(The Center Square) – Bruce Harrell – Seattle’s 57th mayor – announced that he is officially conceding the 2025 mayoral contest, acknowledging defeat to challenger Katie Wilson, local progressive activist and community organizer, after a closely fought campaign.
Harrell initially held a strong lead on election night, but challenger Wilson, 43, closed the gap and ultimately won by just under 2,000 votes.
“Seattle will be fine,” Harrell said in his concession speech on Thursday. “I will make sure of that. I’m not retired. I’m not going anywhere.”
Earlier in the day, Harrell called Wilson to congratulate her on her victory and wished her well.
Harrell becomes the latest in a string of one-term Seattle mayors dating back to 2010. Greg Nickels was the last to win reelection and serve two full terms.
Harrell, 67, is a Seattle native who graduated from Garfield High School before attending the University of Washington on a football scholarship. He has often emphasized that he did not have his parents financially support him and, instead, worked “really really hard” to get to his current position as Seattle mayor.
Harrell previously told The Center Square that his proudest achievement as mayor has been revamping the city’s public safety system and terminating the federal consent decree, which had been in place since 2012, earlier this year. The consent decree was the result of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found a pattern of using excessive or unnecessary force and engaging in racially biased policing.
In Harrell’s first year as mayor, crime rates reached record highs in 2022, with 50,398 individual violent and property crimes recorded. However, crime rates are on track to fall below pre-pandemic lows this year, despite population growth.
Police staffing levels were at record lows in January 2024, but have since rebounded with the help of increased pay and the offering of $50,000 incentives for lateral hires. With nearly 150 new hires in 2025, Harrell anticipates SPD being fully staffed by the middle of what would have been his second term.
However, homelessness has remained an issue for the city as the latest federally-mandated point-in-time county revealed King County’s homeless population is at an all time high. Harrell also failed to address residents’ affordability concerns, as prices of homes, apartments, goods and services continued to rise into 2025.
Despite these shortcomings, Harrell consistently touted his “One Seattle” approach to these issues, emphasizing that it took the Seattle population as a whole to tackle these issues. He reinforced that in his speech on Thursday.
Throughout his term, Harrell often incorporated humor into his public remarks, and that continued in his concession speech, where he joked that he would now pursue an acting and singing career.
“I’m going to be known as ‘Master B-Rucy,’” Harrell said.
