2025 campaign In March 2025, Wilson announced a campaign to challenge incumbent
Bruce Harrell for
mayor of Seattle. She cited Harrell's opposition to a February 2025 ballot measure that would fund housing through taxes on businesses as a factor in her decision to run. Wilson, running as a progressive, stated her top three priorities as mayor are housing, homelessness, and protecting Seattle from federal actions. In the weeks leading to the primary, polls indicated a close race between Wilson and Harrell, with both raising nearly $500,000. In the August
nonpartisan primary, Wilson placed first among a field of eight candidates, with 50.9% of the vote, and advanced to the general election with Harrell who earned 41.3%. Wilson's campaign was likened to the campaign of
Zohran Mamdani in the
2025 New York City mayoral election by several publications, including
The Nation and
The Stranger. According to
The Nation, Wilson's victory was won by the
precariat of Seattle renters,
Sound transit riders, and
Democratic Socialists of America members. She criticized Harrell for being part of the "
status quo" and not properly addressing homelessness and sweeping individuals, while also not lowering the cost of living. Harrell touted his administration's efforts on public safety, transportation, and housing affordability, while criticizing Wilson's previous support for the "
Defund the police" movement. During the campaign Wilson did not call for defunding the police, instead arguing that armed officers are not needed to respond to mental health and other non-crime calls that should be handled by other kinds of professionals.
Tenure Wilson's term began on January 1, 2026. She was ceremonially sworn into office on January 2, 2026, with local transit union leader
Pauline Van Senus administering the oath of office. Since taking office Wilson has defended Seattle's Somali community against attacks spurred on by Republican led oversight committees galvanized by fraud investigations into the Somali immigrant community in Minneapolis. Wilson has also defended local Seattle immigrant communities and activist networks to resist ICE arrests in Seattle. As mayor, she stopped a city-wide rollout of the
Microsoft Copilot AI chatbot to city employees that started under her predecessor. The 500 employees who were already using it were allowed to continue doing so. Similarly, as mayor, she opposed the expansion of
police surveillance cameras around the city, with the exception of
FIFA World Cup sites. == Political views ==