Bruce Harrell

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 city's second Black mayor, and its first African-Asian American mayor. He is currently running for re-election to a second term in the 2025 Seattle mayoral election.

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 incarcerated 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. He 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 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. In 2013, he was inducted into the NW Football Hall of Fame.

Harrell graduated from the University of Washington in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law in 1984. In 1994, he earned a master's degree in organizational design and improvement from City University of Seattle. Harrell received the University of Washington Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007 and its Timeless Award in 2012.

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 (2008-2020)

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 was sworn in as acting mayor of Seattle on September 13, 2017, after Mayor Ed Murray resigned due to multiple allegations of child abuse, rape and sexual molestation. 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 (2022-present)

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. On February 1^st 2022, Harrell announced the appointment of State Representative Jessyn Farrell as Director of Sustainability and Environment. 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. Harrell named his niece and former campaign manager, Monisha Harrell, as senior deputy mayor in 2021. She resigned the position in 2023 amidst disagreements on public safety issues.

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 February 2025, Seattle held a special election to determine funding for a social housing program that had been approved by voters in an earlier election. Harrell, alongside business leaders, endorsed Proposition 1B, a proposal to use existing tax revenue to fund this housing, while progressive leaders endorsed Proposition 1A, a proposal to create a new business tax dedicated to funding social housing. Proposition 1A was victorious, a particularly significant loss for Harrell since it came after he had launched his re-election campaign.

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.

Immigration

In December 2024 Harrell commented on President-elect Donald Trump's planned mass deportation of illegal immigrants, stating the importance of "protecting certain communities", but also indicated that he would support mass deportation efforts of criminals, citing "certain activities coming out of the White House that we want to embrace."

Re-election campaign (2024-25)

In December 2024, Harrell announced his intention to run for re-election in the 2025 Seattle mayoral election. This announcement included numerous high-profile endorsements, including from Governor-elect Bob Ferguson and then-King County Executive Dow Constantine. If re-elected, Harrell would become the first Seattle mayor to win a second term since Greg Nickels in 2005. Harrell drew seven challengers for the August primary election, including activist Katie Wilson, actor Ry Armstrong, and 2009 Seattle mayoral election runner-up Joe Mallahan.

Controversies

Allegations of a toxic workplace

in 2025, Monisha Harrell, Bruce Harrell's niece and former Senior Deputy Mayor, came forward to KUOW alleging that Bruce Harrell created a toxic work environment where he repeatedly undermined the authority of the women staffers, including her. Six other anonymous women with ties to the Mayor's office were interviewed by KUOW, supporting Monisha Harrell's assessment that Mayor Bruce Harrell's office was a dog-eat-dog boys club that "where women were condescended to and shut out of important meetings, even though their roles would suggest they be included".

China Harbor restaurant event and subsequent Queen Anne mayoral forum

On October 8, 2021, Harrell, at the time campaigning for mayor, attended a dinner event at China Harbor restaurant, a popular location for political fundraisers, to spread and deliver his mayoral platform. In attendance were political figures including former Washington Governor Gary Locke, Burien Mayor Jimmy Matta, and candidate for Port of Seattle Commission Hamdi Mohamad. The event, which had around 270 attendees, had many COVID-19 restrictions in place by the restaurant, including requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, and for eventgoers to wear a mask when not eating, drinking or sitting at their table. According to state law at the time, masks were required in all public, indoor spaces, with the exception of those actively eating or drinking. During the event, Harrell and other attendees were photographed mingling and posing for photos without masks. This drew criticism, including from Seattle journalist Erica Barnett, who shared the photos on Twitter and called the event a "giant, unmasked fundraiser". One of Harrell's mayoral opponents, M. Lorena Gonzalez, later said in a forum that "leadership in my mind means that you cannot play by your own rules when it comes to public health, especially when the city is in a public health crisis". In a statement two days later, Harrell said, "even though I only removed my mask for dining and brief intervals for photographs with friends and community leaders, I understand that people in public life will and should be held to high standards". Locke, Matta, and Mohamad all commented on the story as well: Locke said he tried to wear his mask the whole time but nobody is perfect, Matta that the venue was big enough for everyone to be safe but they were still cautious, and Mohamad that he only removed his mask to eat and some photos.

Barnett, who publicly criticized the event, was also set to be moderator for a forum hosted by the Queen Anne Community Council between Harrell and other mayoral candidates. According to Barnett, Harrell's campaign threatened to withdraw from the forum unless she was removed as a moderator, which she eventually was. This drew a round of criticism, with Gonzalez saying at that forum, "It's my understanding this journalist was one of the first to report on my opponent's decision to host a very large maskless indoor fundraiser in violation of King County's public health mandate". Harrell responded that he "had no discussions with Barnett but the question was posed, why was she the person to host us."

Leaked excerpts from homelessness meeting with Seattle Police Department

In August 2022, as Harrell was implementing and pushing his "One Seattle'' plan to fight homelessness, excerpts from a meeting with the Seattle Police Department were leaked to the radio station 770 KTTH. In the leaks, he said that "no one has a right to sleep on the streets" and that the "authority" was "working against" his efforts to address homelessness, criticized the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, and vowed to work against "inexperienced" City Council members. In later comments he acknowledged his statements, and did not disavow them, but used more "diplomatic" language, according to the ''Seattle Times''. In those comments he also said he had a right to "criticize what he sees" but that he would call anyone who might be offended by his leaked remarks. Lisa Daugaard, the director of the Public Defender Association and overseer of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, a program to provide care for those who break the law due to extreme poverty, said that its relationship with Harrell was still "in good shape". King County Regional Homelessness Authority CEO Marc Dones did not directly address Harrell's remarks but stated their belief in the Homelessness Authority's work. First-term City Councilmember Andrew Lewis noted that he did not believe the comments meant there would be any substantive changes with the mayor and the council, and that he had no concerns over the remarks.

1996 Arrest at Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa

On the night of September 27, 1996, then-Omaha resident Bruce Harrell flashed a gun in response to a parking dispute.

Rose Sanchez recalls Harrell, in a red Jeep Cherokee, slowly driving past her, her husband, Jose, and her mother, pointing a handgun at them after confronting them over the parking spot. A casino employee and a police officer backed up the Sanchezes’ account at the time. The casino staffer, speaking anonymously to KUOW, said they saw Harrell holding a handgun in his Jeep.

Harrell acknowledges “displaying” a firearm but denies pointing it at anyone. In contemporary media interviews and statements to the outlet, he claimed the Sanchezes may have mistaken his watch or phone for a gun. At the time, Harrell told reporters he had been carrying the weapon for protection due to death threats he had received following his housing board nomination. It was not common for people to carry portable phones in 1996.

Casino security was alerted, and law enforcement responded shortly after 12:30 a.m. Harrell initially downplayed the situation, but a subsequent search of his vehicle revealed an unloaded .25 caliber Raven semi-automatic pistol and a clip with four bullets.

Harrell was arrested and booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail on three charges: aggravated assault, interference with official acts, and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit—each an aggravated misdemeanor carrying a possible two-year jail sentence and thousands in fines.

The charges were dismissed six months later in what County Prosecutor Rick Crowl described as an “unofficial deferred prosecution.” According to Crowl, Harrell was required to apologize to the arresting officers. Crowl also cited Harrell’s claim that he felt threatened by “a Hispanic group” as a reason for his decision to drop the case. A letter written by Crowl in 2024 described Harrell’s display of the weapon as “non-threatening” and the incident as “minor.”

No formal lawsuit emerged from the event, though Harrell reportedly retained legal counsel and claimed his constitutional rights had been violated due to racial profiling. The matter, according to Harrell's office, was resolved without financial settlement.

Personal life

Harrell and his wife Joanne married in 1992; they have three children and live in Seattle's Seward Park neighborhood. He appointed his niece, Monisha, as senior deputy mayor from 2021 to 2023.

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

2011 election

2013 mayoral election

2015 election

2021 mayoral election

See also

* Washington Huskies football statistical leaders

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrell, Bruce
1958 births
Living people
20th-century African-American politicians
21st-century African-American politicians
21st-century mayors of places in Washington (state)
African-American mayors in Washington (state)
African-American people in Washington (state) politics
American mayors of Japanese descent
American politicians of Japanese descent
City council members of Asian descent
Asian-American people in Washington (state) politics
Mayors of Seattle
Seattle City Council members
Garfield High School (Seattle) alumni
University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Washington Huskies football players
Washington (state) Democrats