In Seattle as in New York, a Mayoral Race Turns on Generational Change
When Bruce Harrell talks about his campaign for re-election as Seattle’s mayor, he sounds perplexed. After all, he says, he’s got an inspiring life story, almost three decades of experience in civic life, a long list of endorsements and a record of steady, if slow, progress since 2020 from the Covid pandemic and turbulent George Floyd protests.
But in 2025, such qualifications are proving to be liabilities in a progressive city thirsting for change. As ballots in the Nov. 4 city election hit mailboxes this week, Seattle’s race for mayor is shaping up as a generational and economic showdown — much like the one in New York City.
In the August primary, a 43-year-old community organizer named Katie Wilson captured 50 percent of the vote in a field of eight candidates. Mr. Harrell 67, came in a distant second with 41 percent. Both finalists are Democrats, but polling indicates that millennial and Gen Z voters, in Seattle and beyond, appear to be rethinking what it means to be qualified for the job of running a major American city.
“I’m kind of an elder millennial,” Ms. Wilson said, “so I’m part of this generation that at some point realized that we were on the whole less well off than our parents and probably always will be.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/us/politics/seattle-mayor.html