Historical Note

Office of the Mayor

The Mayor is the chief executive officer of the City with responsibilities for appointing executive department heads, directing and controlling all subordinate officers and agencies, preparing and executing the City budget, ensuring that the laws of the City are enforced, and maintaining the peace and order in the City. The legal roles and responsibilities of the Mayor are prescribed by the City Charter, state statutes, and municipal ordinances. A candidate for the position must be a citizen of the United States, a qualified elector of the State of Washington, and a registered voter of the City of Seattle at the time of filing his/her declaration of candidacy.

Seattle was incorporated by an act of the Territorial Legislature on December 2, 1869, and the City’s first mayor, Henry A. Atkins, was appointed by the Legislature pending the first City election scheduled for July 1870. The City Charter, granted by the Legislature, set the Mayor’s term of office at one year. Under this first Charter, the Mayor served as ex-officio President of the Common Council. A Charter amendment in 1875 gave the Mayor a vote on Council, but that provision was amended in 1886 to provide for a tie-breaking vote only.

The City's first Freeholders’ Charter (1890) completely separated the Executive and Legislative branches and changed the term of office for the Mayor to two years. Through the first decade of the 20th century, elected offices in Seattle were partisan. A Charter Amendment passed by the voters on March 8, 1910, established non-partisan nominations and elections for all City elective offices. A new Freeholders Charter in 1946 changed the term of the Mayor to four years.

Biographical Note

Gordon Clinton

Gordon Clinton was born in Canada in 1920 to American parents, and moved to Seattle at the age of two. After his father died around 1932, Clinton for a time lived in a charity home with his mother and siblings. He attended Roosevelt High School and the University of Washington, first obtaining a political science degree and then a law degree.

Clinton worked for the FBI in Virginia and Kentucky before serving in the Navy during World War II. Later he practiced law and served as an acting Police Court judge in Seattle before deciding to run for mayor in 1956. He defeated Allan Pomeroy in a close election and went on to serve two terms, leaving office in 1964.

Clinton oversaw the development of the Seattle Center site and presided over the city's festivities during the 1962 World's Fair. He created the Human Rights Commission to promote equality and understanding among Seattle residents, and actively supported the formation of Metro in 1958. He also initiated Seattle's sister city program, one of the first of its kind.

After leaving office Clinton returned to practicing law, including working for the consulates of Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.

Dorm Braman

James D'Orma ("Dorm") Braman was born in Iowa in 1901. He moved with his family to Eastern Washington around 1908 and then to Bremerton in 1910. After leaving high school, Braman opened a millwork business in Bremerton, and later ran a lumber and hardware store in Seattle.

Braman was elected to the Seattle City Council in 1954, where he chaired the Finance Committee and was particularly interested in budgetary issues. He served on the World's Fair Commission and helped shepherd the Seattle Center's transition from fairground to civic campus. He remained on the Council until 1964 when he was elected mayor.

During his term as mayor, he oversaw the city's involvement in the federal Model Cities program and the acquisition of Fort Lawton. He supported the Forward Thrust program and advocated for rapid transit. One notable accomplishment during this period of racial tensions was the passage of Seattle's open housing bill in 1968.

Braman left office in 1969 to become the Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Urban Systems and Environment under President Nixon. He served in this post for 18 months before returning to Seattle, where he died in 1980.

Floyd Miller

Floyd Miller served as Acting Mayor for nine months in 1969 after Dorm Braman went to work for the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC. Miller had served seven terms in the State Legislature and three terms on the Seattle City Council. Miller was Council President at the time of his appointment as acting mayor.

Some in the city's African American community were opposed to Miller filling the vacancy because of his past stances on civil rights issues; however, others pointed to a vote favoring fair employment and claimed he was too liberal. In his brief time as mayor, he oversaw the City's responses to riots in the University District, the murder of civil rights leader Edwin Pratt, and corruption in the Police Department.

Wes Uhlman

Born in 1935 in Cashmere, Washington, Wes Uhlman attended Aberdeen High School, Seattle Pacific College, and the University of Washington, where he served as president of the Young Democrats. He married a classmate and returned to UW for law school.

In 1958, as a 23-year-old law student, he defeated incumbent Republican Hartney Oakes to represent the 32nd district in the Washington State House of Representatives, becoming the youngest member of the State Legislature. He served four terms before running for, and winning, a seat in the Washington State Senate.

Uhlman was elected Mayor in 1969, the youngest chief executive in Seattle's history and the first Democrat in almost 30 years. He was immediately faced with a host of problems ranging from racial tensions and large anti-war demonstrations to a police scandal and the Boeing bust. He responded by overhauling the city bureaucracy, encouraging increased citizen participation in government, and expanding social services. He was a strong believer in affirmative action, and the percentage of City workers who were minorities doubled during his time in office.

He left the mayor's office in 1977 after serving two terms, following an unsuccessful run for governor in 1976. After his political career, he worked in law and real estate development.