From pizza to policy: how Katie Wilson won this year's mayoral race

In the week since Katie Wilson officially became Seattle’s mayor-elect, there have suddenly been a lot of think pieces about her from the national press.

Editorial boards at the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have taken a certain “doom mongering” stance on another socialist winning office. The President of the United States added his two cents, and called her a communist.

Wilson’s election is making waves in a year when both democrats and democratic socialists scored high profile wins across the country.

But let’s be honest: national reporting is usually scant here in the PNW, and pretty late to the game. KUOW listeners – many of them, have been clued into this race for weeks if not months.

What we haven't heard is the inside story of the Wilson campaign – how the team took a newcomer to electoral politics – a policy wonk, whose style she herself has called “pretty dumpy” – and got her elected mayor.  

And what does the future look like for progressives in a city with a historically fickle electorate?

Two key figures from the Wilson campaign team joined Soundside to share their view on how it all went down.

GUESTS: 

• Katie Wilson campaign manager Alex Gallo Brown
• WinPower strategies political consultant, and Katie Wilson’s consultant, Jake Simpson

RELATED LINKS: 

• Trump threatens Seattle’s World Cup, calls Mayor-elect Wilson ‘communist’ - Seattle Times
• Seattle’s coming socialist experiment - Washington Post
• Seattle Elects Mamdani West - Wall Street Journal
• Katie Wilson is the new mayor but confronts the same challenges - Seattle Times

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