Socialist Wins Mayor's Race After Ballot Dumps Over a Week After the Election

Seattle voters have pushed their city even further left, elevating a self-described socialist activist as their next mayor after more than a week of delayed ballot counting — the latest reminder of how Washington’s mail-in voting system consistently benefits the activist left.

Multiple outlets projected Wednesday that Democratic mayoral challenger Katie Wilson, an activist long embraced by Seattle’s progressive machine, has unseated incumbent Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell. Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) reported Wilson holding 50.2 percent of the vote to Harrell’s 49.5 percent, eight days after polls closed.

Wilson trailed for days as early returns favored the incumbent. But as is routine in Washington’s all-mail system — one of eight states that doesn’t require voter ID — late ballot dumps broke heavily for the socialist and eventually dragged her across the finish line.

The race had been prematurely called for Harrell on Nov. 6 while roughly 100,000 ballots were still outstanding. DDHQ later retracted the call after King County Elections acknowledged there were far more votes left to tabulate than previously stated.

Wilson, widely compared to incoming New York City socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani, has openly embraced the label despite sometimes downplaying it for political convenience. “But, yes, I’m fine with being called a socialist,” she told The Seattle Times in September.

Her background underscores that brand: the 43-year-old daughter of two academics, financially supported by her parents while her husband remains unemployed, built her political identity in activist circles. She co-founded the Transit Riders’ Union — a group advocating for sweeping government expansion under the guise of “transit justice.”

Wilson crushed Harrell in the August primary — receiving just over 50 percent of the vote — yet both candidates advanced due to Washington’s nonpartisan top-two system. In the general election, the city’s progressive infrastructure lined up behind Wilson despite Harrell’s longstanding ties to the Democratic establishment.

Wilson’s endorsement list tells the story. The King County Democrats backed the far-left challenger, even as Harrell boasted support from Gov. Bob Ferguson, Sen. Maria Cantwell, and Rep. Adam Smith.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, one of Congress’s most influential progressives and former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, also endorsed Wilson — even though Jayapal had initially supported Harrell in the primary. Her pro-Wilson endorsement remains posted on X, while her old endorsement still sits on Harrell’s website, underscoring Democratic confusion and factionalism within Seattle’s left.

Jayapal praised Wilson as “a fighter for the principles of equity, immigrant justice, civil rights, and fundamental democratic rights that are all under threat right now.”

Wilson ran on a platform promising more of what has already driven families and businesses out of Seattle: aggressive “climate justice” policies, new progressive taxes, expanded bureaucracy, and more antagonism toward police.

She pledged to “Trump-proof” the city — mirroring Mamdani’s talking points — claiming the left must resist President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda with even more radical local governance.

“One of my first political acts in Seattle was joining the massive march for immigrants’ and workers’ rights on May 1, 2006,” she wrote in the “Trump-Proof Seattle” section of her website. “That’s the Seattle I believe in.”

Local radio host Ari Hoffman said the outcome was less about Wilson’s strength and more about Harrell’s failure.

“Katie Wilson didn’t win an election, Bruce Harrell lost one,” he wrote on X. “Bruce was a lousy mayor. He liked the idea of being mayor, but didn’t like doing the job.”

Hoffman blasted Harrell’s amateur campaign operation — “He had no ballot harvest or ballot curing operation & his social media was non existent” — and slammed King County’s opaque counting process.

Seattle’s mail-in system, Hoffman noted, is a “joke.”

“King County elections claims they are ‘verifying’ each ballot,” he added. “What are they ‘verifying’ when there is no voter ID or other safeguards?”