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Somewhere, Bruce Harrell is slamming a table. Katie Wilson is up by 1,976 votes and 0.72 percent of the vote. It’s tight, but we’re outside of recount territory, and it’s mathematically impossible for Harrell to catch up. Katie Wilson will be Seattle’s next mayor.
Wilson has not declared victory yet—on Wednesday night, when her win was all but certain, her team told The Stranger that they’re doing the graceful thing and waiting for Harrell to concede. The Mayor’s office announced that he would be addressing the city at noon on Thursday, so we should expect Wilson to do her victory lap then.
“We’re thrilled with the latest drop, which continues to trend in our direction,” Wilson’s campaign told The Stranger, calling their lead “insurmountable” at this point. “We’re tremendously grateful for everyone who has supported and guided our vision for the City of Seattle. This campaign was driven by a deep belief that we need to expand the table to include everyone in the decisions that impact their lives. That is what we will be working to do every day as we set up this new administration.”
Even the people who took their time getting on board with the progressive “upstart” campaign sang her praises when the results came in today. “A huge congratulations to Katie Wilson for reminding people of what is possible and running a terrific, grassroots campaign focused on making Seattle a city where everyone can afford to live,” Congressmember and Harrell endorser Pramila Jayapal said in a statement. “I am excited to partner with Mayor-Elect Wilson on delivering results to tackle transit, housing, childcare and ensuring that our city remains equitable and welcoming to all people.”
This means we can officially say that progressives made a clean sweep of Seattle’s election this year. We get a new City Council President! We get two new council members! We get a new City Attorney, and she isn’t even a Republican!
We still have some knuckleheads hanging around, but we’ll see if they play nice. And even if they don’t, for the first time in years, we have a chance of getting something done around here.
