Most of all, Beau was a dear and loyal friend and I miss him so much. I can’t believe he’s gone. His passing leaves an unimaginable hole in the lives of his wife Stevie and their two young children. If you want to help them out, you can do that here. www.gofundme.com/f/help-beaus...
TRU marching in the Pride Parade. Six TRU members, including Beau and Katie, wearing TRU shirts and holding a Transit Riders Union banner.
Beau was one of the most grounded, intelligent, thoughtful, and kind people I’ve ever known. He was instrumental in getting the Transit Riders Union off the ground and he did so much for that organization and for our whole city.
Beau, Stevie, Jeremiah, and Katie in the kitchen during Super Bowl 2014.
When the Seahawks won the Super Bowl twelve years ago, we were housemates. Beau was an excellent cook who loved to make food for people and he brought our community together with food and football.
As I cheer on the Seahawks today, I’m also thinking about one of my very best friends, Beau Morton, who left this world suddenly and unexpectedly last week.
Throwback to the time that The Urbanist sent Katie Wilson to cover the grand opening of a Belltown highrise, which featured the hoisting of a $1.6 million supercar to the building's roof. But how people cover child care costs is a scandal, am I right?
www.theurbanist.org/2024/05/19/h...
RIP to Lenny Wilkens, one of the greatest players and coaches (and player-coaches) in Supersonics history. His contributions to this city, including the 1979 championship, were enormous. He will be missed.
Most important, contra Westneat and Horsey, who seem to think this race is about grievance and anger: it’s really about hope. Hundreds of volunteers are out knocking on doors every week because they share our positive vision for Seattle's future. #ThisIsYOURCity
Say it with me: affordability, homelessness, public safety. Apparently it’s just really hard for my opponent and his backers to accept that voters have noticed and are responding to his failures on these quality-of-life issues. /
Unsheltered homelessness in Boston is WAY lower than in Seattle: “Only 6 percent of the region’s homeless population is unsheltered, far below the national average of 40 percent.” Meantime, a whopping 58% of the Seattle area’s homeless population is unsheltered. That’s the highest in the country.
If this was primarily a backlash election against incumbents in deep blue cities, Michelle Wu in Boston would be fighting for her political life, too. But she’s coasting to reelection. Why? Because she’s seen as a fighter for affordability, and Boston is one of the safest big cities in the country.
Yes, younger voters overwhelmingly support my campaign, and sure, the youth are the repository of idealism. But you know what else? They’re the ones who feel the affordability crisis in their bones, who can’t imagine building a life here because rent, food, childcare, everything costs so much.
Yes, I talk about progressive revenue on the campaign trail. But I haven’t been shouting about taxing billionaires. Rather, I talk about how we can address the City’s massive structural budget deficit, which has widened as Harrell repeatedly kicks the can down the road and adds one-time spending.
There’s no doubt that Trump’s election and an out-of-touch Democratic party establishment are factors in this race, and also that young voters aren’t enchanted by Harrell. But far and away the issues with the most “heat” in this campaign are affordability, homelessness, and public safety.
I guess we’re at the point in the campaign where pundits and consultants make excuses as to why their candidate is losing. 🧵
Westneat points to Trump and his fawning billionaires:
Mayoral candidate @wilsonforseattle.bsky.social made a second appearance on @lobbingscorchers.com and talked about the World Cup and her vision for Seattle (For the record: Mayor Harrell has declined an invite).
www.sounderatheart.com/2025/10/lobb...
Thanks to @kuow.org for issuing this correction.
Taking a page out of @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social’s book: If you think the problem is that my parents are helping with my childcare expenses during this campaign, vote for Harrell. If you know the problem is that childcare is wildly unaffordable in Seattle, vote for me.
This is really disappointing reporting from @kuow.org. They could have followed up after the interview to ask me to actually review the 990 forms (which I didn't have in front of me during the interview!) and explain what they saw as a discrepancy. Instead they just ran the story. /
As the article noted, I was listed on TRU's 2022 tax form. That’s because we filled out the full version of the 990 form that year, not the EZ version — and on that one, you do have to itemize certain staff (though not all) regardless of salary level.
Those forms do report the total amount TRU spent on salaries and benefits (about $150k each year) but they don’t report individual employees BECAUSE THAT WAS NOT REQUIRED.
In fact, on the 990EZ form TRU filled out in those two years (linked to from the article), you only have to list employees who “received more than $100,000 of compensation from the organization.” My salary was under that amount, as was the salary of TRU’s other employee at that time.
It claims that TRU’s 2023 and 2024 tax filings are “at odds” with my personal financial statement from the city because they show that “Wilson hasn’t drawn any money from the organization in the last two years.” This is simply FALSE.
I just got around to actually reading this @kuow.org piece on me, and there’s ANOTHER major inaccuracy, beyond the "parents pay my bills" bit. 🧵
TRU's tax forms from those years DO report the total amount we spent on salaries and benefits (about $150k each year) but they don’t list individual employees or their salaries BECAUSE THAT WAS NOT REQUIRED.
In fact, on the 990EZ form TRU filled out in those two years (linked to from the article), it's only required to itemize employees who “received more than $100,000 of compensation from the organization.” My salary was under that amount, as was that of TRU’s other employee.
It claims that TRU’s 2023 and 2024 tax filings are “at odds” with my personal financial statement to the city because they show that “Wilson hasn’t drawn any money from the organization in the last two years.” This is FALSE.
Shooting our next campaign video!
It's not just Mamdani. Michelle Wu, Katie Wilson--the Dems may soon have a remarkable cast of young, gifted mayors
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
All the cautions in my earlier statement still apply. As mayor, I’ll be excited to move forward with this if we've developed a solid plan with strong community buy-in, one that solves a real problem & is a wise use of resources relative to other things we could be doing. That’s just good governance.
