Mayor Bruce Harrell and progressive organizer Katie Wilson sailed through Seattle’s top-two primary Tuesday night and will face off in November’s general election.
Wilson held a slight lead after the first count with 46.2% to Harrell’s 44.8%.
Those numbers are likely to continue growing in Wilson’s favor over the coming days. Progressive candidates have historically done better in later counts as younger, more progressive voters often wait until the last minute to return their ballots.
The challenger’s early success was a sign Tuesday that Seattleites still support progressive candidates after several years of post-pandemic elections in which more moderate and conservative politicians consistently beat their lefty opponents.
Wilson is co-founder and general secretary of the Seattle Transit Riders Union, a left-wing political organization that has successfully pushed for expanded transit access, minimum-wage increases and renter protections. Wilson also played a central role in the development and passage of Seattle’s Jumpstart Payroll Expense Tax, which taxes big businesses and has been a critical funding source for building affordable housing and balancing the city budget.
Wilson is campaigning on a promise to address homelessness, housing affordability, transportation and more and to fight for new taxes on the wealthy to pay for it.
Harrell says the city has made progress under his leadership in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and that he’s the right mayor to continue improving public safety and housing affordability and addressing homelessness.
Joe Mallahan, a former T-Mobile executive and runner-up in the 2009 Seattle mayoral election, got 4.8% of the vote.
Ry Armstrong, an environmental nonprofit executive director and actors’ union leader, got 1%.
Clinton Bliss received 1.3%, Isaiah Willoughby received 0.49%, Thaddeus Whelan received 0.44% and Joe Molloy received 0.42%.
