Former SPD Chief Jim Pugel Running For Seattle City Council

SEATTLE, WA - Former Seattle police chief Jim Pugel will enter the crowded District 7 City Council race, vying to fill the vacancy left by retiring Councilwoman Sally Bagshaw.

Pugel will formally announce his run Tuesday, according to a press release from his campaign. Pugel appears is pitching himself as a police reform advocate.

Pugel served as an assistant chief and then interim chief before former mayor Ed Murray replaced him in 2014. He then took a job as a chief deputy with the King County Sheriff's Office before retiring last year.

District 7 spans Pioneer Square to Queen Anne and Magnolia. Bagshaw announced in November that she wouldn't run in 2019.

Other candidates in the District 7 race include: Magnolia neighborhood activist Elizabeth Campbell; Daniela Eng; Kidder Mathews project manager and downtown resident Michael George; national security expert Naveed Jamali; Isabelle J. Kerner, who is suing SPD; and assistant city attorney Andrew J. Lewis. Local attorney Lincoln C. Beauregard, who sued Murray in 2017 over sex assault, has said he might run for Bagshaw's seat.

Caption: Then-Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel talks to reporters on Nov. 9, 2009, during a press conference in Seattle, about Christopher Monfort, the man accused of killing Seattle Police officer Timothy Brenton.

AP Photo/Ted S. Warren