Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan launches bid for reelection

SEATTLE -- Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has begun a 2021 reelection campaign.

The campaign committee “People for Jenny Durkan” registered this week with the Washington state Public Disclosure Commission, The Seattle Times reported.

The mayor hinted in recent weeks that she would be making an announcement.

The time for candidates to actually file for Seattle’s 2021 elections is still over a year away but registering a campaign committee will allow Durkan to start raising money.

“While I have formally opened my re-election campaign to continue to serve as mayor, I know my most important job is staying focused on delivering results for the people of Seattle and continuing to make progress for our city,” Durkan said in a statement on her campaign website.

Elected to a four-year term in 2017, Durkan took office early due to Ed Murray's resignation from office amid sexual-abuse allegations.

Durkan, who says she was the first openly gay person to become a U.S. attorney, was the first woman elected Seattle mayor since 1926.

Now in the second half of her term, Durkan has worked with the City Council to win voter approval for property-tax measures to fund school and library needs and to tax Uber and Lyft rides.

She and the council adopted and then repealed a head tax on large businesses for housing and homeless services in 2018. Seattle has yet to clear final hurdles in its court-ordered police reforms.