Kate Tellus sworn in as Spokane City Councilmember for District 2

Kate Tellus was sworn in as the Spokane City Councilmember for District 2 at a public ceremony in Spokane. Judge Biggs administered the oath while Tellus placed her hand on a family Bible she said belonged to her great-great-grandmother, Susanna McNair Gregory.

Tellus told attendees she brought the family Bible as a way of including her late father in the ceremony and thanked family members who were present, including her husband, Alex Tellis, and their children. Judge Biggs said of the moment, “Congratulations, miss Tellis.”

In brief remarks after the oath, Tellus thanked a long list of campaign volunteers and supporters by name and described the campaign as a team effort. She said volunteers knocked on thousands of doors and the campaign sent thousands of postcards; the transcript records both a volunteer who “knocked on almost 3,000 doors” and a later statement that the campaign “knocked on 13,000 doors,” which appear as two separate claims in her remarks. Tellus called for continued civic engagement and asked residents to contact their councilmembers and to stay involved.

The ceremony included introductions and acknowledgements from the council president (unnamed in the transcript), who described Tellus’s background — including roots in Montana, a father who served as a forest ranger and a mother who worked in city planning and affordable housing — and noted her volunteer work with the League of Women Voters and local schools. The council president invited several former and current elected officials and judges in attendance to stand and be recognized.

Tellus closed by saying the swearing-in marked the start of public service rather than the end of a campaign and urged the audience to “stay involved, stay engaged” as she begins her term.