2021 Seattle mayoral election

2021 Seattle mayoral election
← 2017 November 2, 2021 2025 →
Turnout54.57%[1]
 
Candidate Bruce Harrell Lorena González
Popular vote 155,294 109,132
Percentage 58.6% 41.2%

Harrell:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
González:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Tie:      40–50%      50%

Mayor before election

Jenny Durkan
Democratic

Elected mayor

Bruce Harrell
Democratic

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.[2]

Incumbent mayor Jenny Durkan initially sought reelection to a second term in office in February 2020, but withdrew that December due to backlash from her handling of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in Seattle as well as the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest during the George Floyd protests.[3]

Harrell held a 24-point lead over González when she conceded on November 4; his margin of victory was the largest of a non-incumbent candidate in a Seattle mayoral race since the 1969 election of Wesley C. Uhlman.[2][4] Harrell took over as mayor on January 1, 2022, having previously held the position as acting mayor for five days in September 2017 upon the resignation of Ed Murray; due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, he was sworn in privately the prior week and held a small inauguration ceremony on January 4.[5][6]

The 2021 election was the first in which mayoral candidates were eligible to use Seattle's democracy vouchers program,[7] which has captured the interest of other cities.[8]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference officialgen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Beekman, Daniel (November 4, 2021). "Bruce Harrell has won race for Seattle mayor, defeating M. Lorena González, as vote count continues". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "General and Special Elections". Seattle Municipal Archives. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Harrell runs - Times was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Taylor, Sarah Grace (December 30, 2021). "Citing spike in COVID cases, Seattle Mayor-elect Bruce Harrell to forgo public inauguration". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  7. ^ Beekman, Daniel (September 6, 2021). "Seattle candidates again vie for 'democracy vouchers' as they pivot to November election". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  8. ^ Kliff, Sarah (November 5, 2018). "Seattle's radical plan to fight big money in politics". Vox. Retrieved November 27, 2021.