Seattle police union president demands answers after 'pro-cop' mayor allegedly endorses police abolitionist

A police abolitionist state house candidate in Seattle is claiming he has the endorsement of the city’s mayor, who has portrayed himself as pro-law enforcement. Now, Seattlites and police officers are demanding answers from the mayor after he has refused to confirm or deny the endorsement.

Last month during a campaign event, socialist and anti-cop Washington State House candidate Shaun Scott told the audience of his far-left endorsements but also listed Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell, who ran for office on a pledge to support law enforcement and address the Emerald City’s spiking crime. 

However, Harrell's endorsement is not listed on Scott's website.

Harrell’s office has refused to respond to requests for comment from The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI and other media outlets. Scott's campaign has been equally silent. Earlier this month, Discover Institute Senior Fellow Jonathan Choe confronted Harrell following the Seattle Police Foundation Gala, but the mayor refused to answer if he had endorsed the radical candidate.

Following a public safety forum on Wednesday, Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess was asked if Harrell had endorsed Scott. Burgess claimed he had not but ended the conversation quickly when asked why Scott had claimed the mayor had if it were untrue.

During an interview with Hoffman, Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan said that the mayor’s “silence speaks volumes,” adding that if Harrell doesn’t clarify his position “we’ve got problems.” Solan added, “Clearly, if this is a case where there is soft support to abolitionist Shaun Scott, there’s a lot of politics behind that.”

Despite record-high crime in Seattle following the George Floyd riots and the defunding movement, Scott said defunding the police didn’t go far enough, claiming, “Racism and discrimination are embedded in the police department here, and I don’t think going and tinkering around the edges is going to get us very far.”

He has also said, “The rate of legislative change was moving much quicker when there were cop cars on fire in this city." Scott also wrote an op-ed in 2020 titled: "The time to abolish Seattle police was yesterday."

During the 2020 riots in Seattle, Scott wrote, “Should Seattle’s political leadership not make use of the mandate to defund and dismantle racist policing once and for all, the results could be catastrophic for the populations most likely to be subject to racist policing in the first place.”

Recently, Scott has advocated for prosecutors to drop the charges against anti-Israel activists who blocked Sea-Tac Airport earlier this year, which they ultimately did, and called for more protests on I-5 like the one in January that shut down the freeway for over six hours and blocked first responders, including ambulances.