Jenny Durkan is running as a common sense, coalition builder in this year’s mayoral race. Her background is impressive including her experience serving as a U.S. Attorney in Cyber Security and other challenging areas. Jenny is well versed in tech issues and has a clear grasp of how to partner with business in building a better city.
Jenny is thoughtful, intelligent, and has a keen legal mind. She is eager to engage with the tech industry to help solve our city’s toughest challenges.
Jenny is almost obsessed with data and metric-driven analysis to address the problems facing Seattle – an approach she used to lead reform in the Seattle Police Department . She expressed frustration at the lack of budget transparency in the city and the lack of outcome driven programs related to homelessness, affordability, and transportation.
She expressed a strong commitment to engage proactively as a city representative at the state level with policymakers. However, Jenny also believes that Seattle has a right and obligation to lead our state on matters of public policy. While basic services come first as a priority for her, that does not mean that Seattle must wait for Olympia to lead on important policy topics including labor laws, autonomous vehicles, tax portfolio, business climate, workforce development, etc.
In an election where angst over rising affordable housing is a primary issue, Jenny is a clear-headed, calm voice — with a willingness to consider multiple points of view and finding a balance among market forces and regulatory powers. She is especially focused on addressing the middle class housing crisis, which is causing many workers to leave the city, face untenably long commutes, and add to the growing traffic congestion due to the lack of effective regional public transportation options.
Jenny demonstrated political savvy during her interview. In particular, she noted the new district council system in Seattle was a way to leverage the mayor’s office to re-focus an increasingly anti-business council onto more productive and pressing basic services that need immediate improvement.
Jenny has the endorsement of former Governors Chris Gregoire and Gary Lock, SEIU 775, the current Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, and several other city, county, and state elected officials. She has also received endorsements from The Seattle Chamber Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE) and the Seattle Times.