Iconic US city inches closer to electing female version of Zohran Mamdani as mayor

Left-wing activist Katie Wilson came out ahead of incumbent Democratic Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell in Tuesday’s mayoral primary election — placing her in a strong position to defeat the incumbent in November’s general election.

Wilson — whom multiple leftist outlets have favorably compared to socialist Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani — received 46.21% of the nonpartisan primary vote, while Harrell received 44.86%. Wilson was prominently endorsed by the King County Democratic Party and the Democratic committees of multiple Washington legislative districts.

Under Seattle’s “top-two” primary system, both Wilson and Harrell have advanced to the general election. Harrell — who has served as the Emerald City’s mayor since 2022 — is considered to be the more moderate of the two candidates.

Wilson is the co-founder and executive director of the Transit Riders’ Union (TRU), a Seattle-based “democratic membership organization,” according to her campaign’s website. The TRU’s website describes the organization as an “independent, democratic, member-run union of transit riders organizing for better public transit in Seattle, King County, and beyond.”

A June 29 op-ed in The Urbanist, a publication that later endorsed Wilson, called the transit “union” leader “a progressive who would break a long run of timid centrist leadership,” adding that the “similarities are numerous” between her and Mamdani. The op-ed stated that both Wilson and the New York socialist “are young, stridently progressive, and reviled by the political elites in their city.” Wilson used to be a policy and politics writer for The Urbanist, among other outlets.

Though seen as a moderate by many, Harrell has faced significant criticism from the right, notably for labeling a pro-life event and Christian concert as an “extreme right-wing rally.” If he were to win the general election, the Democratic incumbent would be the first two-term Seattle mayor since 2009.

Harrell was not the only incumbent to fail to come in first place during Tuesday’s Seattle primary elections.

Republican Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison came in second in her nonpartisan primary, trailing left-wing challenger Erika Evans, a former assistant U.S. attorney. Evans quit her job as a federal prosecutor weeks after President Donald Trump began his second term, citing the administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as well as the president’s efforts to end birthright citizenship, CNN reported.

Evans has criticized the registered Republican incumbent’s “tough-on-crime” approach in office, claiming that Davison’s crime policies amount to “a regressive cycle,” and that instead the city should address “root causes” of “lower-level crimes.” Evans also backs the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program that “offers law enforcement a credible alternative to booking people into jail for criminal activity that stems from unmet behavioral health needs or poverty.”

A key component of Evans’ campaign message was that Davison, a Republican, is “Not Like Us,” according to The Stranger, another left-wing outlet Wilson used to write for.

Wilson’s first-place primary performance followed both Mamdani’s stunning June 24 primary win as well as the July 19 decision of the Minneapolis Democratic Party affiliate to endorse socialist candidate Omar Fateh over incumbent Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey. Fateh and Frey will face off in November’s general election, in which the incumbent has the endorsement of Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Under 20% of Seattle voters submitted ballots in the primary election. KUOW predicts that King County property taxes will rise in the wake of the November 2025 election.

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