Bremerton's mayoral election will be contested as mayor, councilman chart path forward

Yahoo

28-02-2025

The race for mayor of Bremerton has begun, after Bremerton City Councilman Jeff Coughlin on Tuesday announced his candidacy and incumbent Mayor Greg Wheeler made his formal announcement Thursday.
At the center – two visions on how to move the city forward.
The executive office, a nonpartisan position, will be up for election in November, and potentially an August primary, at the end of a second term for Wheeler, who was elected in 2017 and again in 2021.
Wheeler, a lifelong Bremertonian, former Puget Sound Naval Shipyard worker and Navy veteran, said serving as mayor of his hometown has been 'the greatest honor of my life' and it's 'the only job I wanted.' He entered public office by winning a seat on the Bremerton City Council.
But his challenger said Wheeler hasn't done enough for another term.
'After eight years, things need to change,' Coughlin said. 'Another four years under Greg Wheeler and the city will not be moving forward, and so now is really the time.'
Coughlin detailed a slew of plans to make that forward movement on his campaign webpage, addressing a number of hot-button Bremerton issues. Among his pledges, Coughlin wants to make Bremerton safer with more police officers and bolstered code compliance, tackle the city's housing crisis with more affordable units and a smoothed out permitting process, and address homelessness by collaborating with community partners and investing in supportive social services.
For the last four years Coughlin has been a member of the Bremerton City Council, including a year as council president, and previously served on the city's planning commission. He is also an astrophysicist and certified project management professional, worked as a director for NASA and the SET Institute, and volunteers as the director of the Kitsap History Museum. He was also a candidate as a Democrat in the primary for the 2024 Kitsap County board of commissioners race, won by Republican Oran Root last November.
'I'm ready to actually listen to people, to work not only across the aisle, but across the board of anybody who wants to work on solutions,' Coughlin said. 'I have not seen the core issues that affect the city addressed and I've only seen them get worse over the past eight years under Mayor Wheeler's leadership.'
Wheeler sees forward moment for Bremerton differently.
'We've made tremendous strides in seven years as a city and myself with my administration, we've done that,' Wheeler said. 'I want this campaign to focus on continuing this momentum, this forward progress.'
Wheeler said his experience gives him an intimate understanding of neighborhood issues built through outreach on foot, and he's developed relationships in Kitsap County and around the region that are crucial for problem solving. He cited regional partnerships as an example that was instrumental in backfilling ferry service cuts from Washington State Ferries.
Bremerton is in the midst of 'tough times' now, Wheeler said, adding he has seen the city through the COVID-19 pandemic and a flurry of challenging executive orders from President Donald Trump's administration. 'I will lead us towards prosperity.'
Wheeler also detailed a long list of action items on his campaign webpage, among them the development and improvement of various city parks, improving public safety with police hiring and expanded community safety programming, job creation and economic development, and keeping Bremerton affordable with support for housing programming.
There have been differences between Coughlin and Wheeler on city issues. Tension between the council and Wheeler has been on display during some meetings. Coughlin said that's because Wheeler hasn't communicated well with councilmembers, leaving them in the dark on some issues. Coughlin read about Wheeler's plans to pause the city's hiring of a DEI position in the Kitsap Sun before he heard it from the mayor, he offered as an example.
Wheeler said his administration has spent more time and resources 'than I've ever seen' on communication with the council, to 'educate new council members on the roles of government, what government can and cannot do.' The council saw nearly half of its members replaced in 2018 after Wheeler was elected, he noted, saying there was very little senior leadership left on the City Council. Wheeler, who served for eight years as a councilmember, expects communication to improve as the current councilmembers gain seniority.
Other candidates may join the race for Bremerton Mayor in the coming months. May 9 is the final day for candidates to file their campaigns for public office in the 2025 election.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Election for Bremerton's mayor draws challenge to re-election bid