James Norton Jr.

James Norton Jr.

Personal

Profession

Law enforcement

Contact

Personal website

James Norton Jr. was a candidate for mayor of Seattle in Washington. Norton was defeated in the primary election on August 1, 2017.

Norton responded to Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of municipal candidates. Click here to read his responses.

Biography

Norton is a police officer with the Seattle Police Department.

Elections

2017

See also: Municipal elections in Seattle, Washington (2017)

The following candidates ran in the primary election for mayor of Seattle.

Mayor of Seattle, Primary Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jenny Durkan	27.90%	51,529
Cary Moon	17.62%	32,536
Nikkita Oliver	16.99%	31,366
Jessyn Farrell	12.54%	23,160
Bob Hasegawa	8.39%	15,500
Mike McGinn	6.50%	12,001
Gary Brose	2.16%	3,987
Harley Lever	1.81%	3,340
Larry Oberto	1.67%	3,089
Greg Hamilton	0.92%	1,706
Michael Harris	0.76%	1,401
Casey Carlisle	0.71%	1,309
James Norton Jr.	0.54%	988
Thom Gunn	0.25%	455
Mary Martin	0.23%	422
Jason Roberts	0.22%	405
Lewis Jones	0.19%	344
Alex Tsimerman	0.14%	253
Keith Whiteman	0.09%	174
Tiniell Cato	0.09%	170
Dave Kane	0.06%	114
Write-in votes	0.23%	418
Total Votes		184,667
Source: King County, "2017 election results," accessed August 15, 2017

Campaign themes

2017

See also: Ballotpedia's municipal government candidate survey

Norton participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of municipal government candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions. When asked what his top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:

“	Homelessness	”
—James Norton (June 9, 2017)

Ranking the issues

The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the city, with 1 being the most important and 12 being the least important: city services (trash, utilities, etc.), civil rights, crime reduction/prevention, environment, government transparency, homelessness, housing, K-12 education, public pensions/retirement funds, recreational opportunities, transportation, and unemployment. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important.

Issue importance ranking
Candidate's ranking	Issue	Candidate's ranking	Issue
1	Homelessness	7	K-12 education
2	Transportation	8	Environment
3	Housing	9	Public pensions/retirement funds
4	Crime reduction/prevention	10	Recreational opportunities
5	Government transparency	11	City services (trash, utilities, etc.)
6	Civil rights	12	Unemployment

Nationwide municipal issues

The candidate was asked to answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding issues facing cities across America. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions.

Question	Response
Is it important for the city’s budget to be balanced?Answer options: Not important; Not important, but required by state law; A little important; A little important, but required by state law; Important; Very important	Important
Which level of government do you feel should set a minimum wage?Answer options: None, Local, State, Federal	None
What do you think is the best way to improve a city’s public safety? Candidates could write their own answer or choose from the following options: Increased economic opportunities, Increased police presence/activity, Harsher penalties for offenders, Public outreach/education programs	Hire more police officers
How do you think your city should emphasize economic development? Candidates could write their own answer or choose from the following options: Changing zoning restrictions, Create a more competitive business climate, Focusing on small business development, Instituting a citywide minimum wage, Recruiting new businesses to your city, Regulatory and licensing reforms, and tax reform	Focusing on small business development
What is the one thing you’re most proud of about your city?	Our diversity and they way all walks of life are welcomed and celebrated here.
What is the one thing you’d most like to change about your city?	The decline of our diverse communities

Norton provided the following comments in addition to his survey responses:

“	As a police officer I face and work through, and make decisions on a daily basis about the most important issues our city faces everyday. This a unique perspective that no other candidate can bring to the election.	”
—James Norton (2017)

Additional themes

Norton's campaign website listed the following themes for 2017:

“	Traffic has become worse, not better I have three ideas that might bring some relief to our downtown current traffic problems. ​ Revisiting bike lanes: As I drive around during my day, I see a few bike lanes being heavily used, other bike lanes not used much and even some bike lanes rarely used. I propose we make the lanes that are being used safer for riders. Take the bike lanes in little to no use and give them back to vehicle traffic. I want to prevent construction companies and sites from taking up more than one lane of traffic for their use during construction. If they need to stop traffic temporarily that's fine but not shut down 2 and sometimes 3 lanes, especially during peak hours of traffic. I would like to work on some type of rewards system for the drivers and riders who ride share to/from their workplace downtown. I know that there are companies that receive benefits but I am talking about rewarding the employees directly. With these three basic ideas I place I believe this will give some relief to the congestion we currently experience. Current Homeless plan isn't working In working with the homeless every day, I see many facets to this issue. We have grouped substance abuse, criminals living on the street, and the mentally ill together under the category of "the homeless". Each group has its own challenges and deserves its own solutions. Police and Community Partnership I want to build a strong partnership between the Seattle Police Department and our communities so both groups will feel safe and respected. I would like to provide two-way forums where communities can share their concerns and also learn about police work, talk to patrol officers and understand why the police do what they do. Housing Affordability Seattle is a great place to live - if you can afford it. I want to make it affordable for everyone. We have become a big city quickly and because of this we need to have a big city solution. I am hoping to propose a possible rent regulation as well as a way for long time Seattle home owners to be able to afford to continue to live in our city.	”
—James Norton Jr. (2017)

See also

Seattle, Washington	Washington	Municipal government	Other local coverage

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Mayor of Seattle
• Campaign website