Jean H. Godden (born October 10, 1931) was a member of the

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-lar ...

, first elected in 2003 and re-elected in 2007 and 2011. Council member Godden served three terms and conceded her seat to Rob Johnson in the 2015 election.Seattle Times http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/city-councilmember-jean-godden-concedes/ She chaired the Libraries, Utilities, and Center Committee and the Special Committee on Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Project and Central Waterfront Planning. She was also Vice Chair of the Parks and Neighborhood Committee and was a member of the Transportation Committee. Jean also was an alternate on the Parks and Seattle Center Committee.Seattle City Council Website http://www.seattle.gov/council/godden/ Godden received her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in editorial journalism from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 1973 and was elected a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

. Her local fame is due to her award-winning column in ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...

'' newspaper, which she gave up to run for City Council. Godden won reelection to the Council in 2007. She defeated her challenger Joe Szwaja in the November election by winning 71.21 percent of the vote. Godden conceded her seat in the election of 2015, during the council’s first district elections in recent times.

Biography

Born in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, Godden's family moved many times before she graduated from high school in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

due to her father's job as a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

. After two Seattle school levies failed and her son's kindergarten class disappeared, Godden and other parents mobilized and she ended up as PTA president. Godden then joined the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

; Citizens Against Freeways; the Municipal League; and the United Way, where she helped to organize the Lake City Community Council, wrote its bylaws and served as one of its first directors. In the late 1960s Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman appointed Godden to his charter review committee. She was also named to the City's Board of Adjustment. Godden attained celebrity status in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

as a columnist for both daily newspapers, first for the ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...

'' and most recently for ''

''. Godden reached that status after years working in other positions with the paper, including as a business editor, editorial page editor, real estate and urban affairs reporter and restaurant critic. Godden was one of the P-I's early female staff members and one of two women in her class at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

's Medill School of Journalism. She would eventually graduate from the

's School of Communications. She started her newspaper career at the University District Herald as a 19-year-old, joined the P-I in 1974 as a temporary staffer, had her first column published in the P-I in 1983, and finally switched to The Seattle Times in 1991. Godden has two sons, Glenn and Jeff, and two grandsons, Chris Godden and Matthew Godden and one great-grandson and three great-granddaughters, Joshua Godden, Raevyn Godden, Calla Godden, and Sloane Godden. She resides in Seattle's View Ridge neighborhood.

2007 Campaign

In the August primary, Godden faced opposition from three challengers: Joe Szwaja, Lauren Briel and Robert Sondheim. She significantly out-fundraised all of her opponents. According to Seattle Ethics and Elections reports, Godden had raised $189,189 as of August 27. Her closest challenger, Szwaja, had raised just over $56,000; as of September 28, 2007, Godden had generated $200,375 in campaign funding.Angela Galloway, Seattle PI
"Strange Bedfellows"
September 28, 2007. In the August 21 primary, Godden advanced to the general election, beating her nearest challenger by more than 30 percentage points.

Primary election results

2011 Election

Godden was opposed for re-election to the council by Bobby Forch, a city transportation manager. The campaign was competitive, and fellow council member Mike O'Brien even endorsed Forch over Godden. Some speculated that age may have factored into the election as well, with Godden being 80 at the time. However Godden was re-elected to a third term on the council, capturing 54% of the vote.

2015 Election

In the election of 2015 for the first time, seven of the city council seats were decided by geographic representation. Godden was opposed in her race for the newly created District 4 seat by opponents Rob Johnson, a transit advocate, and Michael Maddux, a parks activist. Godden conceded on August 6, and Rob Johnson was eventually elected to the seat."Seattle Councilmember Jean Godden Concedes it's over"
August 6, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godden, Jean 1931 births Living people Seattle City Council members Medill School of Journalism alumni University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni Women city councillors in Washington (state) 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians