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]
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Turnout | 54.57%[1] | ||||||||||||
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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% | |||||||||||||
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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]
Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[b] |
Margin of error |
Colleen Echohawk |
Jessyn Farrell |
Lorena González |
Bruce Harrell |
Andrew Grant Houston |
Casey Sixkiller |
Other | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Change Research (D)[A] | July 12–15, 2021 | 617 (LV) | ± 4.3% | 10% | 6% | 12% | 20% | 6% | 4% | 9%[c] | 32% |
Washington Research Group (D)[B] | July 13–14, 2021 | 524 (LV) | ± 4.3% | 5% | 4% | 8% | 17% | 4% | 3% | 5%[d] | 55% |
ALG Research (D)[C] | May 10–16, 2021 | 500 (LV) | ± 4.4% | 7% | 7% | 11% | 23% | 3% | 5% | 3% | 41% |
GQR Research (D)[D] | March 23–28, 2021 | 400 (LV) | ± 4.9% | 9% | 6% | 19% | 20% | – | – | 8% | 38% |
No. | Date | Host | Moderator | Link | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Key: P Participant A Absent N Not invited I Invited W Withdrawn |
||||||||||
Colleen Echohawk | Lorena González | Bruce Harrell | Arthur Langlie | Lance Randall | Casey Sixkiller | |||||
1 | Jun. 29, 2021 | Downtown Seattle Association |
Chris Daniels Essex Porter |
YouTube | P | P | P | P | P | P |
By August 6, Echohawk, Farrell, and Houston had all conceded, and Harrell and González were viewed as the winners of the primary.[35][36]
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Bruce Harrell | 69,612 | 34.00 | |
Lorena González | 65,750 | 32.11 | |
Colleen Echohawk | 21,042 | 10.28 | |
Jessyn Farrell | 14,931 | 7.29 | |
Arthur Langlie | 11,372 | 5.55 | |
Casey Sixkiller | 6,918 | 3.38 | |
Andrew Grant Houston | 5,485 | 2.68 | |
James Donaldson | 3,219 | 1.57 | |
Lance Randall | 2,804 | 1.37 | |
Clinton Bliss | 1,618 | 0.79 | |
Omari Tahir-Garrett | 391 | 0.19 | |
Bobby Tucker | 377 | 0.18 | |
Henry Dennison | 347 | 0.17 | |
Stan Lippmann | 323 | 0.16 | |
Don Rivers | 189 | 0.09 | |
Write-in | 386 | 0.19 | |
Total votes | 206,814 | 100.00 |
Endorsements in bold were made after the primary election.
Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[b] |
Margin of error |
Lorena González |
Bruce Harrell |
Other | Undecided |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Change Research (D)[A] | October 12–15, 2021 | 617 (LV) | ± 4.1% | 32% | 48% | 2%[e] | 18% |
Strategies 360 (D) | September 13–16, 2021 | 450 (RV) | ± 4.6% | 33% | 40% | – | 27% |
287 (LV) | ± 5.8% | 37% | 48% | – | 15% | ||
GQR Research (D)[D] | September 11–14, 2021 | 400 (LV) | ± 4.9% | 45% | 45% | – | 10% |
Elway Research | September 7–9, 2021 | 400 (LV) | ± 5.0% | 27% | 42% | 7% | 24% |
No. | Date | Host | Moderator | Link | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Key: P Participant A Absent N Not invited I Invited W Withdrawn |
||||||
Lorena González | Bruce Harrell | |||||
1 | Oct. 14, 2021 | KCTS9 TVW Washington State Debate Coalition |
Mary Nam | YouTube | P | P |
2 | Oct. 28, 2021 | KCTS9 TVW Washington State Debate Coalition |
Essex Porter | YouTube | P | P |
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Bruce Harrell | 155,294 | 58.56 | |
Lorena González | 109,132 | 41.15 | |
Write-in | 777 | 0.29 | |
Total votes | 265,203 | 100.00 |
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has endorsed González as has another progressive East Coast senator, Bernie Sanders.