Ed Murray out of Seattle mayor's race; endorses Jenny Durkan
Mayor Ed Murray said he won't wage a write-in candidacy for re-election and instead endorsed Jenny Durkan on Thursday.
Murray said Durkan, a former U.S. attorney, was committed to policies he has put in place during his four years in office.
He said Durkan could "take this city to the next level in these very difficult times."
"She has the best chance of winning," Murray said. "And I really don't want to see this city go back to divisiveness that I inherited."
That's a not-too-subtle swipe at former Mayor Mike McGinn, also a candidate in this race. McGinn, Durkan and Nikkita Oliver got high numbers in a recent KUOW/KING 5 SurveyUSA poll.
Durkan praised Murray and said their values generally align. But she said she wasn't afraid to disagree with him when necessary.
Murray addressed several questions about how the sexual abuse lawsuit — now dropped — against him affected his decision not to run a write-in campaign. The KUOW/KING poll had showed some support for him despite his earlier decision to drop out of the race.
Murray said in the end, the barriers against a write-in campaign were too high.
"Hopefully I'm not doing damage to Jenny Durkan" with an endorsement, Murray said.
Durkan said she didn't expect Murray to be a lame duck in the mayor's office."Anyone who knows Ed Murray knows that he will not only finish strong," she said, "he will finish with decisiveness."
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Angela Nhi Nguyen
Reporter
Angela describes KUOW as her "radio womb." She started out in the station's youth program, RadioActive, and has continued to tell stories over the airwaves ever since. She currently is a mentor for RadioActive and also serves as a general assignment news reporter. Over the years, Angela has received awards for her work including a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, two PRNDIs, and a Korva Coleman Excellence Award. She was also part of NPR's Next Generation Radio Project. Angela worked at Northwest Public Radio for three years as an announcer/assistant producer for the local All Things Considered. She was a freelance reporter for Northwest News Network and even made it onto the national newscast a couple times as a teenager. She has one year left at Washington State University. Angela loves telling anecjokes (anecdotes with cheesy twists) and petting her cats that she's furry allergic to.
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Gil Aegerter
Gil edits feature pieces and helps guide staff reporters through their stories. He previously served as interim digital director and online managing editor at KUOW. Before that he spent seven years with NBCNews.com, where he was variously a senior editor, editor-producer and features editor. He also worked 25 years as a newspaper editor in Anchorage, Alaska, San Diego, Wilmington, N.C., and Seattle. He also was a freelance researcher for NBC Olympics for the Games in Atlanta; Sydney, Australia; Salt Lake City; Athens; and Torino, Italy. He is a graduate of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, with a degree in photojournalism.
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Paige Browning
Newscaster
Paige hosts midday newscasts and monitors news of significance to the Puget Sound region. She hopped over Washington’s mountains to join KUOW, after hosting news and reporting at Spokane Public Radio since 2011. She began her start in radio while a journalism student at University of Montana, by sharing stories with KUFM. Paige was raised in the mountains and rivers around Spokane. In her spare time she cheers on the Mariners in the summer, and hopes for snow in the winter.
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