The Sears 917.xxxxxx number is the one needed. That way one could look at the proper schematic instead of guessing.

MOST likely, the seat switch is bad, disconnected or mis-adjusted.

Ditto Bill's comments. that 917 number should be found on a plate in the cavity under the tilting seat....

thank you bill. it was the seat switch, got the mower running and was actually able to move it on it's own power but when I took it out to mow it only ran for maybe a minute or two with the blades running and then it acted like it was starving for fuel and shut off. did this twice and both times I had to push it back in the garage and charge up the battery. I do not think it is charging either. the 917 number is 273399.

That tractor has only a 3 AMP charging system.
It'd take about 10 hours of high speed running to fully charge a fully discharged battery.

Give it a full charge and get the battery load tested. They don't last forever!

Suggest you change the fuel filter too. That might be the fuel starvation issue. IF not, it's only a few $ and part of normal maintenance anyway.