Seattle Mayor Ed Murray to hold news conference at Alki Beach, expected to end re-election campaign

[brooklynite]

Source: Seattle Times

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray will hold a news conference Tuesday morning amid widespread speculation that he will end his campaign for re-election.

The mayor will read a statement to reporters at 10:30 a.m. at the Alki Beach Bathhouse.

The Seattle Times will be streaming the conference live on Facebook when it begins.

For the past month, Murray’s bid for a second term has been dogged by allegations that he sexually abused teenagers in the 1980s and paid them for sex. A Kent man filled a lawsuit last month.

Read more: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-mayor-ed-murray-to-hold-news-conference-at-alki-beach-expected-to-end-re-election-campaign/

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Meanwhile...

State Sen. Bob Hasegawa running for Seattle mayor

State Sen. Bob Hasegawa, a Bernie Sanders-supporting Democrat whose working life started as a union UPS truck driver, will run for mayor of Seattle, he said Monday.

A former Teamsters Local 174 leader, who today lives in the Beacon Hill neighborhood where he grew up, Hasegawa has served in the Legislature since 2005, first in the House of Representatives and more recently in the Senate.


The 64-year-old said he would kick off his bid for mayor Tuesday with a news conference on the steps of the downtown Wells Fargo Center “as a statement of his lifelong commitment to economic justice and to highlight the need for a municipal bank as the linchpin for his economic justice agenda.”

In an interview, he said a city-run bank is at the heart of his platform because it would help Seattle divest from Wall Street banks, raise revenue, provide small businesses with access to credit and better leverage taxpayer dollars.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/state-sen-bob-hasegawa-running-for-seattle-mayor/

[JudyM]

1. Interesting that Hasegawa is centering his campaign on the need for a municipal bank.

The big banks aren't used to being directly challenged. They amass their power behind the scenes. It'd be great if this gains momentum, they would be pressured to take a more consumer-oriented approach for a change, to compete.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

2. Seattle has turned into the city of

one term mayors. It would be nice to have Hasegawa as mayor. We need a non white person in there for once. Assuming he actually runs and wins that is.........

[suffragette]

3. So far there's also Mike McGinn, Nikkita Oliver and Cary Moon, all also running to the left.

Keep in mind we have a top two primary here, so it's not necessarily divided into Democrat and Republican as the top two contenders.

With Murray dropping out, there will likely be more candidates opting in. I would imagine centrists and conservatives are scrambling to identify someone they want to bank on at this point.