Local News

The Seattle Times political team explores national, state and local politics.

Local realtor Charlie Staadecker reports he has raised $40,000 in the first month of his 2013 campaign for Seattle mayor.

Staadecker, 69, of Mount Baker, runs a commercial real estate firm. His campaign kicked off a month ago with a theme song and four pillars: education, jobs and economic security, quality of life, and safety and core services. About 40 percent of Staadecker’s contributors are retired, and about half of them gave the maximum amount: $700.

It’s an early indication of support for a little-known candidate in what is likely to become a race crowded with familiar names. Mayor Mike McGinn’s perceived unpopularity has made way for a long list of local elected officials considering a run for mayor in 2013. Seattle City Council members Tim Burgess and Bruce Harrell are both thinking about it, along with state Sen. Ed Murray, who is just off a big win as a leader if the Referendum 74 campaign for gay marriage.

Former City Council member Peter Steinbrueck has said he may run, and this week, after years outside the public eye, he is launching into public civic engagement about proposed plans for South Lake Union. On his Facebook page, Steinbrueck has questioned proposed zoning for the neighborhood and is urging people to turn out for a Wednesday public hearing. Former King County Executive Ron Sims also has expressed an interest in the race.

McGinn reported raising almost $80,000 at the end of October, but he has spent more than half of that. At the same point in former Mayor Greg Nickels’ last campaign in 2008, he had similar low approval ratings in polls, but he had raised almost $270,000. He lost in the primary.

McGinn ran a famously cheap underdog campaign in 2009, winning with only $290,000 total.