Seattle Elects Mamdani West

Mayor-elect Katie Wilson is soft on crime but tough on businesses.

New Yorkers, take perverse comfort: At least you’ll have company in your socialist future. Forty-three-year-old community organizer Katie Wilson eked out a victory in Seattle’s mayoral race last week, according to the tally completed Wednesday, underscoring the city’s leftward lurch in other races.

Mayor-elect Katie Wilson. (@wilsonformayor/X)

Go ahead and consider Ms. Wilson part of the Democratic Socialists of America surge within the Democratic Party. Although not formally a member of that far-left group, Ms. Wilson sought its endorsement by noting “significant overlap” between her views and the DSA platform. “I’m not out here waving a socialist flag . . . but yes, I’m fine with being called a socialist,” she told the Seattle Times.

Ms. Wilson defeated incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell, who had tried to reverse the damage of the “defund the police” movement after he took office in 2022. Ms. Wilson admitted on the campaign trail that the defunding proposal wasn’t “a helpful frame in thinking about how to reduce harmful overpolicing.” But she bemoaned the “militarization” of the police and called for “civilianizing as many functions as possible.” This is code for deploying social workers to do the work of police.

Ms. Wilson also favors more “diversions” for misdemeanors, which criminals know is a euphemism for fewer real consequences. And she opposes “stay-out” orders that bar those accused of drug offenses from loitering downtown. These orders have been a valuable tool to counter open-air drug use in Seattle.

Lawbreakers may get a pass, but Ms. Wilson wants to get tougher on the productive parts of Seattle’s economy. Among other ideas, she favors a local capital-gains tax and would support a statewide wealth tax on financial assets. She’s got plenty of ideas about how to spend the tax revenue, from free day care to more public housing.

Maybe Ms. Wilson will moderate her views once she is confronted with the responsibilities of office, but the campaign had little evidence of that. Which means Seattle voters are offering the country a second experiment in socialist urban governance alongside Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Good luck.