Seattle's temporary mayor, appointed after Ed Murray resigned amid sex abuse allegations, spent just 48 hours on the job before announcing Friday he didn't want to keep it
But Bruce Harrell made the most of his brief tenure, signing four executive orders — including one that seeks to land Amazon's planned second headquarters back in its hometown.
"Now is the time to explore all alternatives to keep those jobs here," Harrell said.
Harrell said the city would submit a bid to Amazon after the tech giant announced last week it will spend more than $5 billion to build another headquarters in North America to house as many as 50,000 employees.
Seattle, already home to the company's sprawling urban campus headquarters, will join dozens of cities seeking the new Amazon facility.
Harrell became mayor this week when Murray resigned Wednesday because of sex abuse allegations, which he has denied.
After making the announcement about the Amazon bid, Harrell said he will not serve as mayor until a new leader is chosen by voters later this year. Instead, he said he will return to the City Council.
Harrell, who would've had to resign his council seat to remain as mayor, said the council will choose someone to lead the city until a winner in the mayoral race is formally declared after the November election.
A new interim mayor will be selected from eight other councilmembers.
Former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan and urban planner Cary Moon, both Democrats, are running for mayor in the November election.
Murray, a first-term mayor, previously had an 18-year career as a state lawmaker. He announced his resignation after The Seattle Times reported that a fifth man — one of his cousins — had accused Murray of molesting him decades ago.
Though he has vehemently denied all of the accusations, Murray had already decided not to seek re-election.
