Goodnight Moon; Durkan rises to become next Seattle mayor

With the most recent votes counted for Seattle’s mayoral race, Jenny Durkan expanded her lead over Cary Moon by about 2,500 votes. After the latest count, Moon official conceded the race.

Durkan had 72,617 votes Tuesday night (64,174 Monday evening), and Moon had 47,633. Durkan’s lead maintained the same percentage, however, at about 60 percent of the vote. Moon remained at 39 percent. Following the latest results, the Associated Press in Seattle called the race for Durkan. The Seattle Times had previously made the same call, and KIRO 7 reported that she was projected to win.

SEATTLE (AP) — Former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan elected mayor of Seattle.

— AP Seattle (@apseattle) November 9, 2017

RELATED: Election results for Seattle City Council and city attorney

Following Tuesday’s count, Moon officially conceded the race, saying that she had offered her congratulations to Durkan, Seattle’s first female mayor in 90 years.

“I urge her to boldly confront the challenges facing our city and to remember Seattle’s prosperity should provide shared opportunity and success for everyone, not just the wealthy few,” Moon wrote to her supporters.

#Breaking @CaryMoon4Mayor concedes Seattle Mayor’s race to @JennyDurkan . Durkan holds 20 point lead in latest numbers. We get Durkan’s plans at 5p on @KIRO7Seattle and https://t.co/RkwAEtiWXm Moon Statement: pic.twitter.com/82ro9ccCXI

— Essex J. Porter (@EssexKIRO7) November 9, 2017

Durkan has already started a new Twitter account: @MayorDurkan.

Original post:

Though thousands of  votes remain to be counted, Jenny Durkan appears likely to receive enough additional votes on Wednesday to be officially declared the next mayor of Seattle.

Durkan, with 60 percent of the tallied results late Tuesday, established a commanding lead with more than 105,000 votes counted. An updated vote count will be released Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday night, KIRO 7’s Essex Porter said Durkan was projected to win the mayoral race after she initially received 64,174 votes compared to 41,683 for opponent Cary Moon (38.89 percent). The Seattle Times also called the race for Durkan.

“There’s a lot of votes left to be counted … but I have to tell you we are feeling really, really good about where we are,” Durkan said to a crowd of supporters shortly after the results were announced.

“Ninety-two years later and Seattle is about to have another woman mayor,” she said, referencing Seattle’s only other female leader, Bertha Knight Landes.

The election results will be certified Nov. 28 with the newly elected mayor sworn into office soon after. That mayor with become Seattle’s fourth mayor of 2017 with the resignation of former Mayor Ed Murray and temporary fill-ins Bruce Harrell and current Mayor Tim Burgess.

Moon spoke to her supporters Tuesday night.

“So we’re up against really tough odds and campaign spending by our opponent broke city election records, outspending us more than three to one … But Seattle late voters may surprise everyone,” Moon told the party, according to The Stranger’s Sydney Brownstone.

Moon would need to win more than 61 percent of the outstanding vote in order to win the race. She had not conceded late Tuesday.

The King County Elections office will update results Wednesday and each weekday by 4 p.m. If historical trends hold true, the elections office should have approximately 75 percent of the ballots counted by Thursday.

A former U.S. attorney, Durkan was endorsed by the current Gov. Jay Inslee, former governors Christine Gregoire and Gary Locke, Sen. Patty Murray and numerous labor unions. Moon, an urban planner, received support from both of Seattle’s alternative weeklies, SEIU locals 6 and 925, Tableau Software co-founder Chris Stolte and former Gates Foundation CEO and Microsoft executive Jeff Raikes.

By election day, Durkan had raised $960,000 compared to $354,000 by Moon with half of the urban planner’s donations coming from herself.  King County election results here.

Election night in Seattle

After hearing the initial results Monday evening, Durkan said that she will continue Seattle’s values of inclusion and fighting for working people. She said that she will address the threat of climate change and that in “this time of Trump,” Seattle will be “fierce.”

“Can I just say to Donald Trump, keep your hands off of Seattle,” she said. “The Seattle I know, unity triumphs over division.”

Your next Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan https://t.co/GwHuTg2cFr

— Mike Lewis (@MikeLew65) November 8, 2017

In Seattle, the campaign for mayor hinged on soaring housing costs, the homeless, traffic and the business climate. Although both are longtime Democrats, Durkan generally was regarded the more centrist candidate with Moon pulling in support from further left.

The pair bested a field of 21 candidates in the August primary race after former Mayor Ed Murray, who was facing numerous child sex abuse allegations, decided to not seek another term in office.

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