State senator joins crowded race for Seattle mayor

SEATTLE (AP) - A Washington state senator has entered the race for Seattle mayor.

Seattlepi.com reports (https://goo.gl/630cOj ) Democratic Sen. Bob Hasegawa of Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood made the announcement Monday in a news release.

Spokesman Michael Charles says Hasegawa will run on an “economic justice agenda.”

Mayor Ed Murray has said he will run for re-election but his campaign has been troubled since a Seattle-area man filed a lawsuit in April claiming Murray paid him for sex when the man was a teenager in the 1980s.

Murray has repeatedly denied the claims, arguing that the suit is politically motivated.

Hasegawa joins a crowded field of contenders including former mayor Mike McGinn and activist Cary Moon.

Hasegawa was elected to the state House in 2005 and won a seat in the state Senate in 2012.

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Information from: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, https://www.seattlepi.com/