Tammy Morales announces her resignation from the Seattle City Council

SEATTLE- Tammy Morales announced Wednesday morning that she will be resigning from the Seattle City Council.

Morales will remain in office until January 6, 2025, representing District 2 – from Yesler Terrace to Rainier Beach.

She was elected to the city council in 2019 and re-elected in November 2023. She was among two Seattle City Council incumbents who won re-election in 2023.

In a statement, Morales said she was concerned about the council’s future and that over the past 11 months, “the council has undermined our checks and balances as a legislative department and undermined my work as a policymaker.”

The statement continued: Since January, the council has done the following:

• Compromises the ability of our nonpartisan core Council staff to conduct objective policy analysis
• Suppressed the will of voters by offering an alternative ballot initiative that would effectively eliminate the Seattle public housing developer next February
• Suppressed First Amendment rights during public speech by arresting people
• Intimidation of commentators by police presence when controversial legislation is being considered
• There has been a significant decline in institutional knowledge with the departure of three key Council policy staff, the entire Council communications team, members of our human resources and finance team, and several legislative staff members
• An attempt was made to defund an important anti-displacement and community economic development program led by people of color
• Pass 11 separate bills to increase the punitive nature of our criminal justice system without adding any significant accountability to our police department
• And we passed a budget that reduces funding for social services for our most vulnerable while dramatically increasing funding for prisons, police and cleaning services

Morales said the decision to resign was difficult and that she would spend time with her children and care for her ailing father.