Progressive activist Katie Wilson has pulled ahead of incumbent Bruce Harrell for the first time in the Seattle mayor's race, but the election remains too close to call.
Results released Monday afternoon show Wilson leading by 91 votes. King County Elections officials say there are about 6,400 ballots that still need to be counted for City of Seattle races.
A machine recount will be triggered if Harrell and Wilson remain within 2,000 votes of each other and if the difference between votes for each candidate is less than half a percentage point of the total. A hand recount is required if the difference between the two stays below 150 votes and less than a quarter of a percent of total votes.
Election officials say there are about 1,700 outstanding signature challenges in all of King County. A signature challenge occurs when a voter's signature doesn't match their registration record or when they forget to sign the back of a ballot return envelope. Voters have until Nov. 24 to resolve those challenges.
Harrell, who served on the city council for three terms before being elected mayor in 2021, has said the issues he inherited could not be solved in four years and wants another term to finish what he started.
Wilson is co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit Transit Riders Union. She has campaigned on making the city affordable for working people and taking a different approach on homelessness.
At his election night party at the Royal Esquire Club in Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood, Harrell dedicated a lot of his speech to his family and supporters. He also talked about an education levy that was also on the ballot. He called the race is a "nail biter."
"We think we ran a stronger platform. We think we're more experienced and qualified for this job, and we'll see how that vote count plays out," Harrel said. "But I'd rather be where we are than where she is right now."
Speaking to reporters outside an energized room full of supporters at El Centro De La Raza in Beacon Hill, Wilson said she wasn't surprised by the results and that she hopes to overtake Harrell as more ballots are counted.
"We have a lot of wheels turning in terms of preparing for that transition process," Wilson said. "So that work will continue, because if I'm successful I want to be able to step into office and lead from day one."
Harrell grew up in Seattle's Central District and attended Garfield High School before graduating with a law degree from the University of Washington. He was an attorney before being elected to the city council in 2007. He was elected mayor in 2021 as Seattle confronted issues such as housing and public safety that were exacerbated by the pandemic.
Throughout his campaign, Harrell has said experience matters — including when it comes to protecting the city against threats from the federal government. He often criticized Wilson's experience leading a nonprofit with a small budget, saying she is not cut out to lead a city government with around 14,000 employees.
Wilson is from Binghamton, New York. She studied physics and philosophy at Oxford University, but dropped out weeks before graduation, eventually turning to advocacy. She worked odd jobs when she landed in Seattle in 2004 with her now-husband. Several years later she helped found the Transit Riders Union, which advocates for workers and transit riders in the city.
Through her work with the nonprofit, Wilson has led campaigns for stronger renter protections, improving transit systems and increasing the minimum wage in parts of the county. She said that that experience is important.
Whoever wins the race will have a lot on their plate, including affordable housing, a budget deficit and public safety.
The last mayor voters elected to a second term was Greg Nickels in 2005. Charles Royer is the only Seattle mayor to serve three terms since 1948.
*Incumbent
Nate Sanford contributed reporting from Katie Wilson's election night watch party.
