Mike McGinn is running for Seattle mayor again
SEATTLE -- Yes, Mike McGinn is running for Seattle mayor again.
McGinn, who served as mayor from 2010-14, tweeted Monday morning an image that read "Keep Seattle McGinn 2017" indicating he is challenging Ed Murray.
Murray, who led the push to increase Seattle's minimum wage to $15 an hour and has emerged as a critic of President Donald Trump's policies, was not expected to face serious competition for re-election.
What does this mean for Mayor Ed Murray? Q13 News investigative reporter Brandi Kruse explains. WATCH ABOVE:
This comes just weeks after a man filed a lawsuit accusing Murray of sex abuse of the then-teenage boy over a period of several years in the 1980s. Murray has denied the allegations and said he intends to continue to serve as mayor and seek re-election this year.
McGinn, a former Sierra Club activist and attorney, was a strong advocate for transit options known for riding his bicycle to events. He opposed a $3.1 billion project to replace a downtown double-decker bridge with an underground tunnel, saying the money could be better spent on light rail.
McGinn's tweet comes just weeks before the filing deadline for the November election.
McGinn said if elected again he will get back to basics of "getting a lot of little things right." His first priority, he said, is the homelessness crisis.
McGinn said he supports a city income tax in Seattle and would urge council to pass one this year.
"Working and middle class residents are being squeezed," McGinn said.
He also emphasized housing prices as a priority, noting that rents have jumped six times faster than average.
"We can't let this city become San Francisco."
Mayor Ed Murray's campaign issued a statement following the announcement:
"Mayor Murray's approach, which he developed over 19 years of progressive leadership in the legislature, is to bring diverse constituencies together to find common ground in order to create real solutions for the problems that we face. That is the steady, experienced approach that Seattle needs.
"Mayor Murray has proven time and again over the last four years that he has the skills to build consensus around difficult issues, and develop effective policy solutions to translate our shared progressive values into action. Whether it is reaching agreement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour without harming our small businesses, negotiating a historic Grand Bargain between affordable housing advocates and developers to require for the first time in our city's history that all new construction must also create or fund affordable housing, helping to pass major expansions of bus and light rail transit service or developing and implementing a subsidized quality pre-school program to finally eliminate the achievement and opportunity gap that holds back so many of our poor and minority children, Mayor Murray has delivered for Seattle.
"The last four years of Mayor Murray's leadership stand in sharp contrast to the previous administration, when Mike McGinn was mayor. Mike McGinn's divisive and confrontational style led to years of paralysis, dysfunction, and infighting at City Hall. As mayor, Mike McGinn picked fights with everyone under the sun. He attacked our Democratic governor, calling her a liar. He fought the Obama Dept. of Justice on police reform. He fought with our U.S. Attorney. He fought with our City Attorney. He fought with the City Council.
"As mayor, Mike McGinn led a flawed and failed search for a new police chief. Mayor Murray, on the other hand, led a widely praised search effort that led to the appointment of Chief O'Toole. As mayor, Mike McGinn created an affordable housing task force that led nowhere and produced nothing. Mayor Murray created an affordable housing task force that led to a Grand Bargain that is creating thousands of additional affordable units across Seattle. As mayor, Mike McGinn proposed a ballot measure to fund transit that the voters rejected. Mayor Murray, by contrast, has passed major ballot measures to expand funding for transit, transportation, affordable housing, parks, and quality pre-K.
"We believe that the people of Seattle do not want to return to those bad old days of failed and divisive governance. We look forward to drawing a clear contrast between Mayor Murray's stellar record effective, progressive leadership and the track records of all of the other candidates in the race."