Bruce Harrell
Bruce Allen Harrell is an American politician and attorney who was the 54th and 57th mayor of Seattle. 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 following the resignation of Ed Murray. He was elected mayor in his own right in 2021, becoming the city's second African-American mayor and its first Asian-American mayor. In the 2025 Seattle mayoral election, he was defeated by progressive challenger Katie Wilson in his bid for reelection to a second term.
Early life
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, being named to the all-Metro team. He captained the football team during his senior season, during which the team played in the 1975 Metro League championship. He was also named the most valuable player of his high school baseball and wrestling teams, and received nine varsity letters. He graduated from Garfield in 1976 as class valedictorian. Keith Harrell, fellow Garfield alumnus and Seattle college sports star, was his cousin.College football career and post-secondary education
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 was a starting linebacker, and was named both a First-team Academic All-American. During his senior season in 1979, he led the team in tackles and the Huskies won the Sun Bowl.Harrell graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. He continued his education at the university and earned a Juris Doctor from the UW Law School 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.
Early 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 the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Zeta Pi Lambda chapter.Harrell was nominated to the public housing board in Omaha in 1996. Harrell claimed to have received threats after his nomination by individuals preferring the appointment of someone who lived in public housing to the board seat. On the evening of September 27, 1996, Harrell allegedly pointed a gun at a man, his mother, and his pregnant wife, in a Council Bluffs casino in response to a parking dispute, which resulted in his arrest. At the time, Harrell told reporters he had only "displayed" his gun and had been carrying the weapon for protection due to death threats he had received following his housing board nomination. He did not have permit for gun in Iowa at the time of his arrest. Charges against Harrell were dismissed six months later in what County Prosecutor Rick Crowl described as an “unofficial deferred prosecution.” Crowl cited Harrell's claim of having felt threatened by "a Hispanic group" during the exchange as among his reasons for dropping the charges. According to Crowl, Harrell was required to apologize to the arresting officers. A letter written by Crowl in 2024 described Harrell's display of the weapon as “non-threatening” and the incident as “minor.”
Seattle City Council (2008–2020)
From 2008 to 2020, Harrell served as a member of the Seattle City Council, first in the city-wide Position 3 seat and then in the south-end District 2 seat.Elections
2007 election
In 2007, councilmember Peter Steinbrueck chose not to run for re-election, which drew five challengers for the open seat, which included Harrell, former city councilmember John Manning, and former mayoral candidate Al Runte. Prior to the primary election, Harrell and Venus Velázquez, a private public-affairs consultant, were the only candidates in the race to raise more than $100,000 and were considered front-runners. In the August primary, Velázquez came in first, earning 43.72% of the vote, and advanced to the general election with Harrell, who earned 28.43%.Harrell focused his campaign on public safety, pushing for increased funding for the police and fire departments, with education being another top priority. Velázquez, who Steinbrueck endorsed, emphasised city growth without displacing low and middle-income individuals, and increasing affordability. Velázquez was seen as a frontrunner in the election until weeks before the election, when she was arrested on suspicion of DUI. Although she was later found not guilty in a jury trial, she stated her prosecution was politically motivated since the city attorney, Tom Carr, endorsed Harrell.
In the November general election, Harrell defeated Velázquez, 59.88% to 39.66%.
2011 election
Harrell ran for reelection in 2011 and faced one challenger, Brad Meacham, a former financial journalist and chair of the Municipal League of King County.Harrell ran on his work on the council overseeing Seattle City Light, pushing the utility to sell surplus property, build a $100 million savings account, and raise rates. Meacham criticized Harrell's oversight of the utility and accused Harrell of raising rates without a strategic plan in place. Harrell stated that the rate increase “was absolutely necessary” and that his work has brought stability to City Light. The candidates differed on public safety, with Harrell endorsing the use of police body cams, which he said would improve trust, while Meacham called them "cynical," saying they avoided firing bad officers. Meacham was supported by the People's Waterfront Coalition and the Sierra Club, due to his opposition to the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel, while Harrell was supported by business and labor groups.
In the November general election, Harrell defeated Meacham, 61% to 38%.
2015 election
Following years of at-large city council elections, Seattle switched to district-based city council elections, and Harrell ran in the newly created District 2 seat, which covers the International District and South Seattle. Harrell faced two challengers, food advocate and community organizer Tammy Morales and Occupy Wall Street and Housing advocate Josh Farris. In the August primary, Harrell came in first, with 61.72% of the vote, and advanced to the general election with Morales, who earned 24.66%.Harrell focused his campaign on public safety and his experience in office, while Morales ran as a progressive, emphasizing the need to address inequality in land use and city growth management. In the November general election, Harrell narrowly defeated Morales, 50.79% to 48.96%, a margin of 344 votes.
Tenure
While on the council, Harrell served as chair of the Governance, Equity and Technology Committee; vice chair of the Human Service, Equitable Development, and Renter Rights Committee; and a member of the Finance and Neighborhoods Committee.Harrell participated in launching the Beacon Hill Broadband Pilot project, which expanded the city's fiber-optic cable network into underserved South End neighborhoods.
In 2013, the city adopted and enacted the Job Assistance Ordinance, a so-called "ban the box" ordinance introduced and sponsored by Harrell, which restricts private employers from asking job applicants to answer on their applications whether they have a criminal record. Its passage had been led by Harrell and leaders from the Sojourner Place Transitional Housing organization. It took three years of local debate and compromise for the ordinance to be adopted which involved Harrell's engagement with local businesses, legal advocates, and members of the city's Human Rights Commission. The council unanimously adopted the final version of the ordinance in June 2013.
In 2011, Harrell wrote a letter to then-US Attorney Jenny Durkan asking that the federal government mandate body cameras in Seattle. In December 2014, he announced a pilot program to equip 12 officers with body cameras in the East Precinct, with a department wide program by 2016. In 2017, Mayor Ed Murray has signed an executive order to require officers and sergeants to wear body cameras while on duty, which Harrell supported.
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.
On January 4, 2016, he was sworn in to the District 2 office and elected council president by fellow councilmembers. Later that year, Harrell supported a measure to attempt to bring back the Seattle SuperSonics, but the measure was defeated in a 5–4 vote.
In 2018, Harrell supported a scaled-back version of the proposed Head Tax, a per-employee tax on large businesses to raise money for housing and homeless services, to $250 per employee. After the legislation passed, he voted to repeal the Head Tax, citing a risk of a referendum supported by Amazon and other businesses.
In 2019, Harrell chose not to run for reelection, stating, "Today I am announcing my intent not to seek re-election to the Seattle City Council for a fourth term because of my belief that three terms is sufficient in this role at this time." He stated his significant accomplishments included: police body cameras, legislation barring employers from automatically excluding job candidates with criminal records, and pushing internet companies to provide low-income students with high-speed access.