Katie Wilson is good for Cascadia
I had the privilege of covering Seattle's primary election results for mayor at Katie Wilson's campaign party this week for PubliCola. It was an event filled with energy and excitement. Wilson's daughter was celebrating her second birthday and after Wilson – who, in a stunning result, was narrowly ahead of incumbent mayor Bruce Harrell – went to the stage to thank her supporters, she then led everyone in singing a round of "Happy Birthday" for her kid.
Wilson's lead has grown. As more ballots have been counted, she has solidified her lead: in the latest ballot drop today, Wilson, a community activist focused on the needs of Seattle's working people, was ahead of Harrell 50.15% to 41.70%.
This is a stunning result for an activist working for increased transit, housing affordability, and living wages who has never held elected office.
Like the surprising success of Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral primary, this is the future of urban politics in North America. No doubt, it's going to be a hard battle for both progressive candidates against an established centrist political machine funded by wealthy donors. But however these races turn out in November, the norms have shifted.
(By the way, if you live in Seattle, you still have time to make use of your democracy vouchers for your favorite candidates)
The aging leadership of the Democratic Party has been feckless and ineffective in its resistance to Trump's authoritarian takeover. And if these leaders don't shift quickly to this new world – Wilson and Mamdani's world – then they are going to rapidly find themselves irrelevant.
To make the progressive shift even clearer: the lone progressive voice on Seattle's city council, Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who holds an at-large position (meaning the entire city gets to vote for her seat) was ahead of her challengers with 77.96% of the vote, one of the highest percentages ever in a Seattle city council race.
Many local establishment Democrats placed their bets on Bruce Harrell against Wilson – just as many establishment Democrats have supported NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo (who resigned as governor in disgrace after multiple sexual harassment incidents).
Among the local Dem politicos backing Harrell (not to mention the city's big corporations and wealthy elite) are governor Bob Ferguson, Representative Pramila Jayapal, Representative Adam Smith (the white centrist guy who has represented the ethnically diverse 9th district since I dunno, Reconstruction?) and King County County council member Claudia Balducci. Balducci, now running for King County Executive, got trounced in the primary, falling more than ten points behind fellow council member Girmay Zahilay in a position that's often seen as the minor leagues for Washington's governor. Her support for Harrell may have doomed her candidacy.
We are in a new era. Trump is leading a revolution – a fascist revolution, but one that has reset the rules of the game. Most Democrats still don't get that. Look at governor Ferguson, who was extremely timid during this year's legislative session, failing to increase tax revenue or build anything resembling resiliency to Trump's assault.
After passing his austerity budget, Ferguson now has the lowest approval rating of any Washington state governor in thirty years.
What is needed now is action – bold, radical action. That's why I'm loudly encouraging discussion of independence for Cascadia. If the Trump administration is going to continue to ignore courts, defy the rule of law, piss on the constitution, threaten to arrest his political opponents, and set up an unprecedented network of masked secret police across the county: why wouldn't Washington and Oregon consider leaving?
Andrew Engelson
I have no idea how Katie Wilson feels about autonomy for Cascadia. But I can assure you, when Trump sends thousands of new ICE agents to the Pacific Northwest to kidnap undocumented workers, stoke protests, and detain dissidents here who challenge his rule – Bruce Harrell is not going to protect us. Bruce Harrell will not hold back SPD from using their new authority granted them by Seattle's conservative council to use tear gas and "non-lethal" weaponry against protesters. Bruce Harrell won't hesitate to cave to requests from the feds for all that surveillance data SPD is now gathering. Bruce Harrell cares about nothing but staying in his job as the Garfield-football-player-turned-mayor who wishes he could be everybody's buddy and sadly, in the end, no one likes him.
I've interviewed Wilson several times over the years, including her work organizing the campaign to raise the minimum wage in South King County. I've seen her walking around Capitol Hill with her daughter in tow. What I hear from people who know her is that she's a quiet, kind, passionate person who'll do her best to do the right thing for this city and in response to Trump's war on everything that's good.
--Andrew Engelson
