The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle,Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms,seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-large positions;all elections are non-partisan. It has the sole responsibility of approving the city's budget,and develops laws and policies intended to promote the health and safety of Seattle's residents. The Council passes all legislation related to the city's police,firefighting,parks,libraries,and electricity,water supply,solid waste,and drainage utilities. (The mayor of Seattle is not considered part of council.)
Bruce Allen Harrell is an American politician and attorney serving as the 57th and current mayor of Seattle,Washington. He was a member of the Seattle City Council from 2008 to 2020. From 2016 to 2020,he was president of the city council. He was acting mayor of Seattle from September 13 to 18,2017. He was elected mayor in his own right in the 2021 Seattle mayoral election,becoming the second Black mayor since Norm Rice,and the first African-Asian American mayor of the city.
Jenny Anne Durkan is an American attorney,former federal prosecutor,and politician served as the 56th mayor of Seattle,Washington. She is the daughter of Martin Durkan. Durkan is a member of the Democratic Party. After earning her Juris Doctor from University of Washington School of Law in 1985,Durkan began practicing law as a criminal defense lawyer and civil litigator. In October 2009,President Barack Obama appointed her United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington. She held that position until September 2014.
Timothy L. Burgess is an American journalist and politician from Seattle,Washington. He was a member of the Seattle City Council from 2007 to 2017,and served as Mayor of Seattle for 71 days in late 2017. Prior to his political career,Burgess was a radio journalist and Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer.
Michael J. O'Brien is an American politician and former member of the Seattle City Council who represented District 6 in northwest Seattle. He was first elected in 2009 to a different,city-wide council seat. He was the leading proponent of the opt-out list for the Yellow Pages. He was the only opponent of the proposed deep bore tunnel under downtown Seattle on the city council. He was chair of the local chapter of the Sierra Club before running for office. In this capacity,he was one of the leading opponents of the 2007 Roads and Transit ballot measure.
Kshama Sawant is an Indian-American politician and economist who has served on the Seattle City Council since 2014. She is a member of Socialist Alternative,the first and only member of the party to date to be elected to public office.
Teresa Carmen Mosqueda is an American politician and labor activist from Seattle,Washington. She was elected to the Seattle City Council in 2017 to represent the at-large position 8. In 2023,she announced that she would run for the King County Council seat being vacated by Joe McDermott.
Debora Juarez is an American lawyer and politician serving as the president of the Seattle City Council. She was first elected in 2015 to represent the 5th district. A member of the Blackfeet Nation,she was the first Native American person elected to the council.
Maria Lorena González is an American lawyer and former politician who was a member of the Seattle City Council from position 9. She was the first Latino elected to the council. She was a candidate for mayor of Seattle in 2021 but was defeated by Bruce Harrell 59 percent to 41 percent.
Lisa Anne Herbold is an American politician. She serves on the Seattle City Council representing the 1st District,which covers part of West Seattle. She was first elected in 2015 after narrowly defeating Shannon Braddock,and was sworn into office on January 4,2016. She was reelected in November 2019.
Robert M. Johnson is an American politician. He served on the Seattle City Council representing the fourth district,covering northeast Seattle and the area around the University of Washington,from 2016 until his resignation in April 2019.
The 2017 Seattle mayoral election was held on November 7,2017. It was won by former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan,who beat civic activist Cary Moon in the general election by 15 percentage points. The two candidates had advanced from an earlier primary election held in August,which ensured that Seattle would have its first female mayor since Bertha Knight Landes was elected in 1926. Municipal elections are officially nonpartisan though most candidates have declared party affiliations.
Christopher Ward is an American politician serving as a member of the California Assembly for the 78th district. Prior to his election to the assembly,Ward served as a member of the San Diego City Council,representing the Third Council District. He is a Democrat.
The Seattle head tax,officially the employee hours tax (EHT),was a proposed head tax to be levied on large employers in Seattle,Washington,United States. The head tax was proposed in 2017 to fund homeless services and outreach and was set at a rate of $275 annually per employee,with hopes of raising up to $50 million annually.
Tammy Janine Morales is an American politician from Seattle,Washington. She was elected to represent District 2 on the Seattle City Council in November 2019.
John S. Lee is an American politician,serving as a member of the Los Angeles City Council for the 12th district. Formerly a Republican,Lee is now an independent and is the only non-Democrat currently on the city council.Lee was charged with 10 counts by the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission on Oct. 2nd,2023 for conduct related to his 2017 Vegas trip with former Councilmember Mitch Englander.
Daniel Aaron Strauss is an American politician who serves on the Seattle City Council from District 6. A native of Seattle's Ballard neighborhood,he previously worked as an aide to local politicians,including Seattle councilmember Sally Bagshaw.
Andrew Joseph Lewis is an American politician and attorney serving as a member of the Seattle City Council representing District 7. He was an assistant city attorney prior to his election and also worked on political campaigns.
The 2021 Seattle mayoral election was held on November 2,2021,to elect the Mayor of Seattle. It was won by former Seattle City Council President Bruce Harrell,who defeated then-current President Lorena González;both candidates had advanced from a nonpartisan primary election on August 3.
The 2021 Seattle City Attorney election was held on November 2,2021. Incumbent City Attorney Pete Holmes sought reelection to a fourth term in office,but came third place in the officially nonpartisan August 3 primary election and failed to advance to the general election,with both Nicole Thomas-Kennedy and Ann Davison finishing ahead of Holmes in the primary. Davison defeated Thomas-Kennedy in the general election.
