Colleen Echohawk launched a campaign Monday to lead Seattle as its mayor, running on a platform of transformation; rethinking justice, mental health and the city’s common purpose.
Echohawk, Pawnee and Athabascan, is executive director of the Chief Seattle Club, a nonprofit that serves homeless Native Americans. Echohawk led the development of $100 million in affordable housing for Native Americans, non-Natives and veterans; improved access to health care and social services or her constituency; and is creating economic opportunities through a farm-to-table Indigenous foods program and a café/art gallery.
If elected, the eighth and 18th largest cities in the U.S. would be led by mayors who are Indigenous: Todd Gloria, Tlingit, in San Diego, California (population 1.4 million); and Echohawk, Seattle (population 725,000). Mayor Jenny Durkan, a former U.S. attorney, is not running for reelection.
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