Seattle has elected a woman as its mayor for the first time since 1926.
History has been made.
Seattle has elected its first woman mayor in 91 years.
In Tuesday’s election, voters chose former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan over urban planner Cary Moon for executive chief. Durkan will be the first woman as mayor since Bertha Landes‘ election in 1926.
Landes was the first woman to lead a major American city.
She cemented a legacy as a good-government reformer, pushing for civil-service hiring, the city’s first traffic code and tighter regulation of nightlife. “Throughout her brief political career, Landes had to prove herself in ways that men did not — facing constant scrutiny over whether her dress and demeanor were proper for a woman of the early 20th century,” a 2013 Seattle Times story says.
Landes lost her re-election bid to Frank Edwards, a theater operator. Some commentators speculated she lost because Seattle wanted to regain its reputation as a “manly” frontier town.
For a full list of the city’s mayors, go here.
You can find the latest results from Tuesday’s election here.
Material from The Seattle Times archives contributed to this report.