Jenny
Durkan

Jenny A. Durkan is the 56th Mayor of Seattle and the first woman to lead the City in nearly a century. She entered office in November 2017, with the challenge of making Seattle affordable and inclusive for all. Prior to becoming Mayor, Durkan was a civic leader and nationally-recognized attorney. From 2009 to 2014, she served as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, becoming the first openly gay U.S. Attorney in US history. Her recent legal work includes rushing to SeattleTacoma International Airport on the day President Trump’s illegal Muslim immigration ban went into effect and working with families and other attorneys to successfully stop an effort to deport several people. Working with civil rights groups and community leaders, she launched a civil rights investigation of the Seattle Police Department’s use  of force and treatment of minority communities. The investigation led to a landmark consent decree that requires broad reforms and ongoing monitoring by the federal court. Durkan, one of eight children, was raised in Seattle.  She graduated from the University of Notre Dame, taught school and coached girls basketball in a Yupik fishing village in Alaska, and then earned her J.D. at the University of Washington School of Law. She and her partner, Dana, have two sons.