After initially saying he would stay in the race, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has announced he will not seek re-election and will leave office at the end of the year when his term is up.
Seattle's Democrat mayor has maintained his innocence regarding child sexual abuse allegations by four men, one of whom has filed a lawsuit against Murray and one who was Murray’s foster son for two years, The Seattle Times reported.
Although Murray tried not to let the accusations impact his mayoral duties, graphic claims and descriptions of Murray’s crimes — and his genitalia — have been plastered all over the media, making it difficult to carry on as usual.
“It tears me to pieces to step away,” Murray said in a news conference Tuesday, and cited his accomplishments on LBGT issues and sanctuary cities as two examples of his impact.
According to KIRO 7, nearly a dozen people have decided to run for the seat with Murray’s departure.
Murray filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration in March over President Donald Trump’s threat to pull funding from cities that refuse to enforce immigration laws. At issue was sanctuary cities’ refusal to share information with immigration officials about illegal immigrant populations.
Twitter users were mixed in their reactions to the news.
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