Spike believes ‘hangry-gate’ was Bruce Harrell’s undoing: ‘Such a foot in mouth answer’
Nov 4, 2025, 6:06 PM | Updated: 6:57 pm
With election results approaching, KIRO host Spike O’Neill believes incumbent Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s response to a question regarding public safety was his undoing.
“I think ‘hangry-gate,’ if we can call it that, that was Bruce Harrell’s undoing,” Spike said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “In the debate, that question, a man’s been locked up eight times … it’s such a foot in mouth answer.”
During a debate, Harrell was asked his stance on repeat offenders.
“If somebody has offended six, seven, eight times, even if it’s a minor offense, but they continue to fail to turn their life around—at what point do you balance public safety, to giving this person some accountability?” the moderator asked.
“I was one that sponsored the Ban the Box legislation because the criminal system has had a disparate impact on black and brown communities, let me lead with that,” Harrell answered. “So when this person is committing six or seven crimes, I don’t know his or her story. Maybe they were abused as a child. Maybe they’re hungry. So my remedy is to find their life story to see how we could help first. I have no desire to put them in jail, but I need to protect you, and that’s the calibration.”
However, KIRO host Jake Skorheim didn’t read too much into Harrell’s response.
“He kind of says a lot of stuff, which means kind of nothing,” Jake said. “He says he wouldn’t arrest the guy. He’s more interested to find out if the guy’s hungry, or maybe was abused as a child. All these things.”
Spike added that while the questions are reasonable, a person who has offended nearly 10 times should be locked up.
“They’re all valid questions to ask and looking upstream for criminality, to find out the root cause, those are all great and noble and practical ways to address crime in the city. But when somebody’s been arrested seven, eight times, there’s one answer to this question — I want him in jail,” he said.
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
