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.

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.

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 in political science.

Four years later, he earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law.

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.

In addition to his legislative responsibilities, Harrell chairs the Puget Sound Regional Council's Performance First Committee, a business development strategy of PSRC's Prosperity Partnership; is advisory board chair for CASASTART, a focused strategy for youth with behavioral challenges at Seattle Public Schools; and is a member of the Social Action Committee for First A.M.E. Church.

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.

Harrell was elected to the Seattle City Council in 2007.

He was a member of the Seattle City Council from 2008 to 2020.

Between 2008 and 2011, he chaired the Energy, Technology, and Civil Rights Committee and was responsible for oversight of Seattle City Light, the city's public power utility and the city's Department of Information and Technology.

In 2010, he created a Rate Stabilization Account (RSA) for Seattle City Light.

The account provides protection for Seattle City Light customers from the volatility of the wholesale power market.

In 2011, Harrell sponsored a program to establish partnerships with technology companies and financial institutions to provide need-based Internet access to students in the Seattle Public Schools.

In 2011, he wrote a letter to now former US Attorney Jenny Durkan asking that the federal government mandate body cameras in Seattle.

In 2012, he won the University of Washington's Timeless Award, and in 2013 he was inducted into the NW Football Hall of Fame.

In 2013, Harrell introduced legislation to regulate the Seattle Police Department's use of drones and other surveillance measures in an effort to protect the public's civil liberties.

He also authored "ban the box" legislation that passed on June 10, 2013.

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.

From 2016 to 2020, he was president of the city council.

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.

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.

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.

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.