Bruce Harrell facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bruce Harrell
Harrell in 2022
54th and 57th Mayor of Seattle
Incumbent
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 (1958-10-10) October 10, 1958 (age 66) 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.

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

Councilman Harrell with mayor Ed Murray met with African American leaders

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 being sworn in as acting mayor

..... 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

Harrell joins other individuals that had recently won mayoral elections in meeting President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House

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

Harrell during an October 2022 press announcement

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

Harrell with Wendy Sherman (U.S. Deputy Secretary of State) in 2022

Housing

Harrell with Marty Walsh (U.S. Secretary of Labor) in March 2022

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.

Harrell with Rahm Emanuel (U.S. ambassador to Japan) while on a November 2022 trade mission to Japan

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

2011 election

2013 mayoral election

2015 election

2021 mayoral election

See also

• Washington Huskies football statistical leaders