Prior to his political career, Burgess was a radio journalist and Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer.

[1] Burgess was appointed mayor by the city council on September 18, 2017, to serve the remaining term of Ed Murray, who resigned amid a sexual abuse scandal.

Burgess was born to a working class, Christian family in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, the youngest of three brothers.

Burgess graduated from Lincoln High School in Wallingford in 1967 and attended classes at North Seattle Community College before transferring to the University of Washington.

He dropped out of the University of Washington, eight credits short of a bachelor's degree in political science, due to a shift change.

[8][9] Burgess patrolled in the High Point neighborhood of West Seattle for two years,[8] in what he described as an "eye-opening" experience seeing "the effects of violence, injustice, [and] poverty".

[14][15] Burgess publicly criticized city councilmembers for their ties to organized crime and campaign-finance violations during the Strippergate scandal of 2003,[16] taking a leading role in calling for accountability in his position as former ethics commissioner.

[17][18] Burgess began considering a run for the Seattle City Council in late 2006, while on a bike trip in Italy during his retirement.

[9][21] Burgess received the endorsement of The Seattle Times, along with several state and local politicians, and ultimately won in the election with 64 percent of votes.

[24] Burgess was sworn in as a new councilmember in January 2008 and was elected to chair the Public Safety, Human Services and Education Committee.