By Gene Johnson /Associated Press
SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, a moderate Democrat who faced criticism from the right and left over her handling of policing protests and the city’s so-called “autonomous zone” over the summer, said Monday she will not run for re-election so she can focus on the challenges posed by the pandemic.
“We know stopping the spread of the virus, protecting jobs and focusing on the economic recovery — especially for downtown— is going to take everything we’ve got,” Durkan said in a video message. “I could spend the next year campaigning to keep this job or focus all my energy on doing the job. There was only one right choice for our city: doing the job.”
Durkan, 62, a Seattle native, longtime lawyer and former U.S. attorney, is in her first term in office. In her message, she said she was proud Seattle has led in making COVID-19 testing free citywide, in imposing a moratorium on evictions, and in offering relief and protections to small businesses, immigrants and workers. She also highlighted a new program that offers free tuition at the city’s two-year college to all graduates of Seattle Public Schools and new investments in affordable housing.
But the mayor’s handling of nightly protests following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis drew condemnation from many. Officers used tear gas, pepper spray, less-lethal projectiles and flash-bang grenades indiscriminately, and they continued using tear gas even after Durkan imposed a moratorium on it.
Three city council members said Durkan should resign or at least consider it, and protesters demonstrated outside her home. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the city over the police tactics on behalf of Black Lives Matter activists.
Durkan also became a target of national right-wing invective in June as the city for weeks tolerated the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest,” a several-block area that protesters claimed as a police-free “autonomous zone.” Though the city cleared out the area in July, the Justice Department branded Seattle an “anarchist jurisdiction” and threatened to withhold federal funding. Seattle, along with its fellow “anarchist jurisdictions” New York and Portland, Oregon, sued over the label.
In a written statement Gov. Jay Inslee thanked Durkan for her service to a city she loves.
“Jenny has led through tumultuous times and had to make difficult decisions with grace and dignity,” Inslee said. “She has always worked to represent the needs of all Seattleites and helped to make the city a world-class place during a time of strong economic transition.”
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