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 who served as a member of the Seattle City Council from District 2. He was first elected to the city council in 2007 and was re-elected in 2011 and 2015,and did not run again in 2019. In 2016,he was chosen as president of the city council. He also briefly served as acting mayor of Seattle from September 13 to September 18,2017. He is a candidate in the 2021 Seattle mayoral election.
Jenny Anne Durkan is an American attorney and politician serving as the 56th mayor of Seattle. She is the daughter of Martin Durkan,who was once considered one of the most powerful politicians in Washington state;like him,she 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,and had many prominent cases both on behalf of the government and for private parties. During this time she also worked for many nonprofits and advocacy groups,and was briefly Governor Mike Lowry's chief lawyer. 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 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.
Maria Lorena González is an American lawyer and politician who is a member of the Seattle City Council from Position 9. She was the first Latina elected to the council. She is currently running for mayor of Seattle in the 2021 election.
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.
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 and community organizer from Seattle,Washington. She was elected to represent District 2 on the Seattle City Council in November 2019.
Girmay Hadish Zahilay is an American politician and attorney serving as a member of the King County Council from District 2 in Seattle,Washington. He was elected in 2019 and defeated longtime incumbent Larry Gossett.
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.
Alex Christopher Pedersen is an American politician serving as a member of the Seattle City Council for District 4. He was previously an aide to city councilmember Tim Burgess and a private sector housing finance analyst.
The 2021 Seattle mayoral election was held on November 2,2021. Incumbent mayor Jenny Durkan initially sought reelection to a second term in office,but later changed her mind and announced she would retire at the end of her current term.
The 2019 Seattle City Council election was held on November 5,2019. Seven seats of the nine-member Seattle City Council were up for election. Four incumbent members of the city council did not run for reelection while the remaining three incumbents all won reelection.
The 2021 Seattle City Council election were held on November 2,2021. Two seats of the nine-member Seattle City Council were up for election.
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.
