End of an era? Conrad Lee trails in Bellevue City Council race after 30 years of service
Nov 11, 2025, 5:46 PM
From left: Bellevue City Councilmember Conrad Lee; Bellevue City Council candidate Naren Briar. (Photo courtesy of Lee, Briar's campaigns)
(Photo courtesy of Lee, Briar's campaigns)
A significant leadership change is underway in Bellevue following November’s general election.
Conrad Lee, a staple in Bellevue government for the past 30 years, trails Naren Briar for Bellevue City Council Position No. 2. Lee has 14,622 votes (46.3%) compared to Briar having 16,904 votes (53.5%).
Lee was first elected to the Bellevue City Council in 1994, becoming the first minority member on the council, and was re-elected eight times. Lee became the deputy mayor of Bellevue in 2010, and then the mayor in 2012.
While serving the City of Bellevue, Lee was a part of many boards. He served on the Cascade Water Alliance Board and the King County Regional Water Quality Committee, as well as the Greater Seattle Partners Executive Council and the Puget Sound Regional Council Economic Development Board. Lee also became the council liaison to the Environmental Services Commission and the Youth Link Board, while serving on the Association of Washington Cities’ Federal Relations Committee and the National League of Cities’ Advisory Council.
In 2021, he was crowned “best elected official” by The Bellevue Reporter.
But, despite his decades of experience, he trails Briar for the city council seat. Briar is running in her first-ever election after working for Meta for nearly two years. Additionally, she founded the Genocide Education and Human Rights Initiative and has been with the organization for the past decade.
If elected, she intends to address the local housing crisis by promoting more mixed-use development and strengthening protections for renters and tenants. She additionally wants to focus on expanding and enhancing public transit, creating more living-wage jobs, establishing more cultural event programming, and increasing cross-agency government collaboration.
Among Briar’s endorsements are Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, Washington State Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer, Bellevue City Councilmember John Stokes, and The Seattle Times. Lee has been endorsed by many local organizations, including Eastside Business Alliance, Bellevue Firefighters Local 1604, and the Bellevue Police Officers Guild.
If Lee loses this election, he will leave as the longest-serving member of the Bellevue City Council.
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