‘We have a lot of work to do, and I’m up for it’: Seattle Mayor Harrell cites experience, city’s growth in bid for reelection

It’s not lost on Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell that the city still has a lot of work ahead of it in order to achieve its major goals, but the progress Seattle has made in four short years has given Harrell the confidence that the Emerald City is on the right path.

There are eight candidates for the Mayor of Seattle on the primary ballot this year, with the incumbent leading the charge. When Harrell joined “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio, host Manda Factor asked him a simple question.

“Why do you want this job for another four years?” Factor asked Harrell.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Harrell said. “I think that in my first term, we stabilized things. We tried to have normal conversations. In terms of housing issues, public safety issues, transportation issues, we laid a great foundation by which to build upon. With the challenges we’re having with our federal government, having to sue our own federal government, I think we need stable, strong, effective leadership, being able to articulate the issues to protect our city. That’s why I’m running for reelection.”

Housing, homelessness, crime

“Seattle’s Morning News” hosts Factor and Charlie Harger have interviewed several mayoral candidates so far, citing the three issues that keep coming up among the vying mayoral candidates: housing, homelessness, and crime.

“Housing is an issue that almost every major city is facing,” Harrell said. “What we’ve done, from a policy standpoint, is pass one of the largest housing levies in our entire history, almost a billion dollars in my administration in housing. We’ve spent over a billion dollars in my budget, and at $343 million in our budget, that’s unprecedented numbers. We built over 33,000 units, 5,000 of which are affordable. And in terms of planning for our growth, we proposed a comprehensive plan to produce 330,000 units in the next many years to accommodate our growth. So from a policy standpoint, we’re doing everything possible.”

Earlier this week, Harrell issued an executive order to launch the Permitting and Customer Trust (PACT) Team. The PACT Team is a citywide initiative dedicated to making it faster and easier to build housing and open small businesses across Seattle, reducing delays and “red tape” while delivering clear, consistent guidance.

As for crime in the city, Harrell claimed the crime rates are “great.”

“When I took office, we lost 300 officers. We had a demoralized police department,” Harrell said. “In 2020, we had 721 applications. That’s per year. Right now, we’re getting over 4,000 applications. So, I took a demoralized police department and, through changing policies and inspiration, we’re building it back up. We created a brand-new CARE department, which is a non-judgmental response to mental crime crises. We have an outstanding chief in Amy Barden. So we’ve recreated what modern policing looks like.”

The data backs up Harrell’s claims. The city is on track to see about 22% fewer property and violent crimes. According to Axios, violent crimes are occurring at a 20% lower rate in 2025 compared to 2024. Vehicle theft is also down approximately 32% year-over-year.

Still, some neighborhoods remain plagued by violent crime. Last month, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell gathered with community leaders, small business owners, and corporations at Hing Hay Park to announce that the Chinatown International District (CID) will receive $1 million for upgrades to safety while continuing efforts to make the CID safer, more livable, and healthier for small businesses.

“Am I satisfied with the progress we’ve made? Absolutely not,” Harrell said. “You don’t want a mayor that says, ‘Oh yeah, everything is safe.’ You’re going to continue to see a very aggressive approach on keeping people safe through technology, through people, through prevention, through upstream services, making sure that we understand why people commit crimes.

“What was the other issue, homelessness? You look at the 2,000 emergency shelter units where there’s permanent supportive housing, (including) tiny homes,” Harrell continued. “85% of all tiny homes in the county actually rest in Seattle. We don’t want anyone to have to always live in tiny homes. But we’ve reduced the encampments by 80%. RVs by 50%. If you look at the work, this is not organic growth; this is intentionality. Rebuilding a city.”

Lack of experience among other candidates

Harrell claimed he has proposed roughly 500 bills since being mayor, after proposing around 800 while on the city council.

“Quite candidly, no one running for this position has remotely the experience—the executive experience, the academic experience, the professional experience,” Harrell said on “Seattle’s Morning News.” “If you just look at the math at what we’re doing, I’m running for reelection because I’m the best qualified. But let me say, from a spirit of humility, we have a lot of work to do, and I’m up for it.”

Controversies from within the Seattle government

Former Seattle Police Department Chief of Staff Jamie Tompkins is suing the City of Seattle for failing to stop rumors that she was having an affair with the former police chief Adrian Diaz. She claimed she felt violated, degraded, and dehumanized while working at the Seattle Police Department (SPD), stating that some of the crude comments came from Harrell himself.

“It’s not true and, unfortunately, I don’t know Ms. Tompkins. I’ve never seen her,” Harrell said. “I’ve never interfaced with her, and anyone who knows me knows I don’t use terms like that. That would be disrespectful to my wife No. 1, but also disrespectful toward women. The fact of the matter is, and there’s ongoing litigation all around all this stuff so I’m going to be very cautious in how I phrase this, I believed in Chief Diaz. I believed in his integrity and in him as a human being. I stood by his side. But the fact is, a report concluded he was dishonest.”

Seattle’s mayoral race is in full swing, with candidates campaigning as much as possible before the August primary election.

Listen to “Seattle’s Morning News” with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast here.