(The Center Square) – Incumbent Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell faces the fight of his political career in the upcoming general election with Transit Riders Union co-founder Katie Wilson, who leads all candidates based on initial results from Tuesday’s primary election.
Wilson leads all mayoral candidates with 46.2% of the collected primary votes. Harrell trails with 44.9% of votes as of Wednesday morning.
Wilson represents a more progressive option for Seattle residents. She previously told The Center Square that she would explore more progressive taxes for the city because of an approaching “perfect storm.” This storm entails a structural budget shortfall that predates the COVID-19 pandemic, looming impacts of Trump administration policies, and a possible economic recession.
If elected, Wilson could float a local capital gains tax, which Seattle city council members have proposed in the past. The Center Square previously reported that approximately 816 Seattle residents would have been subjected to the tax and would have seen a 6.5% to 9% increase in tax burden
According to Wilson’s campaign, Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program played a huge role in her current lead in the primary race.
“When we got into this race, we didn’t have to immediately call a bunch of rich people and beg for money. Instead, Katie spoke directly to everyday people – the same people who Katie has been organizing alongside for the last 15 years in her work with the Transit Riders Union,” Wilson’s campaign said to The Center Square in an email. “The significance of the fact that we were able to raise nearly half a million dollars, the vast majority of which came from publicly funded democracy vouchers, cannot be overstated.”
Wilson’s campaign also points to the progressive wave happening in some cities around the country; most prominently in New York City with Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist and the leading candidate to be the Big Apple’s next mayor.
Harrell ran as a more centrist candidate during the 2021 mayoral race when the city council skewed further left on the political spectrum than currently. He won by the largest margin for a nonincumbent candidate since 1969.
Throughout Harrell’s first term, he has worked on policies as part of his “One Seattle” approach to improving the city. This includes creating the Community Assisted Response and Engagement, or CARE, department with behavioral health responders equipped to support people having behavioral health crises on city streets, improving police staffing levels and having two major levies approved by voters, including the largest tax package in city history in the form of a $1.55 billion transportation levy.
With the city’s mayoral race down to two candidates and an expected larger turnout of voters on Nov. 4, the final race looks to be a close contest.
“We fully expect a torrent of money to rain down against us in the next few months, but that’s okay, because while they may have more money than we do, we have more people,” Wilson’s campaign manager said.
