Michael J. O'Brien (born March 2, 1968) is an American politician and former 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-larg ...

who represented District 6 in northwest Seattle. He was first elected in 2009 to a different, city-wide council seat. He was the leading proponent of the opt-out list for the

Yellow Pages The yellow pages are Telephone directory, telephone directories of business, businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, ...

. He was the only opponent of the proposed deep bore tunnel under downtown

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

on the city council. He was chair of the local chapter of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

before running for office. In this capacity, he was one of the leading opponents of the 2007 Roads and Transit ballot measure.

Early life and career

Mike O'Brien was born in Seattle and raised in the Eastside suburb of Clyde Hill. He holds a

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

in economics from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and a

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in finance from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where he also earned a certificate in

environmental management Environmental resource management or environmental management is the management of the interaction and impact of human societies on the environment. It is not, as the phrase might suggest, the management of the environment itself. Environment ...

. O'Brien joined Seattle-based corporate law firm Stokes Lawrence as

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

in 1998, where he met lawyer and neighborhood activist

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 ...

, who would become O'Brien's friend and mentor.

Political activism

O'Brien was invited by McGinn to the Seattle chapter of the

as a volunteer treasurer, despite his previous lack of interest in politics. O'Brien became politically involved with the group and was elected as political chair of the Seattle chapter and chair of the Washington state chapter. During the 2007 election, O'Brien served as the group's spokesperson in the debate over the Roads and Transit proposition, which would have bundled

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It manages the Link light rail system in Se ...

projects with road expansion and was opposed by the Sierra Club. The ballot measure was defeated and a transit-only version,

Sound Transit 2 Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It manages the Link light rail system in Seattle and Tacoma, re ...

, was proposed for the following year with the support of the Sierra Club. Mike O'Brien was a representative of the Sierra Club on the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Project Stakeholder Advisory Committee in 2008. During the 2008 campaign, O'Brien left Stokes Lawrence to be a full-time volunteer for the Sierra Club and was encouraged to run for office by McGinn and others in the environmental community. O'Brien is currently on the board of directors and is the treasurer of the Sierra Club.

Political career

Position 8

In February 2009, O'Brien announced his candidacy for a city council seat that incumbent councilmember

Richard McIver Richard McIver (June 14, 1941 – March 9, 2013) was a member of the Seattle City Council. He was selected from 114 applicants to fill a vacancy on the Council in January 1997 after John E. Manning resigned due to a domestic violence arrest ...

planned to not run for. During the August primary for Position 8, O'Brien advanced with 35 percent of votes and was set to run against second-place finisher Robert Rosencrantz. O'Brien won the general election with 58 percent of votes and was sworn in on January 1, 2010, alongside newly elected mayor Mike McGinn.

District 6

O'Brien ran for the newly created District 6 position for the

, primarily covering Ballard, Fremont and Green Lake. He won the primary and defeated Catherine Weatbrook in the November general election. During his term as the District 6 councilmember, O'Brien attracted criticism for his positions on transportation, housing, homelessness, policing, and taxes. At an after-party event following a gala for the

Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum () is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to begin in 1520) to the ...

on May 5, 2018, O'Brien was reportedly asked to leave and subsequently forcibly removed by members of the Pacific Fishermen Shipyard (where the event was being held). O'Brien has attracted criticism from the group for his position on the extension of the Burke-Gilman Trail in Ballard. Facing unfavorable polling results and opposition from groups like the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, in February 2019 O'Brien announced he would not seek reelection to the Seattle City Council.

Other ventures

After his retirement from the city council, O'Brien and a former legislative aide founded their own

HVAC Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC ) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. ...

company that focuses on installation of

heat pump A heat pump is a device that uses electricity to transfer heat from a colder place to a warmer place. Specifically, the heat pump transfers thermal energy using a heat pump and refrigeration cycle, cooling the cool space and warming the warm s ...

s to replace heating and cooling systems that use fossil fuels.

Electoral history

2009 election

2013 election

2015 election

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Mike 1968 births Living people Seattle City Council members 21st-century Washington (state) politicians People from Clyde Hill, Washington Duke University alumni University of Washington alumni