Bruce Harrell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bruce Harrell
|
|
---|---|
Harrell in 2022
|
|
54th and 57th Mayor of Seattle | |
Assumed office January 1, 2022 |
|
Preceded by | Jenny Durkan |
Acting September 13, 2017 – September 18, 2017 |
|
Preceded by | Ed Murray |
Succeeded by | Tim Burgess |
President of the Seattle City Council | |
In office January 5, 2016 – January 5, 2020 |
|
Preceded by | Tim Burgess |
Succeeded by | Lorena González |
Member of the Seattle City Council | |
In office January 3, 2008 – January 6, 2020 |
|
Preceded by | Peter Steinbrueck |
Succeeded by | Tammy Morales |
Constituency | District 2 (2016–2020) Position 3 (2008–2016) |
Personal details | |
Born |
Bruce Allen Harrell
October 10, 1958 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse |
Joanne Harrell
(m. 1992) |
Residences | Seward Park, Washington, U.S. |
Education | University of Washington (BA, JD) City University of Seattle (MS) |
Bruce Allen Harrell (born October 10, 1958) 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.
Contents
Early life and education
Harrell was born in 1958 in Seattle, to an African American father who worked for Seattle City Light and a Japanese American mother who worked for the Seattle Public Library. As a child during World War II, Harrell's mother was interred with her family at Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. Growing up, Harrell and his family lived in the Central District in Seattle in a minority neighborhood. He attended Garfield High School and played football there as a linebacker, becoming named to the all-Metro team. Harrell graduated from Garfield in 1976 as class valedictorian.
After high school, Harrell attended the University of Washington on a football scholarship, rejecting an offer to attend Harvard University. He played for the Washington Huskies football team from 1976 to 1979 and was named to the 1979 All-Pacific-10 Conference football team. He also received the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award, made the national Academic All-American First Team in football, and was named the Husky defensive player of the year.
Harrell graduated from the University of Washington in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. Four years later, he earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law. In 1994, Harrell earned a master's degree in organizational design and improvement from City University of Seattle.
In 2007, Harrell received the University of Washington Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2012, he won the University of Washington's Timeless Award, and in 2013 he was inducted into the NW Football Hall of Fame.
Legal career
After attending law school, Harrell joined US West, now Lumen Technologies, in 1987. Harrell was chief legal advisor to the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund, chief legal advisor to the First A.M.E. Church and First A.M.E. Housing Corporation, chief counsel to US West, and general counsel to Moovn and the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Zeta Pi Lambda chapter.
Seattle City Council
Harrell was elected to the Seattle City Council in 2007. In 2011, he wrote a letter to now former US Attorney Jenny Durkan asking that the federal government mandate body cameras in Seattle.
In 2014, Harrell was the only dissenting vote when the City Council's land use committee voted to rezone the area around the Mount Baker Light Rail Station to permit dense housing construction. Harrell unsuccessfully introduced amendments that would have delayed the upzoning indefinitely for further study and reduced the amount of housing that could be constructed near the public transit station. When the upzoning was put up to a vote in the City Council, Harrell was the only member to vote against it.
Following years of at-large city council elections, Harrell was reelected into the newly created District 2 position after a change to district-based city council elections. On January 4, 2016, he was sworn in to the District 2 office and elected council president by fellow councilmembers. In 2016, Harrell supported a measure to attempt to bring back the Seattle SuperSonics, but the measure was defeated in a 5–4 vote.
Acting mayor of Seattle
..... Harrell served as acting mayor for a five-day period, after which the city council elected Tim Burgess to fill the position until the November election. Harrell declined to continue as acting mayor until November, which would have required him to lose his city council seat.
Mayor of Seattle
After Mayor Jenny Durkan announced in 2021 that she would not seek reelection, Harrell announced his candidacy. He won the November 2021 election and was sworn in as the 57th mayor of Seattle on January 1, 2022.
Appointments and staff
Deputy Mayor Kendee Yamaguchi resigned in July 2022. Harrell informed his cabinet that Greg Wong, the Director of the Department of Neighborhoods, would be promoted to deputy mayor. Harrell appointed Adrian Diaz, the interim chief of the Seattle Police Department, to become permanent in September 2022. Harrell appointed Gino Bettis, the former assistant state's attorney for Cook County, Illinois, as director of the Office of Police Accountability on August 1, 2022. In July 2022, Harrell nominated Gregg Spotts as director of the Seattle Department of Transportation. In September 2022, Harrell named Parks Anthony-Paul Diaz as Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent.
Issues
Housing
In 2023, Harrell sought to limit the applicability of a new Washington state law that permitted construction of fourplexes and sixplexes in zones previously zoned exclusively for single-family housing. The state law was intended to increase housing construction amid a housing shortage. In explaining Harrell's attempt to limit density and new housing construction, his spokesperson cited concerns over gentrification and displacement.
In July 2022, the Pacific Northwest experienced a historic heat wave that brought dangerously high temperatures to Seattle. Harrell's administration faced harsh criticism for continuing to remove homeless encampments during the heat wave.
In 2024, the Harrell administration released a comprehensive 20-year housing plan that proposed to slow housing construction in Seattle.
Transportation
In July 2022, Harrell's administration reversed a decision made by former mayor Jenny Durkan to allow the Department of Transportation to issue parking violation tickets instead of the Seattle Police Department. The move resulted in the cancellation of 200,000 parking tickets that had been issued by the Department of Transportation, with Seattle vowing to refund nearly $5 million to those who had paid fines.
Climate change
In September 2022, Harrell signed Green New Deal legislation in Seattle allocating $6.5 million for climate projects in the city, including funding towards efforts to get city-owned buildings off fossil fuels by 2035.
Personal life
Harrell and his wife Joanne married in 1992; they have three children and live in Seattle's Seward Park neighborhood.
In 2022, Harrell was honored by Gold House (which honors those of Asian Pacific descent). The organization honored him and fellow mayors Aftab Pureval and Michelle Wu as having made the "most impact" in the field of advocacy and policy.
Electoral history
2007 election
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Venus Velazquez | 31,554 | 43.72% | |
Nonpartisan | Bruce Harrell | 20,520 | 28.43% | |
Nonpartisan | Al Runte | 9,397 | 13.02% | |
Nonpartisan | John E. Manning | 5,665 | 7.85% | |
Nonpartisan | Scott Feldman | 4,810 | 6.66% | |
Nonpartisan | Write-in | 223 | 0.31% | |
Turnout | 84,038 | 25.03% | ||
Registered electors | 335,746 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Bruce Harrell | 80,839 | 59.88% | |
Nonpartisan | Venus Velazquez | 53,539 | 39.66% | |
Nonpartisan | Write-in | 626 | 0.46% | |
Majority | 27,300 | 20.22% | ||
Turnout | 159,120 | 47.46% | ||
Registered electors | 335,276 |
2011 election
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Bruce Harrell | 96,978 | 61.05% | |
Nonpartisan | Brad Meacham | 61,138 | 38.49% | |
Nonpartisan | Write-in | 737 | 0.46% | |
Majority | 35,840 | 22.56% | ||
Turnout | 197,524 | 52.87% | ||
Registered electors | 373,630 |
2013 mayoral election
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Ed Murray | 42,314 | 29.85% | |
Nonpartisan | Mike McGinn | 40,501 | 28.57% | |
Nonpartisan | Peter Steinbrueck | 22,913 | 16.16% | |
Nonpartisan | Bruce A. Harrell | 21,580 | 15.22% | |
Nonpartisan | Charlie Staadecker | 6,288 | 4.44% | |
Nonpartisan | Doug McQuaid | 2,546 | 1.80% | |
Nonpartisan | Kate Martin, planner | 2,479 | 1.75% | |
Nonpartisan | Mary Martin, factory worker | 1,498 | 1.06% | |
Nonpartisan | Joey Gray | 1,318 | 0.93% | |
Nonpartisan | Write-in | 334 | 0.24% | |
Turnout | 144,306 | 34.95% | ||
Registered electors | 412,847 |
2015 election
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Bruce Harrell | 8,066 | 61.72% | |
Nonpartisan | Tammy Morales | 3,223 | 24.66% | |
Nonpartisan | Josh Farris | 1,725 | 13.20% | |
Nonpartisan | Write-in | 55 | 0.42% | |
Turnout | 13,258 | 26.81% | ||
Registered electors | 49,450 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Bruce Harrell | 9,532 | 50.79% | |
Nonpartisan | Tammy Morales | 9,188 | 48.96% | |
Nonpartisan | Write-in | 46 | 0.25% | |
Majority | 344 | 1.83% | ||
Turnout | 19,866 | 39.74% | ||
Registered electors | 49,987 |
2021 mayoral election
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Bruce Harrell | 69,612 | 34.00% | |
Nonpartisan | Lorena González | 65,750 | 32.11% | |
Nonpartisan | Colleen Echohawk | 21,042 | 10.28% | |
Nonpartisan | Jessyn Farrell | 14,931 | 7.29% | |
Nonpartisan | Arthur Langlie | 11,372 | 5.55% | |
Nonpartisan | Casey Sixkiller | 6,918 | 3.38% | |
Nonpartisan | Andrew Grant Houston | 5,485 | 2.68% | |
Nonpartisan | James Donaldson | 3,219 | 1.57% | |
Nonpartisan | Lance Randall | 2,804 | 1.37% | |
Nonpartisan | Clinton Bliss | 1,618 | 0.79% | |
Nonpartisan | Omari Tahir-Garrett | 391 | 0.19% | |
Nonpartisan | Bobby Tucker | 377 | 0.18% | |
Nonpartisan | Henry Dennison | 347 | 0.17% | |
Nonpartisan | Stan Lippmann | 323 | 0.16% | |
Nonpartisan | Don Rivers | 189 | 0.09% | |
Write-in | 386 | 0.19% | ||
Total votes | 206,814 | 100.00 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Bruce Harrell | 155,294 | 58.56% | |
Nonpartisan | Lorena González | 109,132 | 41.15% | |
Write-in | 777 | 0.29% | ||
Total votes | 265,203 | 100.00 |
See also
- Washington Huskies football statistical leaders