And They’re Off: the Real Local Campaigns Begin

With August primaries over, now the real campaigns begin. Voters are starting to ask: What are our choices?

Top priority for Seattleites is assessing mayoral contenders. Will it be Bruce Harrell, the one-term incumbent, or the challenger, Katie Wilson, executive secretary of the Transit Riders Union. It’s important to learn what each has to offer.

If Harrell remains in office – winning a rare second term as mayor – it’s unlikely there will be any major changes ahead. When he delivered his State of the City address at Benaroya Hall in February, Harrell reported on what he’d accomplished in his three years at the helm. He took credit for reducing crime, restoring parks and public spaces, standing up the CARE (Community Assisted Response and Engagement) Department, and overseeing the city’s new walkable waterfront. He further claimed addition of 5,000 units of supportive housing.

Looking ahead, Harrell promises to reduce red tape for development projects and improve the supply of affordable housing options. He’s pledging to make further investments in sidewalks, trees, and green buildings and speed up light rail, expediting expansion to West Seattle and Ballard. He says he’ll continue to ensure public safety and reduce gun violence, while tackling the fentanyl crisis and expanding the CARE department. He’s vowing protection for reproductive care, immigration, and LGBTQ+ rights. In addition, he promises to implement the long-stalled Fort Lawton housing development and to keep pursuing hopes of bringing Sonics basketball back to the city.

Harrell’s no-surprises platform illustrates the contrast one political consultant crudely summarized as, “Do you dance with the devil you know or take a chance on a newcomer?” But that’s what voters will be deciding in the general election: following a known pathway or changing course by taking the route of the earlier left-leaning council majority.

In contrast to Harrell, challenger Katie Wilson is new to elective politics, but she’s no stranger to Seattle. Katherine Barrett Wilson and her husband, Scott Wilson, came to this city from Binghamton, N.Y., in 2004. After King County Metro proposed cuts to transit service in 2011, Katie helped found the Transit Riders Union. The TRU organization depends on donations and dues and pays Wilson to serve as its general secretary. In the meantime, husband Scott bakes New York bagels and home-made pizza.

As TRU secretary, Wilson led campaigns to raise the minimum wage in Tukwila and Burien and worked for stronger rental protections throughout the region. She played an instrumental role in approving Seattle’s Jumpstart payroll tax and backed the ORCA LIFT program that serves low-income riders. She helped design the Seattle Youth ORCA program that led to free transit for youth statewide.

Wilson, if elected, has no small plans for Seattle. She lists a dozen initiatives she plans to undertake as mayor. Top of her list are building 4,000 units of emergency housing and buying into the social-housing developer, a proposal approved by voters in 2023. The plan calls for subsidized housing overseen by residents of the units and equipped with tenant-friendly rules like eviction protections. The development will require an initial outlay of funds, starting with selling of up to $1 billion in bonds that the city must eventually repay with interest.

In the interim, Wilson promises to clamp down further on the city’s private landlords and enact more renter protections including caps on move-in expenses and longer notice for rent increases. She backs expanding the city’s paid sick time law, while at the same time supporting small local businesses and start-ups.

When it comes to public safety, Wilson wants better police accountability, insisting the city negotiate contracts with provisions that allow for firing or disciplining officers for cause. She also promises to raise the number of CARE staffers who respond to non-violent emergencies. She wants to strengthen LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) and provide wraparound services to those in need.

Not insignificantly, she says she’ll work for higher minimum wages — something of a contradiction in light of her ad campaign that branded $8-a-slice pizza as too costly. Also on her platform is a promise to make child care affordable. She says she’ll defend against federal tax cuts and strengthen local journalism through a dollars program, somewhat similar to Democracy Vouchers. She wants to increase safety for walkers, bikers, and rollers, as well as completing the bicycle network and creating green union jobs.

Wilson expects to pay for her many campaign promises by instituting new taxes. She cites her experience working on the city’s Tax Stabilization Workgroup which, identified nine possible new revenue sources. Among them are a city-level capital gains tax, a tax on vacant dwelling units, a progressive real estate excise tax, a flat-rate income tax, an estate tax, and a congestion tax that would toll downtown city streets. Several of the taxes would necessitate state approval and others (like the income tax) would require setting up a new city department.

If Katie Wilson builds on her primary election lead and succeeds in being elected mayor on Nov. 5, the real guessing game will be whether she will be able to enact her bold platform and which — if any — of her large-scale proposals will see the light of day. To win anything more than a title and a desk at City Hall, she would need support from the Seattle City Council. Although Sara Nelson, the current council president, is at risk of losing her at-large seat to a left-wing challenger, the city council won’t change much and is unlikely to become more progressive. Yet to accomplish her goals, Wilson will have to work with the councilmembers.

While Seattle mayors preside as chief executive and oversee city administration, in this city, it’s the nine-member council that must pass legislation. As the late Council President Sam Smith once famously said, “Five votes IS policy.”