As a longtime Seattle resident, I’ve watched our city transform, and not always for the better. Between 2015 and 2022, a wave of progressive policies promised equity and compassion, but delivered skyrocketing homelessness, surging crime, and economic strain that hit working families hardest.
These weren’t abstract experiments; they were real-world empirical failures that turned vibrant neighborhoods into zones of despair, ratcheted up open-air drug dealing, turf-wars and overdose deaths, policies which allowed encampments to sprawl across parks and near playgrounds, and caused businesses to flee due to high costs, unchecked theft and disorder.
Katie Wilson, a prominent progressive activist and founder of the Transit Riders Union, was at the heart of many of these initiatives. Now, as she challenges incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell in the 2025 election, her campaign feels like a bid to rewind-the-clock to that chaotic, divisive era. While Wilson touts her coalition-building and progressive credentials, her track record speaks louder.
Here are five key reasons I’m not voting for her, and why I believe Bruce Harrell is a far better choice. Seattle cannot afford to go backward to the 2015-2022 era.
1. Her Role in Exacerbating Seattle’s Homelessness Crisis
From 2015 to 2022, homelessness in King County exploded by over 63%, despite billions poured into progressive-led programs. Policies like “Housing First” and “Harm Reduction,” which Wilson and her allies championed, prioritized unconditional (“barrier free”) shelter and tolerated open drug use, but they failed to address root causes like addiction and mental health.
As a key figure in the Transit Riders Union and other activist groups, Wilson pressured city councils to expand tent encampments and shack villages, partnering with figures like Scott Morrow and Kshama Sawant to block sweeps and enforcement.
The result? Overdose deaths soared and public spaces became filthy, sometimes dangerous and often unusable. Critics from both sides have called this approach a disaster, with even left-leaning voices admitting it turned homelessness into a “wedge issue” that alienated voters and worsened outcomes. To Wilson’s credit, she belatedly came to the conclusion that the policy was a disaster, but voters are right to be skeptical that this tack-to-the-center only occurred as she put her hat in the ring for mayor.
Wilson’s vision would likely revive the failed tactics, framing homelessness solely as a housing issue while ignoring the behavioral health crisis that’s decimated lives.
2. Support for Defund-the-Police Movements That Undermined Public Safety
The 2020 CHOP/CHAZ occupation, a progressive-fueled experiment in “autonomous” governance—symbolized the nadir of Seattle’s public safety collapse, with murders spiking and emergency response times ballooning.
Wilson, embedded in the activist scene, backed those who vilified police and voted to symbolically slash budgets without a plan, contributing to a morale crisis that saw officers leave in droves.
Progressive councils, influenced by groups like hers, set policies which allowed repeat offenders to cycle through the system without consequences. These leftist/Progressive policies led to increased shoplifting, car thefts, and violent crime that plagued downtown and neighborhoods alike.
Even left-of-center sources have critiqued this era, noting how decriminalizing controlled substances fueled open drug markets and thousands of overdose deaths. Wilson’s platform echoes these dog whistles, prioritizing “social workers over cops” in a city still recovering from the fallout. Conservative and moderate voices alike warn that her election would set us back eight years, sliding toward high crime and squalor before any correction. Seattle needs accountability, not more experiments that endanger lives.
3. Advocacy for Inflationary Economic Policies That Hurt Working Families and Growth In General
Progressive tax hikes and regulations under councils Wilson influenced—like the soda tax, head tax attempts, and aggressive minimum wage increases—drove up costs without delivering promised benefits.
These measures inflated the cost of living, squeezed small businesses, and contributed to economic stagnation, with critics pointing to lost jobs and fleeing employers. Wilson’s recent video blaming pizza prices on everything but government overreach—ignoring fuel taxes, property taxes, and grocery store burdens—reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of economics. As a proponent of rent control and expanded social housing, she’s backed policies that delayed rational reforms and wasted tens of millions on dysfunctional programs. Even from liberal perspectives, these approaches have been called out for prioritizing intentions over outcomes, leaving Seattle with higher poverty and inequality. Her mayoral bid promises more of the same: inflationary spending that burdens taxpayers without fixing core issues.
4. Pushing Transit and Housing Initiatives That Failed to Deliver
As head of the Transit Riders Union, Wilson advocated for fare-free transit and anti-car policies that sounded idealistic but strained budgets and ignored practical needs. During 2015-2022, these efforts coincided with declining ridership amid safety concerns on buses and trains, exacerbated by unchecked encampments and drug use in public spaces. Her push for social housing and development restrictions contributed to affordability woes, with homelessness rising despite massive investments. Critics, including those on the left, have highlighted how progressive overreach on housing—treating it as a panacea without addressing addiction or enforcement—led to misplaced spending and tolerance for chaos. Wilson’s record here isn’t innovation; it’s a blueprint for inefficiency that left Seattle’s infrastructure crumbling while costs soared.
5. Risk of Reviving a Divisive, Ineffective Progressive Era
Overall, Wilson’s activism from 2015-2022 helped steer Seattle toward inflationary policies, polarization and poor governance, with prolonged school closures, tolerance for protests that disrupted daily life, and a focus on ideology over results.
Be honest. If you were here during the past two decades, you’ve no doubt seen how Progressive dominance has created bubbles of extremism, alienating moderates and utterly failing on basics like public education, public safety, affordability, and health. Her campaign, endorsed by far-left figures, risks importing similar failures seen in other cities, like rent control fantasies and defunded services that turn urban centers into “lab experiments.” Seattle has started recovering under more pragmatic leadership—why gamble on a return to the dysfunction that defined those dark years?
In the end, Katie Wilson’s progressive vision isn’t new; it’s a rerun of policies that already failed Seattle once.
We deserve leadership focused on outcomes, not ideology.
That’s why my vote stays with moderate Mayor Bruce Harrell. I have criticisms of the current Mayor, mostly in the area of needing to move even faster and firmer on a sensible, moderate agenda. Progress has been slow, but in a lot of cases, that’s because the mayor primarily acts as a coalition-building moderate, not a dictator.
Mayor Harrell has overseen several improvements in livability in the city, homicide rates have fallen dramatically, Downtown Ambassadors are making the downtown core better, the Waterfront is now quite a great new amenity, citywide squalor has stabilized and even declined in several parts of the city (but far from enough!), and his “One Seattle” coalition focuses on unity, not division.
Votes are relative, not absolute choices. Here, the choice is clear. Harrell is the way forward, Wilson would take us back to the 2015-2021 era.
Let’s do no further harm. If you’re tired of the cycle, the divisiveness, and the inflationary policies of leftist Progressivism, join me in supporting the Moderate Slate: Mayor Bruce Harrell, City Attorney Ann Davison, City Council President Sara Nelson, and City Council Candidate Rachel Savage.
And please share this piece with fellow Seattle voters.
