List of mayors of Tukwila, Washington


This is a list of mayors of Tukwila, Washington. In 1908, Tukwila was incorporated as a city. Joel Shomaker, the first mayor, was integral in the movement towards incorporation. Jim Haggerton was elected mayor in 2007 and assumed office on 1 January 2008. Reelected to a second term in 2011, he has announced that he will not run for a third.

History

Tukwila was incorporated on 23 June 1908 with Joel Shomaker as mayor. Shomaker, farm editor for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, had pushed for the city to be incorporated and planned the newspaper contest that decided the city's name. Many mayors have had a lasting legacy in Tukwila, where Strander, Minkler, and Baker Boulevards are named after mayors who served in the middle of the twentieth century.

Duties

As an optional municipal code city, Tukwila is governed by Title 35A of the Revised Code of Washington. As a mayor-council government, the mayor provides over all city council meetings, breaks tied votes, reports as to the city's finances, and prepares the budget. The mayor has the right to veto ordinances, but that veto can be overridden by a 50%-plus-two majority of the city council.

List of mayors

#NameTerm beganTerm ended
1Joel Shomaker23 June 190831 December 1909
2Ernest Engel1 January 191031 December 1911
3Jacob Guntert1 January 191214 January 1913
4John Hall14 January 191331 December 1914
5Sylvanus Harlow Stevens1 January 191531 December 1918
6Edward F. Greene1 January 191931 December 1924
7George C. Bergquist1 January 192531 December 1927
8John R. Walkup1 January 19285 June 1933
9John P. Walkup5 June 19332 June 1947
10Charles Baker2 June 19472 April 1962
11John Strander2 April 196231 December 1967
12Stanley Minkler1 January 196831 December 1971
13Frank Todd1 January 197231 December 1975
14Edgar Bauch1 January 197631 December 1979
15Frank Todd1 December 198015 July 1982
16Gary VanDusen15 July 198231 December 1991
17John W. Rants1 January 199231 December 1999
18Steve Mullett1 January 200031 December 2007
19Jim Haggerton1 January 200831 December 2015
20Allan Ekberg1 January 2016present