It has been a long 2025 election season but Tuesday night’s Capitol Hill Community Council/First Hill Improvement Association Mayoral Debate brought new energy and new opportunities for the candidates to distinguish themselves in important issues including the Broadway Crisis Care Center, neighborhood homelessness, Pike/Pine and Garfield gun violence, affordability, and, yes, electric scooters.
“They do drive me crazy,” Mayor Bruce Harrell admitted before delving into a deeper answers on issues around the surprisingly important component of Seattle’s transit system. More on that, below.
The incumbent and challenger Katie Wilson sparred on the night in front of a group of around 150 inside Harvard Ave’s First Baptist over themes of experience and change in a back and forth on questions from moderators Chris Paulus of the Capitol Hill Community Council and Ellen Greene of the First Hill Improvement Association, and support from the Urban Community Councils of Seattle group that has grown as an umbrella organization connecting some of the city’s core neighborhoods.
CHS also advised and helped the groups form the night’s topics.
The candidates were provided with a roster of possible questions prior to the debate to allow them to prepare in a standard the Urban Community Councils group established in a series of political debates it helped organize this year. The candidates were given two minutes to answer plus an opportunity for follow-up time.
Harrell, an incumbent centrist coming out of a summer primary that saw a strong showing from a slate of Seattle progressives, spent those minutes focused on his leadership against the Trump administration and his many years at City Hall and in the city.
In her time, Wilson made the case that 14 years “working in and around City Hall pushing ‘visionary legislation’” made her the right candidate to lead the city forward.
The differences between the two on issues specific to First Hill and Capitol Hill were illuminating.
CRISIS CARE CENTER
The county’s nearby planned $56 million Broadway Crisis Care Center was one flashpoint.
Harrell told the crowd his plan for city support for the center will hold county officials accountable and that a Seattle Police Department-led “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design” process will make the area safer around the center planned to open in 2027.
“The good neighbor agreement is real,” Harrell said.
Wilson, who said she has met with community members in the area, said Harrell’s plan for public safety environmental design is not enough and that the mayor’s office must make sure SPD is a “productive partner” and active in the area even after the center opens. She also said she would champion services that will help people after their time at the center.
GUN VIOLENCE
The recent deadly gun violence at Pike and Broadway only a few blocks from Tuesday’s debate was also a sparring point.
CHS reported here on a year of public safety efforts to respond to ongoing Pike/Pine gun violence even as 26-year-old Robert Fleeks and 18-year-old Jaydon Jameson were shot and killed this month within two blocks of Broadway and Pike.
The mayor said Tuesday night one of the strongest ways to deter deadly gun violence is to make arrests.
“Both of those murders would have been captured on video,” Harrell said as he championed the planned expansion of the planned SPD Real-Time Crime Center’s camera system to Pike/Pine.
Harrell also argued that his continued push to raise SPD staffing levels to 1,500 officers to “get cops out of their cars and onto the streets” is needed to truly make the area around Pike and Broadway safer.
Wilson said Tuesday her opponent’s administration is taking on crime the wrong way after a City Auditor report showed Seattle was not taking a multi-departmental approach to gun violence that has been successful in other cities like Baltimore and Milwaukee.
“This is so important,” Wilson said. “I’ve talked to mothers who have lost children to gun violence.”
Wilson also said we can’t depend on SPD and conventional policing to solve these problems, championing expansion of the city’s civilian Community Assisted Response & Engagement department crisis responders and clearing the ways CARE has been “systematically undermined” by SPD.
Wilson also said it wasn’t enough for the city to hold workshops in communities impacted by gun violence without offering solutions.
“It should be a community conversation but not just ‘What do you think?’” Wilson said. “People are afraid and need to be presented data, need to be presented models, to understand options.” Wilson also criticized SPD’s lack of progress on murder investigations including the still unsolved deadly shooting of Amarr Murphy-Paine, the 17-year-old shot and killed while trying to break up a fight in Garfield High School’s parking lot in June 2024.
“Victim families deserve to have investigations completed in a timely manner,” Wilson said.
HOMELESSNESS
Another point of contention came over homelessness as the community groups asked for how the city can measure success in its ongoing efforts to provide shelter and services.
The mayor used his time to champion “permanent supportive housing” and called on leaders of nearby cities to do more to support his efforts in Seattle as the King County Regional Homelessness Authority has struggled without greater financial support from the suburbs.
Acknowledging the failures of the KCRHA during his time as mayor, Harrell didn’t shy away. “I signed up for it. I don’t make excuses,” Harrell said as he pledged more effort in “forcing” a regional response.
Wilson said Tuesday night that the city must have a plan and homelessness spending strong enough to stand on its own.
“The frustration that I hear is palpable,” Wilson said. saying areas are swept “and people aren’t getting the help so they’ll be back.”
“‘Other cities need to do more’ is not a homelessness plan for Seattle,” Wilson said.
SCOOTERS?
Amid these higher profile issues, the debate over electric scooters was surprisingly energetic with both candidates acknowledging the importance of the popular “micro mobility” option — and the irritations.
Wilson admitted that even the Transit Riders Union group she has helped lead for more than a decade finds the rental scooters a tricky topic. Her solutions for helping them mesh better with the city are continued investment in the city’s bike lane network where riders can safely — and legally — operate the scooters and adding more parking corrals like those seen in other large cities to help address the way the scooters are typically scattered on Seattle sidewalks.
Harrell also acknowledged the utility and popularity of the rental scooters and said more and better bike lanes should help.
“They are a challenge,” Harrell said. “It is unlawful to ride a scooter on the sidewalk.”
He said his administration has also turned more attention to forcing the rental companies behind Lime, Bird, and Link to address the issues. Tuesday night, Harrell said the city has issued “thousands of tickets” to the companies over improper storage and his administration is “looking for ways to get better behavior from the companies.”
For single issue voters, maybe the scooter debate was enough to make up their minds Tuesday night.
Seven more things CHS heard at the Capitol Hill Community Council/First Hill Improvement Association Mayoral Debate
- Another contrast? On reducing problems around public drug use, Wilson said she would be open to a supervised consumption effort but “a better use of capital” is to put people “into low barrier shelter or permanent supportive housing” while also matching SPD enforcement with treatment programs. Harrell also championed treatment programs but said the city must continue is initiative to target and arrest major drug dealers including bust he touted that netted “14 of the most prolific drug dealers” at 12th and Jackson.
- How will they help drive growth in Seattle’s economy? Wilson said her work on raising progressive revenue will continues and the city needs to make sure people “are not falling through the cracks by investing in social and affordable housing to create jobs. Harrell said the city’s small businesses must lead the way and touted the proposed overhaul of the city’s business tax system on the November ballot that would exempt any business generating less than $2 million a year from the city’s B&O tax.
- What about parks and dog parks? Harrell said he especially values the public spaces — and opportunities to create new ones — as potential economic engines and draws for people looking to live in the city. Wilson used the topic as an opportunity to win a few points from any Capitol Hill Superblock fans saying she supports the idea of a pedestrianized zone in Pike/Pine.
- Experience? It has been a theme of the race for Harrell as he faces a challenger with a much shorter City Hall resume. Wilson said Tuesday her more than a decade leading the Transit Riders Union and fighting for efforts like the minimum wage have prepared her and that she would build a strong, experienced administration to support her in City Hall. “You can’t hire that kind of experience,” Harrell said. “You also kind of have to know it.”
- Race and privilege: The mayor backed off his recent criticisms and avoided attacking Wilson over her upbringing and education Tuesday night. “The fact is this: she was born of privilege. I mean, her parents were college professors,” the mayor said in this CHS interview earlier in the campaign. “My parents were not. They just graduated high school, right?”
- What would you say to a young person paralyzed by the city’s affordability crisis? “This is why I’m running,” Wilson said. “To tackle the affordability crisis with everything I’ve got.”
- G Line changes? Transit advocates may have been tired by the end of the night so there were no audible gasps in the audience but Harrell made a surprising statement or two about the future the RapidRide G line. The mayor said he wants to answer concerns from neighborhood businesses and revisit decisions that changed some lanes and eliminated left hand turn lanes around the year-old RapidRide line on Madison between the waterfront and Madison Valley across First Hill and Capitol Hill to “help small businesses recover” and clear “some bumps along the way” of the bus rapid transit line.
- Attendance: An organizer said she tallied around 150 people in the crowd.
Ballots have been delivered for the General Election and must be postmarked or dropped in a King County Election collection box by 8 PM on Tuesday, November 4th.
In addition to the mayor’s race, Seattle voters will make a host of important decisions:
- CITY ATTORNEY: “The City Attorney’s race also played out poorly for a center-leaning incumbent. Republican-leaning Ann Davison, like Nelson, is on her way to November with less than 40% of the vote on Election Night. Evans, a former federal prosecutor, has emphasized her record as a civil rights prosecutor with a dedication to public service and personal experience with poverty, claimed the top spot with more than 51% of the vote…”
- SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL POSITION 8: “Incumbent Alexis Mercedes Rinck rode her bonafides as the the most progressive member of the current council to more than 78% of the primary vote…”
- SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL POSITION 9: “Sara Nelson, meanwhile, is facing a serious challenge to her Position 9 reelection from nonprofit executive and former community organizer and policy advisor Dionne Foster after a terrible showing in the August primary…”
- PROP 1: “Mayor Bruce Harrell last week signed legislation that will put the proposed $1.3 billion school levy renewal on the fall ballot…”
- PROP 2: “would exempt any business generating less than $2 million a year from the city’s B&O tax while raising the tax rate on the city’s most prosperous companies like Amazon and Starbucks. The proposal would eliminate or reduce the tax for around 90% of Seattle businesses while generating an estimated $81 million in new revenue…”
- SCHOOL BOARD: Four Seattle School Board seats are also on the ballot
- KING COUNTY EXECUTIVE: “At the county level, the favorites to replace Dow Constantine as King County Executive have made it through to the general with Girmay Zahilay tallying 44% of the vote with strong support across Seattle and Claudia Balducci coming in just under 30% buoyed by her support among Eastside moderates…”
The mayor of Capitol Hill: Why you should vote for Bruce Harrell*
The mayor of Capitol Hill: Why you should vote for Katie Wilson*
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