America’s other populist, socialist big-city mayor

Seattle, Washington, on June 21, 2025. | Pablo Porciuncula/AFP via Getty Images

The election was divisive, pitting an established moderate against an upstart progressive in the large, Democratic city. For a while it seemed like it would be close, but in the end the progressive won definitively, powered by a relentless focus on affordability and adept use of short-form video. 

Mamdani? New York? You must be confused — I’m talking about Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson. 

The 43-year-old political neophyte...