Goodbye from Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn

Now he’s just Mike McGinn, former mayor of Seattle.

McGinn told KIRO Radio he believes not having a political background benefited Seattle. But he admits he probably thought he knew more than he really did in 2009 after narrowly beating Joe Mallahan (with 51% of the vote).

“I was probably a little full of myself after a surprising win. I didn’t realize that I was playing in a tougher league than I’d played in before and I’d have to play a tougher game than I ever played before,” said McGinn.

He believes he quickly polished his game, but not before a few missteps within City Hall.

“With district elections, mayor-elect Murray is coming into office with nine councilmembers worrying about their job. When I came into office, I had three looking for my job, at least,” said McGinn. “I probably didn’t appreciate how hard hitting that was going to be when I first came in.”

McGinn said at first, it was very frustrating when the criticism began and because he was new to the game, he didn’t have a circle of elected officials to lean on. But now, a seasoned veteran, he doesn’t take anything personal.

While massively disappointed following defeat to Sen. Ed Murray, which McGinn reminds everyone was also a close race (47.5%), McGinn said he’s slowly recovering.

“In the grand scheme of things, I have to keep reminding myself life is good,” he said.

While joking about a future in talk radio, McGinn said he honestly doesn’t know what he’ll do next. But he has a lot of loose ends to wrap up and people to thank while he’s handing over the helm to Murray.

“At the very highest level, trying to figure out how to work with other people to make the community better is in my future,” said McGinn.