Bill Bryant, former Port of Seattle commissioner and last year's Republican gubernatorial candidate, in an interview with PubliCola on Friday morning says he won't be running for Seattle mayor because he doesn't think he could get elected.

But he followed that with a long list of problems in the city and what he would do—getting control of taxes with "fiscal discipline," addressing immediate needs for homelessness, and dealing with property crime, to name a few. He criticized mayor Ed Murray for asking for another $68 million a year in sales taxes for homelessness before a plan on how he would spend the money. 

"We need somebody who will just come in and run the shop efficiently," Bryant said. "City Hall's a mess, and rather than setting priorities, the default is to ask for more taxes. ... If it's a state of emergency, it's all hands on deck. It's been a state of emergency for over a year, and we still don't have an effective plan." 

But Bryant says "it's not so much a platform as what people come up and talk to me about every day." His supporters began a petition to recruit Bryant as a mayoral candidate. Even if the petition takes off, though, he's aware it's a pretty long shot for a Republican to win in Seattle. He said Seattle voters cared more about "ideological symbolism" than the basics of running a city well.

"No exaggeration, I get asked between a few and many times a day to run, so people are clearly looking for someone else other than the current slate of candidates," Bryant said. "That's really flattering. I don't want to blow it off. ... [But] I don't think I could get elected." 

Despite having raised a fraction of what Gov. Jay Inslee raised ($3.9 million compared to Inslee's $9.9 million), Bryant won 45.6 percent of the votes in his gubernatorial race last year. When asked if he's thinking about running for another statewide position, Bryant says he wouldn't rule anything out.

"I'm not going to close any doors," Bryant said. "That's not a yes. But I'm too young, and we came too close to close any doors." 

Updated April 28, 2017, at 10:20am. This post corrects the money the sales tax on homelessness would raise. Bryant also criticized the previous plan for a property tax, which would have raised $55 million a year.