With basically all the ballots in the city of Seattle's mayoral election counted, Katie Wilson is now above 50 percent, with Mayor Bruce Harrell sliding to 49.6 percent. They're currently within the mandatory recount requirements, but machine recounts don't generally change things much.

Without speaking to the merits of the legal case against a specific proposal to allow housing near Seattle's stadiums, the Port has, does, and will always argue that creating housing for people anywhere near industrial zoning will kill jobs. www.theurbanist.org/2025/11/11/s...

Seattle Times' business columnist is having a normal one. (From comments on a gracious post about a potential Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson by former mayor Greg Nickels).

oh goodie, the company that lets hundreds of random people collectively "own" the home you rent, via timeshare-like "fractional investing," just got a big infusion of cash, can't see any potential problems here www.geekwire.com/2025/bezos-b...

For those watching the Seattle mayoral election, which could be headed for a hand recount: In 2015, when the campaign for City Council District 1 was subject to a recount, the results didn't change by a single vote. your.kingcounty.gov/elections/20...

Katie Wilson Leads Incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell by 91 Votes We're in hand-recount territory. publicola.com/2025/11/10/k...

91 votes separate the two mayoral candidates in Seattle, but Katie Wilson has pulled ahead of incumbent Bruce Harrell and is now in the lead.

Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell was putting out at least a press release daily celebrating all the amazing things the mayor's office was doing right up until, let's see, November 3. Nothing since then, though. Weird!

counterpoint: I don't think individual family dynasties are a reproducible way to "save newsrooms" (where "newsroom," as defined by the Times, means only legacy media producing paper products) www.seattletimes.com/opinion/a-st...

This Week on PubliCola: November 8, 2025 Election updates, shakeups at the police department, and much more in a PACKED week of local news. publicola.com/2025/11/08/t...

Thread. This is what a moral panic looks like.

Friday Fizz: Latest Ballots Trend Toward Wilson, Barnes Moves Controversial Cop Out of East Precinct, Harrell Says Shaming Sex Buyers Works Today's Afternoon Fizz. publicola.com/2025/11/07/f...

With another 56,000 votes counted in the Seattle mayor's race, Katie Wilson has narrowed the gap with incumbent Bruce Harrell to just 4,300 votes, and received just under 55 percent of the vote in the latest count, with perhaps 50,000 votes remaining to be counted. That's a solid turnaround.

boy I bet the comics who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival really roasted 'em for this one www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/w...

I'm sorry to be a pedant, but this story's central claim (that this is the first al taglio Roman pizza place in Seattle) is incorrect—there used to be a GREAT Roman-style place in Pioneer Square, Pizzeria Gabbiano, but it closed too soon. Probably would do well now. seattle.eater.com/restaurant-n...

"Are we sacrificing our American quality of life" by caring about immigrants, asks this piece the Seattle Times decided was worth running. I was curious if the authors actually live in Seattle and they do—in neighborhoods that are more than 80 percent white. www.seattletimes.com/opinion/king...

I asked SPD's comms department to confirm this 2 days ago and they ignored me as usual. (All my questions have to go through their PR person—literally, I cant't get yes/no answers without a whole special delaying process. It's wild!) Anyway, here's the press release they did instead of answering me.

gonna just use this as a plug for actual LOCAL journalists—human beings who are familiar with local elections, as opposed to algorithmic betting machines that can and do get basic things wrong

Pretty big turnaround in the latest (small) batch of about 36,000 Seattle ballots, which went 51.6 percent for Katie Wilson and 48.1 percent for incumbent Bruce Harrell. Overall, the new numbers are 52.6 Harrell, 46.9 Wilson. Yesterday, those numbers were 53.8 Harrell, 45.7 Wilson.

Amid Federal Cuts and State Austerity, The City Must Step Up and Pass a Budget that Puts People First In a guest post, City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck says the budget should prioritize people who stand to lose most during state and federal cuts. publicola.com/2025/11/06/a...

With Half the Ballots Still Uncounted, This Mayoral Election is an Open Contest Katie Wilson needs to get about 54 percent of the outstanding ballots to close the gap with incumbent Bruce Harrell. publicola.com/2025/11/06/4...

New turnout numbers in Seattle suggest that only about half the ballots are in, with nearly 55 percent of voters in the city casting ballots. Two thirds of those are drop box votes (rather than mail-in), and the numbers now suggest that only about half the ballots have been counted.

We recorded the latest episode of Seattle Nice this morning, before today's ballot drop widened Mayor Bruce Harell's lead over Katie Wilson by about 7,000 votes, but our analysis still stands: We don't know wtf is going to happen in the Seattle mayor's race, but we have our theories!

The latest batch of ballots in the Seattle mayor's race is trending toward Harrell, but (and?) turnout seems exceptionally low. According to King County Elections, they've received ballots from just 38% of voters, which is much lower than a typical mayoral general election.

Police Chief Shon Barnes Fires Two of SPD's Top Civilian Staff The two longtime SPD command staff were reportedly shut out of major decisions in favor of Barnes' inner circle. publicola.com/2025/11/05/p...

One day after election day, Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes has fired Brian Maxey, SPD's COO, and chief counsel Becca Boatright. Per inside sources, Harrell told Barnes to wait until today. These are two very longtime civilian employees who've been shut out by Barnes, who brought in his own team.

lol never look at reddit (the entire "progressive" local reddit shitting on me for "hiding" a fact that I put in the headline, mentioned right up top, and repeated several times in this post—Harrell paid for a fuckton of luxury travel on city business out of his own, extremely deep pockets)

In the Seattle mayor's race, Katie Wilson needs to close a 7.15% gap to beat incumbent Bruce Harrell. If Harrell wins by less than 1%, I'll be extra curious about why he paid $25,000 at the last minute to someone with a history of skirting the rules to help Harrell out. publicola.com/2025/10/30/h...

Uncertain Outcome in Mayor's Race While Progressive Council, City Attorney Candidates Celebrate Wins publicola.com/2025/11/04/u...

Mayor Bruce Harrell is up 7 points, 53-46.

Much more crowded scene at Bruce Harrell's party now. Harrell is speaking, saying "we always keep things positive" after running an incredibly negative campaign against Katie Wilson. Results will be in shortly. "We are well secured in the history books" whether Harrell wins or loses, he says.

Got to Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell's election night party a little early; here's what it looked like a few minutes after 7, an hour before the first results come in. Photos by Josh Feit and me.

As Mayor, Harrell Paid for Luxury Upgrades on City Trips, Including a $12,000 Flight and a $1,000-a-Night Hotel Now he wants voters to believe he represents the working class—and that his opponent, renter Katie Wilson, is an out-of touch-elite. publicola.com/2025/11/04/h...

PSA for Seattle procrastinators: If you're voting today or tomorrow, USE A DROP BOX, NOT THE MAIL! The USPS won't guarantee your timely ballot is postmarked on time. Locations of ballot boxes: cd.kingcounty.gov/en/dept/elec... More details: publicola.com/2025/10/03/p...

The Seattle Police Department's comms office ignored my questions about SPD participation in DOJ's anti-immigrant Operation Take Back America—the framework for a recent drug bust they did with the DEA./1

Seattle Nice: Closing Arguments in the Mayoral Election, and a $5,000-a-Week "Outreach" Consultant It's our last podcast before the Tuesday election! publicola.com/2025/11/03/s...

And the only mayor in recent memory to get reelected (Greg Nickels) also dropped out of college. It's described as him "following his passion for politics," in his wikipedia bio, not as something disqualifing him from office.

When Washington DC Looks Away, King County Must Make Sure Our Neighbors Can Eat In a guest post, King County Councilmember @girmayzahilay.bsky.social says the county must provide food assistance to people losing SNAP benefits during the shutdown. publicola.com/2025/11/03/w...

Pretty ironic that Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell is using "Katie Wilson dropped out of college" as his talking point, given that his deputy mayor, Tim Burgess, dropped out of college with just a handful of credits left.

This Week On PubliCola: November 1, 2025 Exclusive election reporting, a Seattle City Attorney debate, SPD participates in Trump's "Operation Take Back America," and more. publicola.com/2025/11/02/t...

This is a great point—the Seattle Times got a state tax break for itself (with a provision explicitly excluding online outlets from this subsidy) but claims that a local tax for news, aimed at helping independent outlets thrive alongside legacy media, would be an outrageous theft of taxpayer funds.

Just got an email from the Harrell campaign about "tent encampments" (human beings the administration sees as an aesthetic problem) in parks, with quotes from "Seattle neighbors" that are, to a person, about how ugly and dirty and unpleasant those icky people and their tents are.

Of COURSE the Seattle Times guy who thinks online news isn't real news is railing against news vouchers, which he says consist of Katie Wilson "taking $10 million from taxpayers" to fund people he looks down on—independent news producers who now all have to compete with each other for supporters.

ummm holy shit - @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social published a David Horsey piece just casually likening young voters to suicide bombers (as opposed to property-owning boomers like him, who wisely and sagely fill the bubble for Bruce Harrell) www.seattletimes.com/opinion/seat...

SPD Drug Arrests Were Part of Trump's Anti-Immigrant "Operation Take Back America" Police Chief Shon Barnes thanked "our federal partners" for facilitating the arrests of 10 accused drug traffickers, all with Hispanic surnames. publicola.com/2025/10/31/s...

You'll definitely want to read this update: After laying off 13 people (including the agency's lawyer, CFO, deputy director, and homelessness data lead), the King County Regional Homelessness Authority's director announced she's making five NEW hires, including three new executives.

About to post something on the Seattle Police Department, which has reverted to form (as has the mayor's office) by simply ignoring my questions. Hard to believe there was a time when the police had a helpful person at their press office who considered it their job to respond to the press!

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has made 39 official announcements in the two months leading up to next week's election, compared to 21 for the same period last year. This is not considered a use of city resources for campaigning despite the very obvious ramp-up just before the election.

Seattle Police Department getting in on a fear-mongering falsehood that was going around when I was a little kid in the '80s—check your kids' candy closely, your neighbors might be secretly injecting it with poisons! spdblotter.seattle.gov/2025/10/30/3...

Homelessness Authority Cuts 28 Positions, Including Deputy CEO, Finance Director, General Counsel, and Emergency Services Director Agency CEO Kelly Kinnison said the cuts address a "top-heavy" org chart. publicola.com/2025/10/31/h...