By Anthony Iafrate
Democratic mayoral candidate Katie Wilson, a self-professed socialist, has unseated incumbent Democratic Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, multiple outlets projected eight days after polls closed.
Wilson, an activist who has been widely compared to socialist Democratic New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, received 50.2% of votes compared to Harrell’s 49.5%, according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) on Wednesday. While Wilson was initially behind in the vote count, late ballot dumps that broke in her favor were enough to put the leftist challenger over the finish line.
The sitting mayor led in early returns, prompting DDHQ to initially call the race for him on Nov. 6 — while there were still about 100,000 votes left to count. DDHQ retracted the call just one day later. King County Elections told the DDHQ website that there were tens of thousands fewer ballots left to count than there actually were.
Washington is one of eight states that uses universal mail-in voting. The state does not require voter ID to cast ballots by mail.
Wilson called herself a “socialist” in an interview with The Seattle Times published Sept. 13. She said in the same interview that she was downplaying the “label.” She claimed to be “not a super ideological person” and added that she was not sure that “waving the socialist flag” would help her in the general election against Harrell.
“But, yes, I’m fine with being called a socialist,” she told the outlet.
Wilson, 43, is the daughter of two academics, and her parents reportedly support her and her unemployed husband financially.
The upstart leftist activist bested Harrell in the nonpartisan primary election, receiving just over 50% of the vote in the Aug. 5 primary election. Due to Washington state law, both candidates advanced to the Nov. 4 general election, even though Wilson had a majority of primary votes.
Wilson, instead of the more moderate Harrell, notably received an endorsement from the King County Democrats. The incumbent, meanwhile, had the support of Democratic Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell and Democratic Washington Rep. Adam Smith — who represents a portion of Seattle in the House.
Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal — who represents the majority of Seattle in the lower chamber — notably backed Wilson in an Oct. 6 post to X, writing that she was “proud to endorse her.”
“She [Wilson] will be a fighter for the principles of equity, immigrant justice, civil rights, and fundamental democratic rights that are all under threat right now,” Jayapal added in her statement endorsing the left-wing mayoral candidate, in which she also cited Wilson’s dominant primary performance.
The congresswoman, though, endorsed Harrell ahead of the primary election — and her endorsement is still listed on his campaign website.
Jayapal is a well-known member of Congress who previously chaired the left-wing Congressional Progressive Caucus for six years.
