Government and politics of Seattle

Seattle is a charter city in the U.S. state of Washington with a mayor–council form of government. The Mayor of Seattle is head of the executive branch of city government, and the Seattle City Council, led by a Council President, is the legislative branch.

Seattle City Hall

The mayor of Seattle and two of the nine members of the Seattle City Council are elected at large, rather than by geographic subdivisions. The remaining seven council positions are elected based on the city's seven council districts. The only other elected offices are the city attorney and Municipal Court judges. All offices are non-partisan. Seattle is a predominantly liberal city and tends to elect left-leaning politicians to office. Bruce Harrell was elected as Mayor of Seattle in a municipal election on November 2, 2021, becoming the second Black mayor after Norm Rice, and first-ever of Asian descent.^[1]

Government

The city government provides more utilities than many cities; either running the whole operation, such as the water and electricity services, or handling the billing and administration, but contracting out the rest of the operations, like trash and recycling collections.

Organization

The government of the city of Seattle includes the following officers:

• Mayor
• Members of the Council
• President of the Council
• City Attorney
• Municipal Judges
• Chief of Police
• City Auditor
• City Clerk
• Fire Chief
• City Librarian
• The members of the boards or commissions of the departments and the chief administrative officer of each department and office
• The civil service
• other officers prescribed by ordinance.

Politics

Presidential Elections Results^[2]

Year	Republican	Democratic	Third Parties
2020	9.11% 39,834	88.45% 386,570	2.43% 10,625
2016	8.44% 32,362	84.22% 323,126	7.34% 28,162
2012	13.74% 48,164	83.01% 290,963	3.25% 11,385
2008	13.81% 45,761	84.32% 279,441	1.87% 6,207
2004	17.87% 57,034	80.50% 256,974	1.63% 5,195

Seattle's politics lean famously to the left compared to the U.S. as a whole. In this regard, it sits with a small set of similar U.S. cities (such as Madison, Wisconsin, Berkeley, California, and Cambridge and Boston in Massachusetts) where the dominant politics tend to range from center-left to social democratic. Seattle politics are generally dominated by the liberal wing (in the U.S. sense of the word "liberal") of the Democratic Party; in some local elections, Greens (and even, on at least one occasion, a member of the Freedom Socialist Party) have fared better than Republicans. There exist pockets of conservatism, especially in the north and in affluent neighborhoods such as Broadmoor, as well as scattered libertarians, but for the most part Seattle is primarily a Democratic city on all political levels; the city has not voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1972. While local elections are officially nonpartisan, most of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats.

In 2015, Seattle voters approved the nation's first Democracy Vouchers Program,^[3] in which every city resident receives 4 $25 vouchers to donate to local candidates. The program has diversified the donor pool, allowed more candidates to run for office, and boosted political engagement among voucher users.^[4]

Democratic dominance is no less pronounced at the state and federal level. The Democrats hold majorities in both houses of the Washington State Legislature covering a significant portion of the city. At the federal level, for years Seattle was entirely within Washington's 7th congressional district, the most Democratic white-majority district in the nation. Jim McDermott, who held the district from 1989 to 2017, consistently won reelection with margins of well over 70 percent of the vote. He was succeeded by another progressive Democrat, Pramila Jayapal. After the 2010 census, part of southeast Seattle was drawn into the 9th District, represented by Democrat Adam Smith.

Crime and criminal justice

 

Line graph of reported crime in Seattle from 1985 through 2016. Population shown in green, total reported crimes in blue, and rate of reported crimes per 1,000 people in orange.^[5][6]

As with most U.S. cities, the county judicial system handles felony crimes — the Seattle Municipal Court deals with parking tickets, traffic infractions, and misdemeanors. Seattle does not have its own jail, contracting out inmates it convicts to either the King County Jail (which is located downtown), the Yakima County Jail, or (for short-term holdings) the Renton City Jail.^[7] After reaching its highest murder rate in 1994 with 69 homicides, Seattle's murder rate declined to a 40-year low with 24 homicides in 2004.^[8] By 2006, Seattle's murder rate had increased, with thirty murders that year.^[9] Auto theft is another matter: Seattle has until recently ranked in the top ten "hot spots" for auto theft; the Seattle Police Department has responded by nearly doubling the number of auto theft detail detectives, and started a "bait car" program in 2004.^[10]

Seattle has suffered two mass-murders in recent history: the 1983 Wah Mee massacre (13 people killed in the Wah Mee gambling club)^[11] and the March 25, 2006 Capitol Hill massacre when 28-year-old Kyle Aaron Huff killed six at a rave afterparty.^[12] Later in 2006, an attempted spree killing by Naveed Afzal Haq left one dead at the Jewish Federation building.^[13]

Official nickname, flower, slogan, and song

In 1981, Seattle held a contest to come up with a new official nickname to replace "the Queen City." "Queen City" had been devised by real estate promoters and used since 1869,^[14] but was also the nickname of: Cincinnati;^[15] Denver;^[16] Regina, Saskatchewan;^[17] Buffalo;^[18] Bangor, Maine;^[19] Helena, Montana;^[20] Burlington, Vermont,^[21] Charlotte,^[22] and several other cities. The winner of this contest, selected in 1982, was "the Emerald City". Submitted by Californian Sarah Sterling-Franklin, it referred to the lush, thickly forested surroundings of Seattle that were the result of frequent rain.^[23] Seattle has also been known in the past as "the Jet City"—though this nickname, related to Boeing, was entirely unofficial.^[23] It has also been known as the "Portal to the Pacific", a phrase inscribed on the arches of the tunnel leading westward into the city from the Interstate 90 floating bridge over Lake Washington.

Seattle's official flower has been the dahlia since 1913. Its official song has been "Seattle the Peerless City" since 1909. In 1942, its official slogan was "The City of Flowers"; 48 years later, in 1990, it was "The City of Goodwill", for the Goodwill Games held that year in Seattle.^[24] On October 20, 2006, the Space Needle was adorned with the new slogan "Metronatural." The slogan is a result of a 16-month, $200,000 effort by the Seattle Convention and Visitor's Bureau.^[25] The official bird of Seattle is the great blue heron, named by the City Council in 2003.^[26]

Seattle mayors of note

Main article: List of mayors of Seattle

• Bertha Knight Landes, mayor from 1926 to 1928. She was the first woman mayor of a major American city.^[27]
• Bailey Gatzert was mayor from 1875 to 1876. He was the first Jewish mayor of Seattle, and narrowly missed being the first Jewish mayor of a major American city (Moses Bloom became mayor of Iowa City, Iowa in 1873). He has been the only Jewish mayor of Seattle to date.^[28]
• Arthur B. Langlie, 1938–1941, three term Governor of Washington (1941–45, 1949–57), the only Seattle mayor to become governor.^[29]
• Robert Moran mayor from 1888 to 1909, was instrumental in the rebuilding after the 1889 fire that destroyed much of Downtown. A successful shipbuilder, most famous for the Battleship Nebraska built in Seattle between 1902 and 1907, Moran eventually donated what became Moran State Park, over 5000 acres (20 km²), including Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island.^[30]

Sister cities

Seattle, Washington, has 21 sister cities through Sister Cities International.^[31]

City	Region	Country	Year
Kobe	Hyōgo Prefecture	Japan	1957^[32]
Bergen	Vestland	Norway	1967^[33]
Tashkent	Tashkent Region	Uzbekistan	1973^[34]^[35]
Beersheba	Southern District	Israel	1977^[36]
Mazatlán	Sinaloa	Mexico	1979^[37]
Nantes	Pays de la Loire	France	1980^[38]
Christchurch	Canterbury	New Zealand	1981^[39]
Mombasa	Coast Province	Kenya	1981^[40]
Chongqing	none; directly administered	People's Republic of China	1983^[41]
Limbe	Southwest Region	Cameroon	1984^[42]
Galway	County Galway	Ireland	1986^[43]
Reykjavík	N/A^[44]	Iceland	1986^[45]
Daejeon	none; directly administered	South Korea	1989^[46]
Cebu City	Cebu	Philippines	1991^[47]
Kaohsiung	none; directly administered	Taiwan	1991^[48]
Pécs	Baranya	Hungary	1991^[49]
Perugia	Umbria	Italy	1991^[50]
Surabaya	East Java	Indonesia	1992^[51]
Gdynia	Pomeranian Voivodeship	Poland	1993^[52]
Sihanoukville	Sihanoukville Province	Cambodia	1993^[53]
Haiphong	none; directly administered	Vietnam	1996^[54]

Sister ports

Port	Region	Country	Year
Port of Kobe	Hyōgo Prefecture	Japan	1957
Port of Kesennuma	Miyagi Prefecture	Japan	1990
Port of Rotterdam	South Holland	Netherlands	1959

See also

• Democracy voucher, unique Seattle public-financing system for election campaigns

Notes

1. News Staff, Kiro 7 (January 1, 2022). "Bruce Harrell becomes mayor of Seattle New Year's Day". Kiro 7 News. Retrieved January 1, 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
2. . Archived from the original on 2015-12-21.
3. "Democracy Voucher Program - DemocracyVoucher | seattle.gov".
4. "Democracy Policy Network".
5. 1985-2007:
   • "Crime - Local Level; Single Agency Reported Crime", UCRDATATOOL.gov, U.S. Department of Justice, January 26, 2017, retrieved February 23, 2017^{[permanent dead link]}
   2008-2016:
   • Crime Dashboard, Seattle Police Department, February 2017, retrieved February 23, 2017
6. Seattle Police Department (SPD). 2012. Major Crimes a 25 Year Review.
7. Municipal Court of Seattle. "Jail Locations and Visitations". City of Seattle. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
8. Walter F. Roche Jr (2006-09-11). . The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2007-11-04. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
9. Office of the Mayor (2007-02-07). "Major crimes down in Seattle in 2006". City of Seattle. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
10. Jessica Blanchard (2004-11-24). "Area car-theft ranking falls". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
11. Tracy Johnson (2002-04-30). "Mak spared death for Wah Mee killings". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
12. "Capitol Hill rampage worst since Wah Mee Massacre". The Seattle Times. 2006-03-26. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
13. "One dead in hate-crime shooting at Jewish center". CNN. 2006-07-29. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
14. Greg Lange (1998-11-04). "Seattle receives epithet Queen City in 1869". HistoryLink. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
15. "How did Cincinnati come to be known as the Queen City?". Cincinnati Frequently Asked Questions. Cincinnati Historical Society Library. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
16. Lyle W. Dorsett; Michael McCarthy (1986). The Queen City: A History of Denver. Pruett. ISBN 0-87108-704-9.
17. . Let's Learn About Regina. City of Regina. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
18. . City of Buffalo. Archived from the original on 2007-08-13. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
19. . City of Bangor. Archived from the original on 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
20. "Home Page". Queen City News. Retrieved 2007-10-27. Queen City News is a Helena, Montana newspaper.
21. . City of Burlington Police. Archived from the original on 2007-11-11. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
22. "Welcome to Charlotte, North Carolina". City of Charlotte, North Carolina. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
23. . Seattlest. 2005-10-27. Archived from the original on 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
24. "Seattle City Symbols". City of Seattle. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
25. Gene Johnson (2006-10-21). "Seattle Unveils Slogan: 'Metronatural'". Comcast News. Retrieved 2007-09-27.
26. Seattle City Council (2003-03-17). . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on 2007-11-03. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
27. Mildred Andrews (2003-03-02). "Landes, Bertha Knight (1868-1943)". HistoryLink. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
28. Lee Micklin (1998-10-30). "Jewish mayor of Seattle Bailey Gatzert is elected on August 2, 1875". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
29. Kit Oldham (2004-01-11). "Langlie, Arthur B. (1900-1966)". HistoryLink. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
30. Cassandra Tate (2004-09-23). "Voters re-elect businessman Robert Moran as mayor of the City of Seattle on July 8, 1889". HistoryLink. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
31. "Interactive City Directory: Seattle, WA". Sister Cities International. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
32. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
33. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
34. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
35. Kesting, Piney (January–February 2016). "The Unlikely Sisterhood of Seattle and Tashkent". Aramco World. 67 (1). Aramco Services Company: 10–23. OCLC 895830331.
36. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on May 29, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
37. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
38. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
39. "Seattle-Christchurch Sister City Association". Seattle-Christchurch Sister City Association. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
40. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
41. "Seattle-Chongqing Sister City Association". Seattle-Chongqing Sister City Association. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
42. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
43. "Seattle Galway Sister City Association". Irish Heritage Club of Seattle. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
44. The regions of Iceland do not serve an administrative function.
45. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
46. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
47. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
48. "Seattle International Sister City: Kaohsiung, Taiwan". City of Seattle. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
49. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
50. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
51. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
52. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
53. . The Seattle-Sihanoukville Sister City Association. Archived from the original on October 10, 2008. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
54. . City of Seattle. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2007.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Government of Seattle.

• , on the city's official website.
• "Seattle". U.S. City Open Data Census. UK: Open Knowledge Foundation.
• Data portal