It was won by former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, who beat civic activist Cary Moon in the general election by 15 percentage points.

Then-incumbent mayor Ed Murray initially sought re-election, but ended his campaign amid allegations of sexual abuse which led to his resignation in September 2017.

[6] Durkan officially took office on November 28, after the results were certified, replacing interim mayor Tim Burgess.

[3][13] In early April, several months before the primary election, a lawsuit was filed against Mayor Ed Murray, alleging sexual abuse of the plaintiff as a minor in the 1980s in exchange for drug money.

[14] The allegations were denied by Murray, who initially said he would fight the suit and carry on his campaign, but decided to withdraw a month later because, he said, the Mayor's race should be about the needs of the city, not "a scandal, which it would be focused on, if I were to remain in".

[16] The Stranger alt-weekly said that even though The Times mentioned Kshama Sawant as the kind of mayor they feared, they really meant lawyer and Black Lives Matter activist Nikkita Oliver.

Withdrawn Declined Each candidate on the primary ballot was sent a questionnaire by The Seattle Times where they discussed their political positions.

[1] They said Durkan appeared certain to have her name on the general election ballot, while Moon and Oliver, and perhaps Farrell, were in a toss-up to make it through the primary.

[1] The Stranger predicted that in the likely event of Moon or Oliver facing Durkan in the general, "Seattle's mayoral race will once again pit an establishment politician with deep Democratic ties against an outsider whose political influence grew from activism", whom Crosscut.com called "darlings of the left".

Oliver had begun a campaign of 'ballot chasing', encouraging supporters whose ballots had been challenged to contact the elections office to defend them.

[98] King County Elections certified the final result on August 15, with no significant changes from the late running totals, and Durkan and Moon remaining in the winning first and second positions.

[105] The Seattle Times called the election for Durkan, predicting that her lead was too large for Moon to overcome in the uncounted ballots.