Katie Wilson is Seattle’s Next Mayor

After an 8-month campaign and 8 days of election results, Katie Wilson has been elected as the 58th Mayor of Seattle. As of Wednesday afternoon, Wilson has a 1,976 vote lead over incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell. Harrell is expected to concede in a speech at noon today.

Since founding the Seattle Transit Riders Union (TRU) in 2011, Wilson has been an effective force in local and regional politics. In 2014, Wilson and TRU successfully lobbied King County to create ORCA Lift, a reduced-fare transit access program for low-income riders. She was driver of efforts to raise the minimum wage in Burien, SeaTac and Tukwila, many of which were successful. Wilson also played a key role in getting the JumpStart Payroll Expense Tax passed in 2020. Although not quite as charismatic as the Mayor-elect of NYC she is often compared to, by all accounts Wilson is a skilled coalition builder and an impactful proponent of progressive policies.

Katie Wilson on a Metro bus (Wilson For Seattle)

Throughout her campaign, Wilson emphasized the importance of fixing Seattle's streets to make them safer, minimizing the planning and permitting delays for Link extensions, and expanding bus service. Here are a few major opportunities she'll have to achieve those goals as Mayor:

Seattle Transportation Levy: Last year, voters approved a 9-year, $1.55 billion levy to fund 10 categories of SDOT projects from 2025 through 2034. Wilson may choose to promote Interim SDOT Director Adiam Emery to the permanent position to continue leading SDOT, or she may choose to continue spinning the revolving door of SDOT Directors and hire someone else for the job. Either way, Mayor-elect Wilson can and should seek to prioritize Transportation Levy projects which make streets safer and transit more reliable.

Sound Transit Enterprise Initiative: As Mayor of Seattle, Wilson is (practically) guaranteed a seat on the Sound Transit Board. The agency is currently working to close a $30-billion gap in its long-range plan identified after project costs ballooned beyond affordability and projected revenues decreased due to economic headwinds. Wilson will likely serve a critical role in deciding how Sound Transit navigates several difficult decisions regarding how to complete extraordinarily expensive Link expansions in Seattle.

Transportation Benefit District Renewal: In 2020, Seattle's leaders chose to send a weak 6-year renewal of Seattle's Transportation Benefit District (TBD) to voters. When this revenue expires next year, Wilson will be able to lead efforts to offer voters the chance to renew and expand the TBD to buy more bus service and speed up transit improvements. On the other hand, Wilson may seek to build a coalition with King County representatives to put a County-wide TBD on the ballot of a high-turnout election. Edit: while this article was being written, BlueSky user @rockycore shared a screenshot of a poll apparently gauging support for a County-wide TBD ballot measure in 2026.

Seattle Comprehensive Plan Update: In addition to reducing car dominance on Seattle's streets, Wilson will have significant influence over how private property can be used in the City. Mayor Harrell's administration diluted proposals for increased residential density across the city by eliminating or shrinking many proposed new Neighborhood Centers. Future Mayor Wilson should use the influence of her office to simplify the land use code and open up more of the city to dense development. Not only would this encourage private construction, but would provide more opportunities for Seattle's new Social Housing Developer to take root alongside established affordable housing providers supported by the 7-year, $970-million Seattle Housing Levy approved in 2023.

These opportunities give Wilson the resources to build a new era of transportation infrastructure in Seattle. We are looking forward to advocating for, reporting on, and using the many projects built in Seattle over the next four years.

Correction (10:32am, Nov. 13): The Mayor of Seattle is not literally guaranteed a seat on the Board, but the Board has generally included a seat for the Mayor of Seattle and a City Councilmember since its formation.