Art Langlie, grandson of former governor, joins list of Seattle mayoral candidates

The list of candidates running for Seattle mayor keeps growing, with Art Langlie now having added his name to the list as of Tuesday.

If his name sounds familiar, it’s because his grandfather, Arthur Langlie, was mayor from 1938 to 1941, and then went on to serve three terms as Washington governor. That said, Art Langlie touts himself as not being from the political class, which he explains as an advantage.

“I think we’ve had a lot of folks that have entered these races over the last 15 years or so that really have not had a ton of experience working in the business world, or on the ground in Seattle in general outside of the political world,” Langlie told KIRO Radio’s Gee and Ursula Show. “And I think that we need more of that from folks that have worked in business, and philanthropy, and other things that aren’t necessarily political from the get go.”

The position of Seattle mayor is officially nonpartisan, but as Ursula Reutin said, “no one would feel like it is that way.” In terms of politics, Langlie describes himself as “aggressively moderate.”

His grandfather was Republican, but a “Republican of a different time.”

“His style of Republican was more of the Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower type Republican, and Dan Evans for that matter, which in the Northwest was pretty middle of the road,” Langlie said. “And I’m pretty middle of the road myself and I would consider myself aggressively moderate.”

“I’m looking for solutions, not for a political fight,” he added.

Langlie says Seattle has changed a lot over the last 15 years or so, but it used to be a city where people came together to come up with solutions to the big problems and be of service to the residents.

“The difference is that it used to be a team sport. We gathered together to come up with solutions rather than pick a side and fight it out,” Langlie said. “We stopped doing that. And in order to get back to … a city where we are here to provide services to the people that live here, we need to just start working together in order to accomplish these goals and not be such a political fighting machine, which seems like a daily basis here.”

To hear Langlie’s stance on homelessness in Seattle and the relationship between city leadership and the Seattle Police Department, listen to the full interview here.

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.