Jenny Durkan
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Jenny Anne Durkan (born May 19, 1958) is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor, and politician who served as the 56th
mayor of Seattle The Mayor of Seattle is the head of the executive branch of the city government of Seattle, Washington. The mayor is authorized by the city charter to enforce laws enacted by the Seattle City Council, as well as direct subordinate officers in ci ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
. She is the daughter of Martin Durkan. Durkan is a member of the Democratic Party. After earning her
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...
from
University of Washington School of Law The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington, located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Seattle, Washington. The 2023 '' U.S. News & World Report'' law school rankings place Washi ...
in 1985, Durkan began practicing law as a criminal defense lawyer and civil litigator. In October 2009, President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
appointed her
United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
for the
Western District of Washington The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (in case citations, W.D. Wash.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of the state of Washington: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays ...
. She held that position until September 2014.Jerry Markon and Juliet Eilperin (September 25, 2014)
"Attorney General Eric Holder to Step Down," Washington Post
/ref> Durkan was elected the 56th mayor of Seattle in
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
, becoming the city's first female mayor since the 1920s and its second openly
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...
elected mayor. She took first place in the nonpartisan August primary and defeated urban planner and political activist
Cary Moon Carol Consuela Moon (born June 21, 1963) is an American political activist who was part of the campaign to re-open Seattle's waterfront after the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Moon was a candidate for Mayor of Seattle in the 2017 mayora ...
in the November general election. She and her partner, Dana Garvey, have two sons. Durkan was criticized for her response to the
George Floyd protests in Seattle The city of Seattle experienced protests over the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and 2021. Beginning on May 29, 2020, demonstrators took to the streets throughout the city for marches and sit-ins, often of a peaceful nature but which also devol ...
and her handling of protesters and law enforcement in the
Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone The Capitol Hill Occupied Protest or the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), originally Free Capitol Hill and later the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), was an occupation protest and self-declared autonomous zone in the Capitol Hill nei ...
. In December 2020, she announced that she would not seek reelection after the end of her mayoral term.


Early life and education

Jenny Durkan was born in Seattle on May 19, 1958. She was raised in a large Irish Catholic family of eight siblings. The family lived on Mercer Island in the mid-1950s and Bellevue in the early 1960s, before settling in rural Issaquah during a time "when there asn'tany development." Her father, Martin Durkan, was a prominent Seattle-area lawyer, Democratic legislator, and lobbyist whose career included 16 years in the state Senate and two unsuccessful runs for governor. Her mother was primarily a homemaker who supported her husband's career, though she eventually became an executive editor of the ''
Ballard News-Tribune The ''Ballard News-Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper serving the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym fo ...
'' and wrote editorials. Durkan attended
Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart is a private, Roman Catholic, all-girls middle school and high school in Bellevue, Washington, USA. The school is a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart schools and is part of the global Network of S ...
, a private Catholic girls' school in Washington State. She spent part of her junior year of high school as an exchange student in London and said that "the best part of the experience was traveling through England to Scotland, France, Austria, Switzerland and Germany." A high-school classmate of Durkan's remembers her as "super independent, and rough-and-tumble…strong-willed and adventurous." Durkan earned her B.A. degree from the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main c ...
in 1980. At Notre Dame, she tried out for the basketball team before being cut and ending up as the team's statistician. After graduating, Durkan spent two years in Alaska, teaching high-school English and coaching a girls' basketball team in the Yup’ik Eskimo community through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. After a summer working as a baggage handler for Wien Air Alaska in St. Mary's, Alaska as a dues-paying Teamster, Durkan enrolled in the
University of Washington School of Law The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington, located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Seattle, Washington. The 2023 '' U.S. News & World Report'' law school rankings place Washi ...
, earning her J.D. degree in 1985.Callaghan, Peter
"Obama names Jenny Durkan U.S. Attorney for Western District"
''
The News Tribune ''The News Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Tacoma, Washington. It is the second-largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington with a weekday circulation of 30,945 in 2020. With origins dating back to 1883, the newspaper w ...
'', May 15, 2009.
"I wanted to be a lawyer since I was 5 years old," she told 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 fo ...
'' in 1992. "When I graduated from law school, my mother said, 'Finally someone is going to pay you to argue."'


Private practice

While in law school, Durkan participated in a pilot criminal defense clinic, working with the public defender's office to represent individuals charged in Seattle municipal court. She continued the work on a pro bono basis, until she moved to Washington, D.C. to practice law with the firm of
Williams & Connolly Williams & Connolly LLP is an American law firm based in Washington, D.C. The firm was founded by trial lawyer Edward Bennett Williams in collaboration with Paul Connolly, a former student of his. Williams left the partnership of D.C. firm Hog ...
. Durkan returned to Seattle in 1991, and established a successful practice focusing on criminal defense and work on behalf of plaintiffs, including the family of Lt. Walter Kilgore, who died in the Pang warehouse fire, the case of Stan Stevenson (a retired firefighter who was stabbed leaving a Mariners game) and the case of Kate Fleming, who died in a flash flood in her Madison Valley basement during the Hanukkah Eve windstorm of 2006. In 1994 Durkan became executive council and political director to Governor Mike Lowry, making her Lowry's chief lawyer. Lowry had been a campaign manager to and protege of her father in 1972, and Durkan worked for then congressman Lowry in the 1980s. After initially recommending that an independent investigator represent Lowry, Durkan resigned in February 1995 after deputy press secretary Susanne Albright accused him of sexual harassment. Among Durkan's most prominent cases in private practice was the 2005 recount lawsuit that attempted to undo Governor
Chris Gregoire Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and agai ...
's election in 2004. The Democratic Party turned to Durkan with Gregoire's election "facing an unprecedented trial and Republicans trying to remove her from office." Gregoire's victory was upheld. In January 2017, Durkan worked with families and other attorneys at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to obtain a federal court order, the day President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
's first travel ban executive order went into effect, blocking the deportation of people who had arrived at the airport from seven predominantly Muslim countries. After serving as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Durkan joined Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to head a new Seattle law office specializing in internet and online security issues. At Quinn Emanuel, she also represented FIFA as one of the lawyers conducting an independent internal investigation of issues related to a global corruption case brought by Swiss authorities and the U.S. Justice Department. The investigation and related actions by FIFA's Ethics Committee led to the ousting of longtime FIFA President Sepp Blatter and his key deputy Jerome Valcke, as well as a restructuring of the FIFA Executive Committee and World Cup processes.


Civic leader

Durkan served on the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission from 1993 to 1996. She served as the first Citizen Observer on the Seattle Police Firearms Review Board from 1997 to 2000 and two Seattle mayors asked her to serve on Citizen Review Committees for the Seattle Police Department. She also played an advisory role on the establishment of the King County Drug Court and the Mental Health Court. She later helped create a specialized drug program in the federal courts in Western Washington. In September 1994, Durkan left the Schroeter law firm to join the staff of then-Washington Governor Mike Lowry as his lawyer and political adviser. In February 1995, she resigned from Lowry's office and returned to Schroeter. Durkan is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and maintains an from
Martindale-Hubbell Martindale-Hubbell is an information services company to the legal profession that was founded in 1868. The company publishes the ''Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory'', which provides background information on lawyers and law firms in the United S ...
. She served a three-year term on the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors. She served on the Merit Selection Committee for the United States District Court, helping select the candidates for appointment to seven vacancies in the federal judiciary in the Western District of Washington. Durkan served on the nonprofit board of the Center for Women and Democracy from 2000 to 2009, as a founding Board Member for the Seattle Police Foundation from 2002 to 2004, and as the Chair of the Washington State Attorney General's Task Force on Consumer Privacy, which resulted in legislation that became a national model for identity theft protections.


U.S. Attorney

In May 2009, President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
nominated Durkan to be the U.S Attorney for the Western District of Washington, which covers 19 counties and is home to 4.6 million people (78% of the state's population). She was unanimously confirmed by the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...
on September 29, 2009, and sworn in on October 1 by Chief U.S. District Judge
Robert S. Lasnik Robert Stephen Lasnik (born 1951) is an American attorney and jurist, who serves as a Senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Educ ...
."Senate confirms Durkan as U.S. Attorney"
'' Seattle Post Intelligencer'', September 29, 2009.
While U.S. Attorney, Durkan created a Civil Rights Department in the office. It coordinates a variety of civil rights cases and outreach, including a number of cases on behalf of returning veterans. 8/sup> She also helped push police reform efforts in the Seattle Police Department after a Department of Justice investigation found a pattern and practice of excessive use of force. Upon taking office, Durkan was appointed to serve on the Attorney General's Advisory Committee, which advises the U.S. Attorney General on policy, management, and operational issues at the Department of Justice. She was chair of the Attorney General's Subcommittee on Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Enforcement. Durkan played a leading role in prosecuting cybercrimes, including hacking, skimming and identity theft. Durkan worked with the public schools to ensure internet safety tips for parents and kids were sent home with kids at the beginning of the school year. She also focused on terrorism and national security issues, including the prosecution of two men who plotted to blow up a military recruitment facility in Seattle."2012 Report to the Community"
''
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (in case citations, W.D. Wash.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of the state of Washington: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays ...
'', February 5, 2013
As U.S. Attorney, Durkan used the federal law against felons possessing firearms to crack down on career criminals in Western Washington. Cases referred for felons-with-guns charges increased 45% during her tenure. Durkan pushed "hot spot" initiatives in high-crime areas to address drug and gun sales. These investigations and law enforcement operations resulted in dozens of arrests and weapons confiscations. In September 2014, when U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African Amer ...
announced his intention to step down, Durkan was widely discussed as a potential candidate to succeed him. The Obama administration nominated
Loretta Lynch Loretta Elizabeth Lynch (born May 21, 1959) is an American lawyer who served as the 83rd attorney general of the United States from 2015 to 2017. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to succeed Eric Holder and previously served as the Un ...
.


2011 medical marijuana legislation

On April 14, 2011, Durkan and Michael C. Ormsby, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, responded to a request for guidance from Washington governor
Christine Gregoire Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and ag ...
. They warned that a bill proposing to revise state level medical marijuana laws could "authorize conduct contrary to federal law" and indicated that the Justice Department would continue to pursue criminal or civil actions for any violations of the federal government's
Controlled Substances Act The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is the statute establishing federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of certain substances is regulated. It was passed by the 91st United States ...
. In November 2011, the federal
Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...
(DEA) raided ten Seattle medical marijuana dispensaries. After the raids, marijuana activists criticized Durkan. The DEA's search warrants suggested the dispensaries were involved in illicit drug dealing and money laundering, and City Councilman Tim Burgess said the raided shops were "operating well outside the medical provisions". Durkan asserted that the dispensaries in question were believed to be concealing criminal activity behind the state's medical marijuana law and that authorities would not ignore flagrant violations.


2012 May Day vandalism response

The 2012 May Day protests in Seattle included violent rioting, damage, and a proclamation of civil emergency by Mayor
Mike McGinn Michael McGinn (born December 17, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician. He served as mayor of the city of Seattle, Washington, and is a neighborhood activist and a former State Chair of the Sierra Club. In what was characterized as a "s ...
. Durkan's office headed the prosecution that followed the vandalization of Seattle's William Kenzo Nakamura U.S. Courthouse during the protests. In the months after the protests, at least five suspected rioters were criminally charged. Those arrests were part of a much wider FBI investigation that both preceded and followed the events of May 1, 2012. Federal grand jury investigations were formed in Seattle and Portland, and the FBI engaged in raids and issued subpoenas to suspected "
anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...
". Under grand jury rules, they could be asked a wide range of questions about themselves and people they knew, in secret proceedings without a defense lawyer present. Four individuals refused to testify before the Seattle grand jury, even after being granted use immunity, which impaired their right to refuse to testify. They were sent to jail for refusing to testify by U.S. District Judge
Richard A. Jones Richard Anthony Jones (born 1950) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. He previously served as a deputy prosecuting attorne ...
, and spent several months at the
Federal Detention Center, SeaTac The Federal Detention Center, SeaTac (FDC SeaTac) is a prison operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It is located in SeaTac, Washington, near the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, south of downtown Seattle and north of Tacoma, west ...
, including time in
solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...
. The justification given for this by a spokeswoman for Durkan's office was that it was "coercive" and could lead them to testify, rather than being "punitive". The Department of Justice and Durkan's office were widely criticized. The Seattle chapter of the
National Lawyers Guild The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a progressive public interest association of lawyers, law students, paralegals, jailhouse lawyers, law collective members, and other activist legal workers, in the United States. The group was founded in 19 ...
condemned their actions, "urging the FBI and the US Attorney to end the raids and drop the grand jury subpoenas" and raising concerns about political intimidation and negative effects on free speech. The
ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...
raised concerns that the grand juries might be used as a "fishing expedition looking into people's political views and political associations." The Seattle Human Rights Commission opposed the use of solitary confinement as a human rights violation. On February 27, 2013, District Judge Richard A. Jones issued a court order for the release of Matt Duran and Katherine Olejnik. That was followed by the release of Maddy Pfeiffer. Durkan's office refused to answer questions about the decision-making process of bringing people before the grand jury, saying that it would "not discuss the status of investigations or the deliberative process."


2013 police informant incident

In 2013 Durkan prosecuted Walli Mujahidh and Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif for conspiring to kill US military personnel on July 4, 2011, in a terrorist plot. The FBI and SPD had used a convicted pedophile, Robert Childs, as a paid informant to infiltrate terrorist and other organizations. Childs and Seattle Police detective Samuel DeJesus deleted over 400 messages from Childs's phone before handing the evidence over to Durkan's office, which presiding judge James Robart called "at-best sloppy". Durkan defended using Childs as an informant, saying, "It's not the saints who can bring us the sinners."


2017 mayoral election

Durkan announced her candidacy for Seattle mayor on May 11, 2017, shortly after incumbent Mayor Ed Murray ended his reelection campaign and resigned as mayor due to allegations of repeated sexual offenses that were later settled by the city. Durkan was called the "establishment" candidate in the crowded primary field, and was endorsed by the King County MLK Labor Council, former Attorney General
Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African Amer ...
, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility Victory Fund,
Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for ...
, Governor
Jay Inslee Jay Robert Inslee (; born February 9, 1951) is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Represen ...
, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, former EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, former governor and commerce secretary
Gary Locke Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician and diplomat serving as the interim president of Bellevue College, the largest of the institutions that make up the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system. Locke se ...
, former Seattle mayor
Norm Rice Norman Blann Rice (born May 4, 1943) is an American politician who served as the 49th mayor of Seattle, Washington, serving two terms from 1990 to 1997. Rice was Seattle's first elected African-American mayor. Early life Rice graduated from th ...
, former King County Executive and Deputy Secretary of U.S.
Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Ur ...
Ron Sims Ronald Cordell Sims (born July 5, 1948) is the former Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, having served in the position from May 8, 2009 to July 2011. He is also the former King County Executive. Sims ...
, Murray, some members of the Seattle City Council, labor unions, ''
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 ...
'', and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Durkan placed first in the August primary election with 51,529 votes (28%), advancing to the general election against urban planner
Cary Moon Carol Consuela Moon (born June 21, 1963) is an American political activist who was part of the campaign to re-open Seattle's waterfront after the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Moon was a candidate for Mayor of Seattle in the 2017 mayora ...
, who received 32,536 (18%), narrowly edging
Nikkita Oliver Nikkita R. Oliver is an American lawyer, non-profit administrator, educator, poet, and politician. They were a candidate for Mayor of Seattle in the 2017 mayoral election, but finished third in the primary with 17% of the vote. Oliver was defeat ...
, who received 31,366 (17%). Durkan's over $1 million fundraising haul broke the record for most donors and most money raised in the history of Seattle mayoral campaigns. She outraised Moon 5 to 1, with over $600,000 coming from a political organization sponsored by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, allowing large corporations such as
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,
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,
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, Vulcan, and
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 cou ...
to quietly influence a major local campaign. Murray's political consultant Sandeep Kaushik joined Durkan's campaign and later became a senior adviser to her. Kaushik is also a lobbyist for
Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
and continues to advise Durkan on policy. The day after the November 7 general election, in which Durkan received over 60% of the preliminary votes, Moon conceded.


Candidate forum incident

During a July 2017 mayoral candidate forum, Durkan tossed miniature tequila bottles into the all-ages crowd and during the "talent competition" imitated
Melissa McCarthy Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, producer, writer, and fashion designer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and tw ...
’s parody of then-White House press secretary
Sean Spicer Sean Michael Spicer (born September 23, 1971) is a former American political aide who served as the 30th White House Press Secretary and as White House Communications Director under President Donald Trump in 2017. Spicer was communications dire ...
from ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' in costume, at one point using the term "colored person" while impersonating Spicer. The forum judge at the event told her that she should have said "person of color", and she apologized as soon as she took the stage again, saying she had tripped over her words. She later apologized for distributing the tequila, saying she had thought the event, held at late night music venue Neumos, was for people 21 and over.


Initiative 124

During the 2017 Seattle mayoral election, Durkan was the only candidate to not sign a letter requesting that Seattle hotel owners, represented by the Seattle Hospitality for Progress PAC and Washington Hospitality PAC, drop a lawsuit against Initiative 124. The initiative gave "hotel workers more protections against sexual harassment and assault" and was passed by Seattle voters in 2016. Durkan claimed that she was not given the opportunity to sign the letter, but
Unite Here UNITE HERE is a labor union in the United States and Canada with roughly 300,000 active members. The union's members work predominantly in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming industries. The union was formed in 2004 by ...
Local 8 (the union representing hotel workers) said that Durkan chose not to sign the letter after multiple requests. Durkan's campaign received $50,000 from the two PACs, including $20,000 from Seattle luxury hotel developer Richard Hedreen. In 2002 Durkan's sister Ryan and brother Jamie lobbied 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 ...
on Hedreen's behalf, asking it to exempt him from building $6 million of low-income housing in downtown Seattle. After pressure from council member Nick Licata, Mayor Greg Nickels vetoed the legislation. The Washington State Court of Appeals overturned Initiative 124 in 2018.


Mayor of Seattle

After becoming mayor, Durkan faced local, regional, and global crises, including homelessness, lack of affordable housing, crumbling infrastructure, and the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, much of it stemming from Seattle's rapid population growth during the 2010s. On her second day in office, Durkan signed an Executive Order to create the Seattle Promise College Tuition Program to expand free access to college for Seattle public school students. She then proposed the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise levy, which would double the number of kids able to attend the Seattle Preschool Program from 1,500 to 2,700 in 2025–26, maintain and expand school-based health centers, create and maintain year-round learning programs to close the opportunity gap from K-12, and fully fund two years of free college. In November 2018, nearly 70 percent of Seattle voters approved the plan. Durkan was cited as one of the key advocates for the bringing of the NHL team the Kraken to Seattle. In 2018 she co-drafted a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights for people in the industry in Seattle. She also crafted legislation to raise the pay rate for ride share workers, and signed new gun restrictions into law. In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the
Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of Ju ...
, ''
Queerty ''Queerty'' is an online magazine and newspaper covering gay-oriented lifestyle and news, founded in 2005 by David Hauslaib. As of June 2015, the site had more than five million monthly unique visitors. History ''Queerty'' was founded by David ...
'' named Durkan one of the ''Pride50'' "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people".


Criticism of Donald Trump

Durkan has been an outspoken critic of President Trump throughout her time in office. Trump criticized the responses of Durkan and Governor
Jay Inslee Jay Robert Inslee (; born February 9, 1951) is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Represen ...
, claiming that they had not been effective in dealing with protesters, especially regarding the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone/Capitol Hill Occupied Protest and the Seattle police's abandonment of the East Precinct. He threatened to retake the city if local leaders did not reassert their authority. Durkan called the creation of the police-free autonomous zone an attempt to "de-escalate interactions between protesters and law enforcement". On June 12, she visited the police-free zone and told a ''New York Times'' reporter that she did not know of any serious crime reported in the area. Throughout her tenure as mayor, Durkan has drawn criticism from the Trump administration, including threatening federal funding for the City of Seattle for being a "Welcoming City" and an "anarchist jurisdiction." In September 2020, ''The New York Times'' reported that the Department of Justice had explored criminal charges against Durkan, which she called "chilling".


Transportation

During Durkan's term as mayor, the
Seattle Department of Transportation The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is a municipal government agency in Seattle, Washington that is responsible for the maintenance of the city's transportation systems, including roads, bridges, and public transportation. The agency ...
canceled several
bicycle lane Bike lanes (US) or cycle lanes (UK) are types of bikeways (cycleways) with lanes on the roadway for cyclists only. In the United Kingdom, an on-road cycle-lane can be firmly restricted to cycles (marked with a solid white line, entry by motor v ...
s and greenway projects that had been planned in previous years under the city's comprehensive bicycle plan and funded in the 2015 Move Seattle levy. In response, several
cycling advocacy Cycling advocacy consists of activities that call for, promote or enable increased adoption and support for cycling and improved safety and convenience for cyclists, usually within urbanized areas or semi-urban regions. Issues of concern typically ...
groups and city council members protested Durkan's decision-making on bicycle issues. She has also been critical of scooter-sharing, with Seattle maintaining its ban on electric scooter-sharing apps, unlike other major U.S. cities. In her first year of office, Durkan proposed and implemented free Year-Round ORCA Passes for 15,000 High School and College Students. Seattle is now the largest U.S. city to provide free transit passes to high school students. In March 2018, Durkan halted planning work on the Central City Connector streetcar project, which would link the
South Lake Union South Lake Union (sometimes SLU) is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because it is at the southern tip of Lake Union. The official boundaries of the City of Seattle Urban Center are Denny Way on the south, beyond which is Den ...
and
First Hill First Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is named for the hill on which it is located, which in turn is so named for being the first hill encountered while traveling east from downtown Seattle toward Lake Washing ...
lines of the
Seattle Streetcar The Seattle Streetcar is a system of two modern streetcar lines operating in the city of Seattle, Washington. The South Lake Union line opened first in 2007 and was followed by the First Hill line in 2016. The two lines are unconnected, but s ...
system, due to cost overruns.


Police chief selection

Durkan's selection of a permanent chief of the
Seattle Police Department The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, United States, except for the campus of the University of Washington, which is under the responsibility of its own police department ...
in May 2018 ran into controversy after her list of finalists excluded interim chief
Carmen Best Carmen Best (born c. 1965) is an American law enforcement officer who served as the chief of police of the Seattle Police Department from 2018 to 2020. She was the first black woman to lead Seattle's police force. She was chief of police during th ...
, who had also served as deputy chief. After receiving criticism from community activists and the police officers' guild for choosing out-of-state finalists, Durkan defended her decision as the recommendation of a search committee. Durkan nominated Best as a finalist after another finalist withdrew to take a different position within the department, and the city council confirmed Best as police chief in August 2018.


Workplace conduct

In April 2019, it was reported that two of Durkan's staffers accused her of mistreatment, with one calling the working environment "toxic". One alleged that Durkan had "grabbed her face and forcibly turned her head" when the employee was making suggestions on how to handle the anniversary of the death of community leader Donnie Chin International Childrens Park#Donnie Chin, Donnie Chin. The other described a hostile work environment where she was "set up to fail" despite having a good track record at previous jobs, and wanted $1.6 million in lost wages and emotional distress. Both employees were Asian women, a fact the second employee pointed out. Durkan's office denied both employees' allegations.


Covid response

Durkan was halfway through her term when the first recorded U.S. case of COVID-19 appeared in the Seattle area on January 19, 2020, and the first recorded U.S. death on February 29. Covid response was a central part of Durkan's remaining tenure. Under Durkan, as of March 2021, Seattle's response to the pandemic resulted in the lowest deaths per capita of any large U.S. metropolitan area. By March, Durkan, in collaboration with other area officials, implemented some of the first Face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, mask mandates in the U.S. They also set up four testing facilities in the city, which tested up to 6,000 people per day by mid-December 2020 and had completed 463,000 tests between June and December of that year. On March 17, 2020, Durkan signed an emergency order prohibiting the eviction of small businesses and nonprofits for 60 days or until the end of the emergency. The City Council and Durkan had already halted most residential evictions. In May 2020, Durkan closed more than 20 miles of city streets to most vehicles in order to enable more socially distanced biking and walking. In May 2020, to help families in economic distress from covid shutdowns, Durkan's administration sent $800 supermarket vouchers to households enrolled in subsidized child care and food programs, later extending the voucher program to other households. The administration opened additional shelter spaces with more distance between beds, provided supporting services at hotels commissioned to house homeless people, and gave $10,000 grants to 250 small business by May 24, 2020. When Durkan left office in December 2021, about 90% of Seattle's eligible residents had received at least one dose of a covid vaccine and about 50% were fully vaccinated.


Homelessness in Seattle

During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Durkan proposed one of the country's first eviction moratoriums for small businesses, nonprofits and residents. Due to these types of actions, ''Fortune'' magazine named her one of the "25 Best World Leaders" during the pandemic. But she continued sweeping Tent city#Seattle, Washington, homeless encampments, forcing homeless people to leave their campsite and find a different place to live. She said the encampments were cleared for the safety of both their residents and the community, and had "shootings, human trafficking and other violent crimes". On May 15,
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 ...
members Tammy Morales, Teresa Mosqueda and Kshama Sawant introduced an ordinance to ban sweeps of encampments during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. Durkan objected to the bill and the council did not reach an agreement. The bill is not expected to receive enough votes to pass, and Deputy Mayor Mike Fong told the council that Durkan would veto the bill because "Fundamentally we simply don’t believe that this particular issue with regard to encampment removals is something that should be legislated." Durkan has spent part of her tenure focusing on homelessness, creating 600 new units of supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness in 2020. In March 2019, she signed the Mandatory Housing Affordability bill into law, which implements affordable housing requirements and increases density in 27 Seattle neighborhoods. In July 2019, Durkan signed a bill and an executive order to increase the availability of backyard cottages.


Education

On November 19, 2017, Durkan signed an executive order to create the Seattle Promise College Tuition Program, which increases free access to college for Seattle public school students. Seattle residents voted in November 2018 to approve a tax to pay for the program. Durkan said that in order to increase the chances that students will succeed, the program also included support to help them decide what college to attend, as well as preparing them for student life, including what to study. Durkan used some of the Covid-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan to extend the program in 2021.


Handling of George Floyd protests and failed recall attempt

On June 1, 2020, during the
George Floyd protests in Seattle The city of Seattle experienced protests over the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and 2021. Beginning on May 29, 2020, demonstrators took to the streets throughout the city for marches and sit-ins, often of a peaceful nature but which also devol ...
in the Capitol Hill (Seattle), Capitol Hill neighborhood, police in full Riot control, riot gear barricaded the SPD's East Precinct building from protesters, using blast balls, stun grenade, flash bang grenades, and pepper spray against the crowd "at times with little apparent provocation". On June 2, Durkan spoke to a group of protesters for the first time after five days of demonstrations. Addressing criticism about "Police uniforms in the United States#Badges, mourning badges" for fallen officers being used to cover up police officer badge numbers, Durkan said that the policy would be reviewed and that badge numbers should always be visible. She also said that the SPD policy of Body camera, body cams not recording "lawful protests" would be reviewed. When asked whether she would stop the use of tear gas, Durkan said she didn't want to make a promise that she couldn't keep. Police officers continued using tear gas to combat protesters, and on June 5 Durkan ordered a 30-day ban. Nevertheless, on June 6 the police used pepper spray and blast balls to disperse protesters outside the East Precinct, and on June 7 "unleashed a barrage of tear gas and flash bangs" on a crowd outside the precinct. On June 8, Seattle City Council members Morales, Mosqueda and Sawant called on Durkan to resign or be impeached "for gassing her own people". On June 9, hundreds of protesters occupied City Hall to demand her resignation, and on June 28 protesters marched to Durkan's home. On July 2, King County Superior Court judge Mary Roberts heard arguments for two separate petitions to Recall election, recall Durkan, and on July 10 she ruled that one of the seven allegations had sufficient evidence to move forward, allowing petitioners to gather signatures for a recall election. Durkan's legal team asked Roberts to reconsider the ruling, arguing that the charge was the responsibility of Police Chief Carmen Best, but Roberts declined. On August 12 Durkan's legal team appealed the decision to the Washington State Supreme Court. The petitioners for the recall requested that the Supreme Court reconsider two of the charges that Roberts dismissed. 50,000 signatures of Seattle voters are needed for the recall to occur. Durkan estimated that her legal expenses to fight the recall would total $240,000. In July 2020, a King County Superior Court judge ruled that her use of tear gas during the protests was sufficient for a petition to Recall election, recall her as mayor to move forward, but the Washington State Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the attempt as "factually and legally insufficient". On December 7, 2020, Durkan announced that she would not seek reelection. The same day, Western Washington District Court judge
Richard A. Jones Richard Anthony Jones (born 1950) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. He previously served as a deputy prosecuting attorne ...
ruled that the city of Seattle had violated the Consent Decree on four counts by using crowd control weapons during the George Floyd protests.


Missing records

Official text messages from Durkan from August 28, 2019, to June 25, 2020, were not retained and excluded from public records requests, a violation of the state Public Records Act. Communications from Fire Chief Harold Scoggins and then-police Chief
Carmen Best Carmen Best (born c. 1965) is an American law enforcement officer who served as the chief of police of the Seattle Police Department from 2018 to 2020. She was the first black woman to lead Seattle's police force. She was chief of police during th ...
in at least June 2020 are also missing, preventing the public from reviewing the decisions to use tear gas on protestors and residents of Capitol Hill. On June 3, ''
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 ...
'' filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle over the missing text messages and the city's mishandling of reporters' public information requests. Durkan's office claimed the missing texts were due to an "unknown technology issue", but her staff knew the texts were missing because they were deliberately set to automatically delete. The whistleblowers who sought to comply with the law sued the city for retaliation and constructive dismissal.


Personal life

Durkan is a lesbian. She and her partner, Dana Garvey, have two sons. Durkan and Garvey are unmarried and not registered as a domestic couple. Because of this, Durkan did not have to disclose Garvey's financial records during her mayoral campaign.


See also

* List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States * List of United States political families (D), List of United States political families


References


External links

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