Standing in the spacious lobby of Seattle City Hall, the place where he had achieved his highest political success, Mayor Bruce Harrell conceded the 2025 mayoral race to his opponent, first-time candidate Katie Wilson.
The concession marked the end, at least for now, of a storied political career for Harrell, 67, a Seward Park resident who served three terms on the Seattle City Council, including as council president, and a single term as mayor. (He also served briefly as interim mayor.) The speech, the equivalent of a generational baton pass, also heralded the rise of Wilson, 43, co-founder of the Transit Riders Union and a community advocate.
As of the latest ballot drop on Nov. 13, Wilson led Harrell by 2,018 votes, making it one of the tightest races in the city's history.
"I just spoke to Mayor-elect Wilson to thank her for a hard-fought victory," Harrell said in City Hall, his wife Joanne by his side.
Wilson will take office Jan. 1, 2026.
In many ways, the race between Harrell and Wilson was a study in contrasts: a political veteran vs. a political neophyte; a moderate Democrat vs. a democratic socialist; a baby boomer vs. a millennial; a well-dressed Seattleite with a penchant for tailored suits vs. a no-frills Seattleite who frequented thrift-store aisles.
At public events, in press releases, and in campaign advertising, Harrell lauded his success in increasing the number of officers in the Seattle Police Department and revitalizing the city's downtown, which took on the feel of an urban ghost town following the COVID-19 pandemic. He reminisced about growing up in Seattle and proudly followed the University of Washington Huskies, the college team he'd played for in the mid-1970s. Harrell, the state's first mayor of Asian descent, also praised his biracial heritage, celebrating being the child of a Japanese American mother and a Black father.
In contrast, Wilson hammered one central issue: affordability. She connected high rents to a rise in homelessness, a potent issue in King County where a 2024 point-in-time count found 16,868 people experiencing homelessness. In an Instagram reel, she described how the high cost of housing played a role in a restaurant charging $8 for a slice of pizza. As for her personal life, she spoke about raising a 2-year-old daughter with her husband on Capitol Hill in a 600-square-foot apartment, one they rented. And when it came to the roughly $2,200 in monthly childcare costs, her parents, who live in New York state, pitched in.
Even with their professed ideological difference and levels of experience, the campaign came down to the slimmest of margins. Wilson claimed 50.20% of the vote to Harrell's 49.47%. In the state of Washington, automatic recounts are mandated when opponents' vote totals are separated by 0.5 percentage points or less. Results show Wilson bested Harrell by 0.73%.
Even with the loss, Harrell gave a concession speech brimming with humility and gratitude. He pointed out and thanked staff members and political associates, from Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess to Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth. He described being mayor as the "honor of my lifetime." He said it was time to "listen to young voters."
Harrell also used the opportunity to crack a few jokes. He reminded people that he had the distinction of being both the "54th and 57th mayor" of Seattle, referring to a period in September 2017, when, as City Council president, he stepped in as interim mayor for five days after Ed Murray left office. And he confessed that he'd been talked out of rapping speeches, including the State of the City speech. "I wanted to spit a rhyme," he said, to laughter. "I wanted to unleash it."
But instead of unleashing it, he offered an olive branch to Wilson and glowed about the prospects of a city that, in a few weeks, he will no longer lead. "We're going to be fine," he said. "The city's going to be fine. Why? Because of all of you."
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