# 2013 Seattle mayoral election

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The 2013 Seattle mayoral election took place on November 5, 2013, to elect the mayor of Seattle. Incumbent Mayor Michael McGinn ran for re-election to a second term in office.
Municipal elections in Washington are officially non-partisan. A non-partisan primary was held on August 6, 2013. The top two finishers, State Senator Ed Murray, who received 30% of the vote, and incumbent Mayor McGinn, who received 29% of the vote, advanced to the November general election.
Murray won the general election with 52% of the votes.

## Primary election
### Candidates
#### On the ballot

* Joey Gray, information-systems consultant and trainer
* Bruce Harrell, City Councilman (Democratic Party)
* Kate Martin, former Greenwood Community Council President
* Mary Martin, activist (Socialist Workers Party)
* Michael McGinn, incumbent Mayor (Democratic Party)
* Doug McQuaid, attorney
* Ed Murray, State Senator (Democratic Party)
* Charlie Staadecker, real estate broker
* Peter Steinbrueck, lobbyist and former City Councilman (Democratic Party)

#### Withdrew

* Tim Burgess, City Councilman (Democratic Party)
* David Ishii, "character"

#### Declined

* Sally J. Clark, City Council President (Democratic Party)
* Maud Daudon, President and CEO of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
* Ron Sims, former Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former King County Executive (Democratic Party)

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Tim Burgess | Joey Gray | Bruce Harrell | David Ishii | Kate Martin | Mary Martin | Michael McGinn | Doug McQuaid | Ed Murray | Ron Sims | Charlie Staadecker | Peter Steinbrueck | Undecided |
| SurveyUSA | July 15–18, 2013 | 501 | ± 4.5% | — | 1% | 11% | — | 1% | 2% | 21% | 1% | 22% | — | 3% | 14% | 25% |
| SurveyUSA | May 17–19, 2013 | 552 | ± 4.3% | — | — | 12% | — | 4% | 3% | 22% | — | 15% | — | 4% | 17% | 23% |
| SurveyUSA | March 4–7, 2013 | 647 | ± 3.9% | 10% | — | 5% | 0% | 3% | — | 15% | — | 9% | 15% | 1% | 7% | 34% |
| SurveyUSA | March 4–7, 2013 | 647 | ± 3.9% | 11% | — | 6% | 0% | 4% | — | 19% | — | 8% | — | 1% | 10% | 38% |

### Debates and Forums

2013 Seattle mayoral debates and candidate forums :
| No. | Date | Host | Moderator | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan |
| Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | | | | | | | | | |
| Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Joey Gray | Bruce Harrell | Kate Martin | Mary Martin | Michael McGinn | Doug McQuaid | Ed Murray | Charlie Staadecker | Peter Steinbrueck |
| 1 | April 29, 2013 | South Seattle Community College | C.R. Douglas | N | P | P | N | P | N | P | P | P |
| 2 | May 2, 2013 | Hamilton Middle School | Unknown | N | P | P | N | P | N | P | P | P |
| 3 | June 19, 2013 | Young Voters League | Wyking Garrett | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | A |
| 4 | July 1, 2013 | Seattle Neighborhood Greenways | Tom Fucoloro Deb Salls | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
| 5 | July 16, 2013 | CityClub of Seattle | Joni Balter | N | P | N | N | P | N | P | P | P |
| 6 | July 17, 2013 | KCTS 9 Downtown District Council of Seattle | Enrique Cerna Joni Balter | P | P | P | A | P | P | P | P | P |
Several candidates at the May 2 forum attacked McGinn on different issues, including Murray and Harrell. Murray attempted to paint McGinn as a divisive figure who wasn't able to get things done, while Harrell argued that McGinn's accomplishments were due to the work of the Seattle City Council.
At the July 16 debate, candidate Kate Martin was escorted from the stage after arriving, as she had not been invited. Other candidates and members of the audience indicated support for Martin, which resulted in CityClub executive director Diane Douglas discussing the organization's policy for selecting candidates to invite to debates.
The debate on July 17 included questions on transportation, police department accountability, and marijuana. Marijuana was legalized in Washington the year prior through Washington Initiative 502, but the Washington State Liquor Control Board was still in the process of creating regulations for the industry.

### Results

Primary election results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Nonpartisan | Ed Murray | 42,314 | 29.85 |
| | Nonpartisan | Michael McGinn | 40,501 | 28.57 |
| | Nonpartisan | Peter Steinbrueck | 22,913 | 16.16 |
| | Nonpartisan | Bruce Harrell | 21,580 | 15.22 |
| | Nonpartisan | Charlie Staadecker | 6,288 | 4.44 |
| | Nonpartisan | Doug McQuaid | 2,546 | 1.80 |
| | Nonpartisan | Kate Martin | 2,479 | 1.75 |
| | Nonpartisan | Mary Martin | 1,498 | 1.06 |
| | Nonpartisan | Joey Gray | 1,318 | 0.93 |
| | | Write-in | 334 | 0.24 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 141,771 | 100 |

## General election
### Candidates

* Michael McGinn, incumbent Mayor
* Ed Murray, State Senator

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Michael McGinn | Ed Murray | Undecided |
| Strategies 360 | October 14–16, 2013 | 400 | ± 4.9% | 34% | 51% | 15% |
| SurveyUSA | October 2013 | 557 | ± 4.2% | 32% | 52% | 15% |
| Public Policy Polling | October 4–6, 2013 | 570 | ± ? | 28% | 52% | 20% |
| SurveyUSA | September 14–15, 2013 | 503 | ± 4.5% | 30% | 52% | 18% |

### Debates and Forums

2013 Seattle mayoral debate and candidate forums :
| No. | Date | Host | Moderator | Nonpartisan | Nonpartisan |
| Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | | |
| Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Key:  P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited W Withdrawn | Michael McGinn | Ed Murray |
| 1 | September 17, 2013 | Senior Center of West Seattle | Lucy Gaskill-Gaddis | P | P |
| 2 | September 26, 2013 | Seattle Park's Foundation | C.R. Douglas | P | P |
| 3 | October 16, 2013 | Immigrants, Refugees and Communities of Color United for Progress | Unknown | P | P |
At the September 26 forum, McGinn outlined a proposal that would institute a tax of $.01 per ounce of soda. A similar tax had been instituted by the state legislature but was repealed in 2010 with the passage of Washington Measure 1107. McGinn and Murray clashed over a scandal in which Michael King, the executive director of the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, was charged with embezzling $330,000 in campaign contributions. McGinn used the incident to attack Murray, who was a co-chair of the committee, while Murray apologized and sought to focus on issues rather than the scandal. McGinn had previously stated that he was not responsible for overseeing King's work, and that he and the other co-chairs of the committee turned the issue over to the authorities when they became aware of what was happening.

### Results

In preliminary returns, Murray won 56 percent of votes. Although this amount was greater than the McGinn campaign could make up as voting continued McGinn declined to concede, saying his supporters wanted an additional day of counting.
On November 7 McGinn conceded to Murray and offered his congratulations.
Seattle Mayoral Election, 2013 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Nonpartisan | Ed Murray | 106,384 | 51.55 |
| | Nonpartisan | Michael McGinn | 97,938 | 47.45 |
| | | Write-in | 2,058 | 1.00 |
| Plurality | Plurality | Plurality | 8,446 | 4.09 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 206,377 | 50.27 |