Activist Katie Wilson enters Seattle mayoral race against Harrell
Longtime progressive activist Katie Wilson announced Wednesday that she’s running for Seattle mayor against incumbent Bruce Harrell.
Wilson is co-founder and general secretary of the Seattle Transit Riders Union (TRU), a left-wing political organization that has campaigned and lobbied for a variety of issues including transit access, minimum wage increases and renter protections.
“Over the last 14 years of my career, I have been organizing and building coalitions that have won major victories for working people,” said Wilson. “I’ve done that work as an outsider, pushing City Hall, and I want to bring that experience into City Hall. We’re at a moment where Seattle needs new leadership. We need leaders who are going to tackle the major crises that are facing our communities with energy and thoughtfulness.”
Wilson and TRU successfully lobbied King County for the creation of the ORCA Lift program in 2014, which provides reduced-fare transit access for low-income riders. They gathered signatures and campaigned for successful voter initiatives in Burien, SeaTac and Tukwila to raise the city minimum wage. (Full disclosure: Wilson used to write an opinion column for Cascade PBS, then known as Crosscut.)
https://www.cascadepbs.org/politics/2025/03/activist-katie-wilson-enters-seattle-mayoral-race-against-harrell