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An inexperienced, far-left radical mayoral candidate, who has conceded that financial support from her parents has allowed her to run her campaign in the expensive city of Seattle, is on track to take down the incumbent Democratic mayor who has worked in city politics for almost two decades.
Katie Wilson, a self-proclaimed “socialist,” is out front of incumbent Bruce Harrell by just under 100 votes as of Tuesday, according to the latest election results from Seattle’s King County. The lead has ping-ponged back-and-forth between the two candidates since last week’s Tuesday general election.
The race was held alongside a slate of other top races around the country, including gubernatorial races for New Jersey and Virginia, as well as the New York City mayoral race. The elections were largely seen as a win for Democrats and, in particular, for the far-left faction of the base, which saw local socialist candidates, like Mamdani and others, come away with victories.
Wilson, who has been likened to Mamdani, could become the latest self-described socialist to win elected office if she maintains her lead. However, unlike many of the other socialist candidates who won their elections last week, but similar to Mamdani, Wilson will end up in a post charged with leading one of the country’s largest metropolitan areas. Seattle’s metropolitan residency is among one of the largest in the United States with over 4 million residents.
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“Yes, I am a socialist,” Wilson said earlier this year. “I’m not out here waving a socialist flag, because I’m not a super ideological person. I’m also not sure that label will help me in the general election. But yes, I’m fine with being called a socialist”
Wilson, like Mamdani, has proposed the idea of implementing government-run grocery stores. She has also refused to commit to reducing Seattle’s growing tent encampments, which have long been a growing problem for the city. Instead, Wilson has proposed moving the encampments on a “case-by-case” basis. Meanwhile, Wilson also pledged to “Trump-proof” the city of Seattle.
The far-left candidate is juxtaposed to a more established and experienced politician in Harrell, who was a member of the city council beginning in 2008 before eventually becoming mayor. Much of Harrell’s attacks targeting Wilson, who describes herself as a policy nerd, have hinged on her lack of experience.
“She’s really not even qualified to do the job. She hasn’t had the experiences,” Harrell said of Wilson during an interview leading up to last week’s elections.
“The fact of the matter is, while my opponent has ideas, she hasn’t done anything,” Harrell added during a debate before the election as well. “She has no experience or training or ability to manage a budget. And what we think the voters will see is that running a major city like Seattle is a big job. And she’s advancing some plans, like our 4,000 emergency housing, or shelter units, that just can’t be done in how she’s describing it. So you’ll see the weakness in her platform – just complaints with no solutions.”
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In response to criticism about her alleged lack of experience, Wilson has acknowledged that she is “an outsider” in the sense she has not held elected office before. However, Wilson has contested that she is “an outsider who comes with an insider’s knowledge and experience.”
Wilson’s background includes the operation of a small nonprofit called the Transit Riders Union, for which her work has included advocating for policies around minimum wage increases, better access to public transit and affordable housing. Prior to her establishment of the Transit Riders Union in 2011, Wilson worked several jobs in various unrelated industries, including as a barista, boatyard worker, apartment manager, lab technician, baker, construction worker, and legal assistant.
“These early experiences grounded her in the everyday realities of working people and shaped her lifelong commitment to improving people’s lives,” Wilson’s campaign website says of the candidate’s work history.
Prior to moving to Seattle in 2004, just four years before Harrell was elected to Seattle’s city council, Wilson lived in upstate New York. After graduating from high school in Binghamton, Wilson studied physics and philosophy at Oxford University thanks to financial assistance from her parents living in New York. Wilson ultimately left Oxford debt-free, Wilson credits to her parents. However, she also left without a degree, dropping out just six weeks before her graduation.
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Meanwhile, the financial assistance from Wilson’s parents living in New York continues for her today, she says, crediting them with allowing her to live in a city as expensive as Seattle.
“They send me a check periodically to help with the childcare expenses,” Wilson told Seattle’s PubliCola, noting daycare for her kids cost about $2,200 per month. Wilson did not share precisely how much her parents contribute, pointing out that she does not keep track. However, when pressed for more details, Wilson reportedly said the money comes in every few months.
“Before I decided to run for office, my husband and I were just kind of juggling our kid back and forth,” Wilson continued about the childcare costs her parents assisted with. “We didn’t have her in daycare because it’s so expensive. But then when I decided to run, we’re like, we really need childcare.”
Wilson began getting paid a full-time paycheck from her Transit Riders Union nonprofit in 2019, seven years after it was founded in 2011. Tax records show that Wilson brought in $72,669 in 2022 for 55-hours of work. There are no records of Wilson’s salary for 2023 or 2024, reportedly due to the fact the nonprofit changed tax preparers recently, according to PubliCola. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not require nonprofits to disclose salaries of employees making under $100,000 per year.
Wilson reported earning between $60,000 and $99,000 in a financial statement to the city upon declaring her candidacy for mayor. Wilson also reported income “less than $30,000” from PubliCola, The Urbanist and The Stranger, respectively, for work as a “columnist” for the left-wing online news outlets.
Wilson’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on this article.
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