Jenny Durkan sworn in as Seattle’s first female mayor since 1920s

SEATTLE – Jenny Durkan took the oath of office as Seattle mayor Tuesday, becoming the first woman to lead the city since the 1920s as the result of her win in the Nov. 7 election.

Durkan was sworn in at the Ethiopian Community Center in Rainier Beach, the first of five neighborhood destinations as she crisscrossed the city on a Day One goodwill tour.

“We must remember that our common bonds, our common purposes are so much more powerful than our challenges and differences,” Durkan said after U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones administered the oath.

“Let’s get to work,” she added, addressing a room at the community center brimming with Rainier Beach residents and City Hall brass.

Rather than deliver a speech at City Hall, like recent predecessors Ed Murray, Mike McGinn and Greg Nickels, Durkan took her inauguration on the road, visiting Delridge, the Chinatown-International District, Phinney Ridge and Lake City after Rainier Beach.

She planned to sign orders related to rent vouchers and the city’s Race and Social Justice Initiative during the tour.

On Wednesday, Durkan will announce her “Seattle Promise” college tuition program, which on the campaign trail she said would offer all of the city’s public high school graduates two years of free community college.

“We must tackle our challenges and seize opportunities as One City,” she said in a pre-inauguration statement. “Starting on my first day in office, I want everyone to be a part of creating meaningful change.”

New mayors usually assume office in January, but Durkan, 59, took over as soon as the election results were certified Tuesday because Murray resigned in September.

Because City Council President Bruce Harrell and Councilmember Tim Burgess each stood in as mayor after the resignation, with Harrell filling the role initially and Burgess serving for most of the fall, Durkan is Seattle’s fourth mayor in four months.

Her inauguration comes near the end of a bizarre year in city politics, which saw Murray’s clear path to a second term exploded by a series of sexual abuse allegations.

With Durkan as mayor, the city may be moving on from that scandal, but that doesn’t mean December will be dull. There will be a steep learning curve on the job as Seattle grapples with rapid growth, a housing and homelessness crisis and snarled traffic.

Before Thanksgiving, Durkan named City Hall veteran Mike Fong and transit lobbyist Shefali Ranganathan as her deputy mayors and formed a 61-member transition team.

Durkan made history as she became the city’s second woman mayor, following in the footsteps of reformer Bertha Knight Landes, who served nine decades ago.

Durkan emphasized her prior experience leading a government office as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington from 2009 to 2014 and promised to protect liberal Seattle from President Donald Trump and his administration.

A powerhouse lawyer and political insider who advised two Democratic governors and whose father was an influential state lawmaker and lobbyist, Durkan was the first openly gay U.S. attorney when she was appointed by President Barack Obama.