Edward Bernard Patrick Murray (born May 2, 1955) is an American politician from the state of Washington who most recently served as the 53rd mayor of Seattle from 2014 to 2017. A Democrat, he was previously a state legislator, first with the Washington State House of Representatives from 1996 to 2007, then the Washington State Senate from 2007 to 2013.

In 2017, Murray faced multiple allegations of child abuse, rape and sexual molestation, including some from family members and children under his care. He denies the allegations.^[2] Murray resigned as mayor of Seattle on September 12, 2017.^[3]

Murray was born in Aberdeen, Washington, to an Irish Catholic family, and is one of seven siblings in his family. He spent much of his childhood in West Seattle's Alki neighborhood, but attended high school at Timberline High School in Lacey, where he served as student body president.^[4]

Murray graduated from the University of Portland in 1980; he majored in sociology.^[5]

Murray began his career doing pretrial work for public defenders in Portland. He then returned to Seattle, becoming a paralegal, and quickly became active in local politics there.^[5] He was campaign manager for Cal Anderson, the first openly gay legislator in Washington state, in 1988 before becoming an assistant to City Councilmember Martha Choe.^[4][6] Murray later managed a nonprofit focused on gay rights.^[4]

Murray is of Irish descent.^[19] He is gay, and came out in 1980.^[4] In 2013, he married Michael Shiosaki at St. Mark's in Seattle; the two had been in a relationship for 22 years.^[20] Murray did not emphasize his sexual orientation during his career, describing himself as "a Democrat who happens to be gay."^[5] During his campaign for the Senate, as in many of his previous campaigns, he won the backing of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.^[21]

Five people have accused Murray of sexual abuse.^[3] In April 2017, a lawsuit^[22] claimed that he "raped and molested" a teenager in 1986, paying cash for sex to a high-school dropout addicted to crack cocaine.^[23] Two other men made similar allegations in 2007, including a foster son who said Murray sexually assaulted him in 1984 while he was a teenager. He had spoken with a child welfare investigator and detective at the time, and persuaded the investigator that Murray had sexually abused him, but no charges were filed.^[24][25]

Through a spokesman, Murray denied the allegations, describing them as falsehoods intended to prevent his reelection.^[26] Later, Murray's lawyer said that Murray had undergone a medical examination that disproved a claim about his genitals, arguing the lawsuit should be dropped.^[27]

On September 12, 2017, Murray's cousin accused him of sexual abuse when the two teens shared a bedroom in the mid-1970s. Later that day, Murray denied the new allegation, and announced his resignation, effective the next day.^[28]

After his resignation, Amnesty International asked the Police Service of Northern Ireland to open an investigation into Murray's 1974 trip to Belfast and Wales, which involved chaperoning 30 Catholic and Protestant children.^[29]