(The Center Square) – Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson’s victory marks something of a rebuke of big-money politics, a feat echoing fellow socialist Zohran Mamdani’s recent win in the New York City mayoral race.
Wilson narrowly defeated incumbent Bruce Harrell, 67, with 50.2% of the vote, despite never having held elected office. Her win came even as the Katie Wilson for an Affordable Seattle PAC raised $412,838 in contributions, compared to $1.82 million for the Bruce Harrell for Seattle’s Future PAC.
The dynamic mirrors Mamdani’s victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose supportive PACs raised tens of millions of dollars, while Mamdani raised $4 million, with the New Yorkers for Lower Costs PAC bringing in approximately $1.2 million in support.
Mamdani is a member of both the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America organization. Wilson previously told The Center Square she’s fine being called a Democrat, a socialist, or both, but notes she is not affiliated with the Seattle chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Wilson, 43, is perhaps best known for cofounding and acting as executive director of the Transit Riders Union, which advocates for improved and expanded public transit in Seattle and King County. She arrived in Seattle in 2004, after studying physics and philosophy at Oxford University, where she dropped out six weeks before graduation. She was raised in New York state.
Mamdani and Wilson both ran on platforms that include free to affordable transit, more progressive taxes, stronger renter protections and universal affordable child care.
On Friday, Mamdani publicly congratulated Wilson in a social media post, writing “Seattle voters made their voices heard: they want a new kind of politics — one that rejects corporate PAC money and delivers for working people. From one mayor-elect to another, wishing you the best. Seattle is in great hands.”
Wilson’s PAC received its largest contributions from the Professional and Technical Employees Local 17 PAC and the UFCW Active Ballot Club with $75,000 each.
Harrell’s PAC, Bruce Harrell for Seattle’s Future, drew major contributions including the Bellevue-based Affordable Housing Council ($100,000), The NAIOP WA State PAC ($90,700), and $50,000 each from Seattle Mariners CEO John Stanton, retired Microsoft Executive Chris Larson and Seattle Opera Board Chair Maryanne Tagney, among other large individual contributions.
Ahead of last week’s general election, The Center Square asked Andrew Villeneuve, founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, about the role PAC spending plays with Seattle voters. He said the institute’s Civic Heartbeat polling shows Seattle voters are less likely to support a candidate that large companies like Amazon and downtown real estate interests are funding.
“If Katie Wilson prevails, that’s not going to show that money doesn’t win elections,” Villeneuve said in an email to The Center Square. “Rather, it will provide a fresh example that wisely investing money to establish a strong relationship with voters wins elections, as opposed to merely being the campaign with the most dollars raised and spent.”
Wilson’s win could mean significant PAC contributions in future elections in Washington. That includes hedge fund manager Brian Heywood’s advocacy organization, Let’s Go Washington, which is in the process of gathering signatures for two K-12 school policy initiatives to present to the state legislature in 2026: one to repeal and replace the recently passed parental rights law, and another to prohibit biological males from competing in girls’ sports. The parental rights initiative aims to reinstate the original version of the Parents’ Bill of Rights initiative passed by the Legislature in 2024, while the sports initiative seeks to ban transgender girls from girls’ sports competition.
Let’s Go Washington has raised $2.47 million in cash contributions so far, including $1.47 million from Heywood himself.
Villeneuve noted that Heywood and Let’s Go Washington have already come out on the losing end of elections, despite raising lots of money.
Let’s Go Washington sponsored six initiatives in 2024. Three were enacted into law by the state Legislature, and one passed via the general election, while two failed in the general election
“From our vantage point, Brian Heywood is indeed wasting his money… not by being involved in politics, but by pursuing this divisive, destructive, extremist agenda that people don’t want,” Villeneuve said.
Wilson previously told The Center Square that she’s not surprised by the fundraising disparity, accusing Harrell of not standing up against corporate interests.
Some political analysts and progressive groups view the recent victories of Mamdani and Wilson as an indication of a broader, evolving trend within the Democratic Party, including a growing constituency for progressive policies and a shift in how some voters approach urban governance and affordability issues.
