the travails of the campaign trail following his first electoral go-around, which may come in handy down the road. 

Nara’s learned lessons of her own, looking to drag queens Meatball (who does a phenomenal George Santos number), Lushious Massacr, and Nicole Paige Brooks for pointers on ways to experience and express gender euphoria. “I have the Trixie Mattel level of delusion where I'm the hottest woman and you couldn't tell me otherwise,” Selson said. “When people say I look busted, I'm like, ‘You just don't get it.’”

As Sara Nelson recedes from the political limelight, Nara Selson says she risks turning irrelevant, too, though she’s dead-set on winning the all-star edition of FLAVA NIGHT’s amateur showcase at Queer/Bar next month. Whether her name will have any staying power in the long run is another question.

“Years down the line, people will be like, ‘Why is your name Nara Selson?’ and I’ll be like, ‘Well, back in my day…’ and no one will get the joke.”