Wilson is co-founder and general secretary of the Seattle Transit Riders Union (TRU), a left-wing political organization that has campaigned and lobbied for a variety of issues including transit access, minimum wage increases and renter protections.
“Over the last 14 years of my career, I have been organizing and building coalitions that have won major victories for working people,” said Wilson. “I’ve done that work as an outsider, pushing City Hall, and I want to bring that experience into City Hall. We’re at a moment where Seattle needs new leadership. We need leaders who are going to tackle the major crises that are facing our communities with energy and thoughtfulness.”
Wilson and TRU successfully lobbied King County for the creation of the ORCA Lift program in 2014, which provides reduced-fare transit access for low-income riders. They gathered signatures and campaigned for successful voter initiatives in Burien, SeaTac and Tukwila to raise the city minimum wage. (Full disclosure: Wilson used to write an opinion column for Cascade PBS, then known as Crosscut.)
Wilson also helped craft the Jumpstart Payroll Expense Tax, Seattle’s tax on big businesses that has become a critical funding source for affordable housing and balancing the city budget. She also was a member of the city’s Revenue Stabilization Workgroup, convened by Harrell and former Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda to explore other progressive taxes Seattle could potentially use to shore up its ongoing budget deficit.
Wilson said she’s not running a single-issue campaign and cares deeply about transportation, tax policy and budgets and, as the parent of a toddler, child care and education.
But if she had to pick her top three issues, Wilson said they would be housing, homelessness and protecting Seattleites from coming federal actions. “That’s going to be an enormous challenge over the next few years, especially when we’re looking at cuts to federal grant programs that are going to impact Seattle’s ability to provide the services that our residents need.”
February’s special election to decide on if and how to fund the Seattle Social Housing Developer helped convince Wilson to enter the race for mayor. Voters were asked to choose between creating a new tax on businesses to fund social housing or using a portion of existing Jumpstart tax revenues to pay for it.
Social housing advocates had put Proposition 1A, the new tax, on the ballot. The Seattle City Council voted to place the competing Proposition 1B, which would have used Jumpstart. The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce campaigned hard for 1B, and Harrell endorsed it and appeared on one pro-1B mailer. Prop 1A beat Prop 1B 63% to 37%.
“We need leadership that is going to listen to voters and govern in the interest of people in the city and not corporate backers,” said Wilson. “We saw with the vote on Proposition 1A just how out of step Mayor Harrell is with Seattle voters, being the face of the campaign to undermine Seattle Social Housing Developer.”
Wilson is the most prominent name to enter the race against Harrell so far.
Progressive candidates in Seattle are typically aided by endorsements from labor, left-leaning political organizations and prominent left-of-center politicians. Such endorsements likely helped Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck in her sweeping victory last November.
But Wilson might face an uphill battle to net similar endorsements against a mayor who has largely been seen, so far, as heading for an easy reelection bid. More than 50 current and former elected officials — all centrist or left-of-center Democrats — have endorsed Harrell already.
It is still very early in campaign season and neither the King County Labor Council nor most unions and political organizations have endorsed candidates. Labor mostly backed Harrell’s opponent, former Councilmember Lorena Gonzalez, in 2021. But last year the Labor Council awarded Harrell “Best Elected Official” at its Labor Oscars event to “celebrate the people who have done outstanding work to improve the lives of working people in King County.”
“I am definitely the underdog in this race,” said Wilson. “But I think that as our campaign gets rolling and shows momentum among ordinary people, we are going to start to be able to pick off many of those endorsements. … We’re going to have a program and a plan that’s going to resonate with the people of the city, and we’re going to be able to build that momentum.”
