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Meet The Seattle Mayoral Candidate Everyone's Talking About! - Ep. 126
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Seattle Mayoral Candidate Katie Wilson joins Lobbing Scorchers to talk about the 2026 World Cup, affordable housing, publicly funded childcare, her recent "scandals" and more! Election day is Thursday, Nov. 4, 2025 to find a ballot drop box visit: https://www.LobbingScorchers.com/vote
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. What the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be a scorcher.
00:00:22
Speaker
Good evening, everybody. Welcome in to a very special episode of Lobbing Scorchers.
Campaign Reflections and Voter Participation
00:00:28
Speaker
Folks, Election Day in Seattle is just a few days away on November 4th, and we're very excited to welcome in one of the central figures in this year's Seattle elections.
00:00:38
Speaker
It's Katie Wilson, mayoral candidate and a returning guest to Lobbing Scorchers. Katie, thank you so much for joining the show again. I guess, first of all, before we get into it, we got a lot that we're excited to catch up with you about, but ah election day Election Day in just a few days.
00:00:55
Speaker
ah How are you feeling? How are you doing? Kind of coming up on the culmination of everything that you've been ah working for for a while now. Yeah, thank you. It's great to be here. um I'm feeling good overall. It's been a long year. um Campaigning is no joke.
00:01:13
Speaker
But you're right. I mean, Election Day is just a few days away. And, you know, we've had so many debates and forums this fall, had a chance to be on stage with Mayor Harrell many, many times. So hopefully voters around the city have had a chance to hear from both of us about our our plans and our records and our policies. And I'm excited. I'm excited for election day. And, you know, people have ballots in hand. And so hopefully everyone's filling in those bubbles and getting their ballot to a drop
Interview Attempts and Audience Queries
00:01:42
Speaker
box.
00:01:42
Speaker
um I know one issue that that's come up is because of the federal shutdown, there's some worry about the post office operations. And so, you know, getting getting ballots to drop boxes is really important. But But yeah, I still need to fill out mine actually. It's sitting it sitting on the table next to my couch and I keep thinking, man, it would be really bad if I forgot to vote.
00:02:01
Speaker
yeah I'm like, i need to draw mine off. I've got it right here. i mean I'm in the same situation as well. Luckily, there is there's a few more days for us all, all three of us to take care of that. ah Well, ah before we get into it, we did we did want to say at the top of this interview, ah the last time we interviewed you, we got a lot of comments ah to the effect of, well, ah why aren't you guys why aren't you guys interviewing Bruce Harrell?
00:02:23
Speaker
Why don't you have Bruce on the show? And we said we'd be happy to have Bruce on the show ah to the point that we reached out to the Herald campaign and asked if he would come on the show. And he said, no, he said no, they he would not come on the show. Actually, we have the email. Noah, did you want to? ah the You know, we we're we're real journalists here. and I want to quote from the Herald campaign. Thank you very much for reaching out in this opportunity.
00:02:48
Speaker
The moment we're scheduled back to back leading up to the election. That being said, if anything changes, I'll reach out. Thanks for the outreach and please reach out if there's anything else I can help with. So I will be reaching out to reach out to reach out.
00:03:01
Speaker
But they did not want to reach out to come on clearly the most important ah podcast in the city of Seattle. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, okay. So see, there there you have it. Like if you're planning on getting on the keyboard and talking about why we didn't didn't interview Bruce Harrell, we tried to interview Bruce
Prominence and Public Sentiment Shift
00:03:15
Speaker
Harrell.
00:03:15
Speaker
we even We even asked him on KNKX or on our, we got interviewed by NPR. And I was like, come on, come on. So we did what we could. It was, it was just a sport.
00:03:27
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. The other football. All right, yeah but's let's get into it. We don't want to ah keep you too long, Katie. Thanks again for the time. i wanted to I wanted to start by kind of taking taking you back to the first time that you were on our show, because I think so much has changed since then. I think it's fair to say that at that time, ah you were not really a household name. The perception was kind of you were this fringe candidate that didn't really have much of a chance at winning.
00:03:58
Speaker
ah But since then, it really feels like something has changed, not even just in Seattle, but ah nationally. You have Zoran Mondani in New York City, who's gotten most of the national attention for his rise.
00:04:10
Speaker
ah But you've really had a similar ascent, I would say, into a candidate that genuinely has a ah a really good chance at winning. Very competitive candidate. What do you think? i'm I'm really curious as someone who's been in the in the heat of it in the arena over the past year.
00:04:25
Speaker
What do you think has kind of led to that change where candidates like yourself and like Zoron are becoming ah competitive mainstream and have a good chance at winning?
Candidacy Rise and Progressive Leadership
00:04:35
Speaker
And do you think that that is a sustainable lasting change or is there any concern of that being like a flash in the pan that might not might not last?
00:04:45
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great question. And yeah, I'm trying to remember um when it was that, um sorry,
00:04:54
Speaker
I'm in my campaign manager's basement and his kids just got home. um So, ah yeah, so I think, um yeah, when when I when I jumped into this race, right, I'd never heard of Zohra Mandani.
00:05:06
Speaker
And so it was like over the first few months that people were like texting me and like, oh, look at this candidate in New York City. um So I definitely didn't expect that I was stepping into kind of a national moment that we're in.
00:05:18
Speaker
um And I really think there's a few things going on. So one is definitely the affordability crisis, right, which is a really strong core theme of my campaign and of Mamdani's campaign. um And, you know, a few other candidates around the country who are maybe experiencing some similar dynamics and You know, this is something that's really been building for the last few years as we've come out of the pandemic, where inflation has been super high and especially in high cost kind of high rent cities like Seattle, that's just turned into exorbitant cost of living from housing to childcare to ah groceries and and restaurant food. and
00:05:50
Speaker
in a way that's really impacting you know not just the lowest income households, but people who consider themselves middle class, people who have decent jobs, are just looking at what they're spending on everything and really are struggling. And so I think that that's part of what's created this moment.
00:06:05
Speaker
Obviously, Trump's election last fall is also a big piece of this where um you you know a certain brand of of kind of establishment Democratic Party politics just kind of utterly failed to connect with voters in a way that could have prevented Trump's election.
00:06:19
Speaker
And so I think there is kind of a reaction against that where people are like, man, we need a new kind of leadership. And that's kind of opened the way for um candidates like like me and like Mamdani who are um kind of not part of that ah that establishment. and um And then I think really there's some local factors too. And you know here in Seattle, I really think that... um The current administration's handling and this handling of the homelessness crisis is a big factor where, you know, the mayor was elected on promises around homelessness and public safety and definitely on homelessness and arguably on public safety has really failed to deliver. And of course, in New York City, there's um specific things to New York City and to to Cuomo and and Eric Adams that that made them.
00:06:58
Speaker
um very vulnerable candidates in their local context
Grassroots Support and Post-Election Momentum
00:07:01
Speaker
too. But yeah, I think overall it's that kind of combination of affordability crisis, Trump, and then local factors, which have um kind of created space for this kind of generational dynamic too, this generational shift and um in politics. So yeah, it's been interesting. It's been a wild ride. um And in terms of whether that's something that will last or or whether it's a fleeting moment, um I mean, I really think that people like me and like Mondani coming from kind of the left, the progressive left, coming into positions of power and especially into positions of executive power, like mayors, as opposed to a legislator, there's really an opportunity here and a challenge of showing that like we can govern.
00:07:44
Speaker
um and And I really believe in in good government. And I think, it's almost taking some of that narrative away from the right, right? Because I think of things that's happened in the last 20 years or so is that there's kind of this dichotomy, this false dichotomy between others, the like tax and spend liberal left and then the fiscal conservative right. And I think that a shift that's taking place is that people on the left, some people like me, are realizing like, it's actually really important that government delivers. And one of the things that's happened is that people are losing faith in their governments at all levels, but including the local level to really deliver for them, right, in many ways. And so I think the opportunity here is to show that folks coming from the progressive left into these positions can actually make government more functional and do the basics as well as the ambitious policies that are gonna hopefully make our city more affordable for working people.
00:08:41
Speaker
And so it's up to us, I guess, to make sure that this moment is not fleeting and that it's not followed by kind of a reaction um that swings back in the other direction. I loved you know when you talked to us last time, you talked about not only creating... that Your election was important, but what was even more important was creating a movement behind that ah to support you and to actually be able to enact the things that you want to do by being able to like get people out, whether to be protest or like show up to city council meetings or to like show that
00:09:15
Speaker
There's actual interest in these policies. um And i just to piggyback on that quickly, like how have you seen that that group grow and really walk with you down this election?
00:09:28
Speaker
mean, it's been five months since that happened, so I'm sure that you've seen a lot of growth in five months. I mean, just, yeah, just in terms of our campaign, it's been very inspiring and um exciting to see the enthusiasm. And, you know, we just had like hundreds of active volunteers, thousands of people who signed up to volunteer at one point or another. um And to have that level of enthusiasm is really exciting. and And I think the, and also, you know, we've picked up more endorsements from organizations, from labor unions that have been turning out their members. And
00:10:00
Speaker
So there really is this groundswell of grassroots support. And um I mean, it's very weird for me as someone who spent my career more behind the scenes, not really out there in public that much to like walk around my neighborhood and like all like lots of people recognize me. And so I kind of lost the privacy, which I like a mourning a little bit. But but it's also very,
00:10:22
Speaker
you know, uplifting to have people, ah you know, feeling feeling positively about the campaign and really enthusiastic about like, even, you know, like 18 year olds where this is like the first election that they're voting in or like new citizens who who just, um you know, this is their first election and they tell me that like they're so excited to vote. And so that's really inspiring. And I think the question is going to be how do we turn that momentum after the election into something durable um and definitely getting a lot of thought to that because, yeah, you don't want like everyone to just kind of go home and then um and lose that sense of participation because you know really the the the slogan of my campaign is, this is your city.
Campaign Attacks and Personal Context
00:10:59
Speaker
And I really believe in that. And my whole career has been about community organizing and bringing people together to influence the decisions made on high that end up reflecting their lives. And so I really do want to govern it in a way that's creating that space for
00:11:12
Speaker
um community organizations, community groups, labor unions, all the folks who are out there ah organizing ordinary people around these issues to ah bring more people into that process um so that ah government becomes really participatory in that way.
00:11:26
Speaker
Speaking of mourning a little bit of that privacy, it's October. Okay. And you know what that means. It's ah we love it. We love a little scandal that drops and allegedly, you know, allegedly you've been embroiled in, in massive scandal, the scandal, your parents love you.
00:11:44
Speaker
Um, the Herald campaign has chosen to attack you because your parents helped pay for some of your daughter's childcare. There was an article all about this. That's now a correction has been issued. I'm sure you can explain this to us.
00:11:56
Speaker
But can you enlighten us a little bit more on Momgate? And what what what what what what what's going on there? I mean, it is a little bit weird to have, you know, the campaign of a candidate who's like a multimillionaire. I'm being a little bit, I haven't, I don't say, and I'm on a podcast, so I feel like I can talk a little more freely, but the campaign of someone who's like a multimillionaire who lives in a multimillion dollar mansion,
00:12:20
Speaker
um you know, trying to paint me as like super privileged, right? And now, like, not to say that I'm not privileged, right? My parents are academics. I grew up in, I guess you would say, upper middle class or kind of professional class home. So I definitely was not poor.
00:12:33
Speaker
um and ah you know, but but like, I've lived in Seattle for 20 years on pretty meager salary. And, um ah And yeah, so my my parents, um we you know I have a two year old and we, before this campaign, my husband and I would just kind of juggle her back and forth.
00:12:53
Speaker
um And you we didn't have her in child daycare, probably because it was really expensive. ah We were looking into like co-op preschools and kind of like part-time options that you know we would work for our budget. And then when I decided to run for mayor, we're like, oh shit, we were paying full-time childcare immediately.
00:13:10
Speaker
um And my parents very nicely and yes, I'm lucky that they're able to do this offered to help out with some of the cost of that. And so this is yeah, I told the reporter that and this has become a ah ah big scandal apparently so.
00:13:24
Speaker
It seems weird because, and this is like a literal statistic, is that half of Gen Z and millennials receive some sort of financial support from their family. like I don't know a single person in my life who their parents haven't bought them groceries every once in a while or like when they're able to help and support they can.
00:13:42
Speaker
Absolutely, it's a privilege. But also like, is that not what... family is but supposed to do like are we know and right and like some people have pointed out like if my parents actually can my friends live across the country right if they lived in seattle would anyone raise their eyes if they were providing lots of in-kind child care you know that's just so normal like i don't like i i think of all the families that i know with young children in seattle and all of their parents are involved in one way or another like whether that's financially or or helping out directly with with child care. And it's just such a normal situation. And it does it is you know does speak to our generation, right? I'm kind of like an elder millennial.
00:14:21
Speaker
um and And I feel like me and and people younger than me, that is a very common situation. And it just speaks to what it is to live in such an expensive city, right? Like that's... That's why I'm running is to make it so that ah so that people can actually like afford to live here. And and child care a public good. Right. It's like it's yes, families help each other out. And also you shouldn't need to have parents who can help financially in order to
Policy Focus Amid Campaign Scrutiny
00:14:45
Speaker
be able to have children. We should recognize that it is a public good for people to be able to have and raise children. And we should fund it publicly as such.
00:14:54
Speaker
i'm sure you know I'm sure you knew that ah as your campaign gained momentum, you were probably going to to deal with an increase in attacks. But did did mom get catch you off guard at all for like, you know, that that's what they came up with?
00:15:08
Speaker
And I guess so i'm I'm wondering, like, how have you kind of dealt with the increase in scrutiny and sort of attacks like this as your candidacy as ascendant? Yeah, I mean, I think i um it's hard to prepare yourself. i just tried to I just try to not take it personally, right? I'm like, they've got a lot of money burn, right? The PAC for Harold was raised, ah I don't know, like one and three quarters million dollars or something like that. and um And they got to be something with that money. and They could have advertised on our show.
00:15:38
Speaker
Like, what let get us a piece of the pie here, bro. So what's going on? Yeah. Yeah. oh just yeah You know, it's yeah, it just comes with the territory. And so just trying to not take it personally. And, and you know, I don't think I'm sure that their attacks with the money behind them are having some effect, um especially the attacks around my you know experience or or in their opinion, lack thereof.
00:16:05
Speaker
um But I also just doesn't feel like it's landing in a big way. And I think we saw um some polling that came out recently that it doesn't seem to be landing in a big way. So, um yeah, I mean, it's kind of like that's what you sign up for, I guess, when you run for office is to have a lot of scrutiny and attacks. And some of those are are not going to feel good and some of those are not going to be fair. But like, whatever, you move on. And yeah, so just trying to not let bother me too much.
00:16:31
Speaker
Yeah, you know, you you brought up too with the childcare, you know, thing. And the fact the fact of the matter is, is like most people are both, but there's if you're living with a partner, like you're both working.
00:16:44
Speaker
This the city is absorbent expensive. It's insanely expensive. Famously, $8 slice of pizza. ah as one of your TikTok videos was. ah i Yeah, I love that video. But ah how, I guess in that same vein, you know what are the policies that you really want to push for um that are going to help make everyday people's lives more affordable so they are able to you know rely potentially rely less on their parents? I don't know if we're if we're continuing that line of questioning, which I guess, you know.
00:17:18
Speaker
That's absolutely. Yeah. I mean, a big one for me, just continuing in the childcare theme is, um, is how can we better subsidize childcare, provide childcare that's low cost or, or even free.
00:17:29
Speaker
Um, one thing I've talked about in the campaign is K through eight summer care and, you know, for working, working parents who have kids who are kind of school age, right. The summer comes and what are you supposed to do with your like eight year old, right. During those summer months.
00:17:42
Speaker
Um, and that's something which, um, relatively cost-effective intervention to like help people out for a couple of months in the summer. And we could do this in partnership with our great community centers around the city and provide more um summer are programs that, again, are either free or low cost. So I really want to find a way to do that. so that's one thing that I want to dig in um ah you know very early in my administration so that hopefully we can roll something out um in in that first summer, even ideally.
00:18:09
Speaker
and And, you know, child care writ large, I think I want to bring together ah kind of a task force or something to create like a roadmap, basically like what do we need, right? We know that there's child care for very young children. There's the through eight summer care. You know, we have a ah really good preschool program, although I definitely heard from parents who take advantage of that, that that could be expanded in various ways.
00:18:30
Speaker
um So we're not going to be able to do everything at the city level, right? Part of this is going to be working in partnership with folks who are working at the state level, because this is obviously a statewide problem. But um tackling the child care crisis is one big priority of
Childcare and Housing Priorities
00:18:43
Speaker
mine.
00:18:43
Speaker
um And then the housing crisis, right, which I think is at the root of so much in our city, so many of the problems in our city. um And that's a whole range of strategies that we need to pursue to try to make housing more affordable, everything from allowing the private market to build way more housing in our great neighborhoods around the city to um building social housing. And that was you know the the social housing ah special election ah earlier this year was was actually the thing that kind of tipped me over into thinking about running in this race.
00:19:16
Speaker
And so just really ah being aggressive about getting our social housing developer going and ah building that kind of mixed income, permanently affordable, ah publicly owned housing um and and also renter protections. Right. I support um strengthening a law that already exists in Seattle, which is called our economic displacement relocation assistance law, which basically says if your landlord raises your rent 10% or more and you have to move out, your landlord's supposed to pay three times your monthly rent in relocation assistance.
00:19:47
Speaker
um I support bumping that threshold down to 5%, and that would basically disincentivize large rent increases and make sure that if you have to move because of a large rent increase, you're getting that assistance.
Experience Criticisms and Coalition Building
00:19:59
Speaker
um So those are a few of the strategies. And also, I think ah trying to make homeownership more affordable, right? There's some great nonprofits in our city, Homesite, Homestead Community Land Trusts that are pioneering more affordable models of homeownership and ah really partnering with those organizations and trying to expand that so that it doesn't cost you know a million dollars plus to to purchase a home in Seattle.
00:20:25
Speaker
So, Katie, we ah we talked about Momgate, but we did want to ask you about another critique that has been out there about your candidacy. And you mentioned it in one of your previous answers. But another argument that ah Bruce Harrell and your critics have made is that you don't have the requisite experience to take on a job of this scale.
00:20:47
Speaker
What would you say to that critique or to voters who are weighing this decision and might be wondering the same thing? Because ah you know I personally don't necessarily value previous experience that much, but I don't think it's unreasonable that some people might value that. And that is that is something that's been said about you. So how would you ah how would you respond to that or address that?
00:21:08
Speaker
Yeah, totally. And you know there's been ah that's been a ah big theme of the attack both the attack ads on TV, but also the um attack mailers that have gone out.
00:21:19
Speaker
um And some of those mailers have featured a 2015 resume of mine, so like a resume from 10 years ago. So that's that's been interesting to see that someone dug that up from somewhere in the city website, I guess. I don't know.
00:21:33
Speaker
and ah you know I don't know if the fact that the principal person in in the corporate PAC for Herald is like his own deputy mayor, maybe that has to do with how they found that. But anyway, oh so ah yeah, I mean, I think the first thing to point out is that people come into the mayor's office from all different directions. Right. um We had a three term mayor in Seattle once, Charlie Royer. He came into office from being a news reporter for King TV.
00:21:59
Speaker
um And you know our current mayor, several mayors before him ah were council members before they came into the mayor's office. And that means you know managing a staff of a few council aides.
00:22:09
Speaker
So i think it's important not to exaggerate the kind of executive management experience that previous mayors have come into that office with. um You know, my career as a coalition builder, a community organizer, although the organization that I lead, the Transit Riders Union, is relatively small in terms of um budget and um and staff. it's It's not true that we that I'm the only staff person, that's also been said. But anyway, um although it's relatively small, the coalition building work that I've done involves bringing together large numbers of organizations, individuals, and basically um
00:22:43
Speaker
managing their work in order to win major policies. So that's um you know the the the kind of management and coordination work that I've done is is much larger scale than I think is reflected in the budget and size of my organization. And the Translator Writers Union too, I think it's important to recognize like it's it's kind of scrappy by design, right? It's a volunteer-driven organization and we built it that way because that's what we wanted to do, right? Like we didn't set out to build a um like a large staff-driven nonprofit with a multimillion dollar budget. We set out to to build a grassroots membership organization of um you know working people who are contributing small amounts of money and then contributing also their time and their energy and their passion and their labor.
00:23:26
Speaker
um And so that's just kind of the organization it is. Now, the other thing I'll say is that I you know have 14 years of experience working in City Hall from the kind of from the outside. And so I've been at the table when legislation was ah hashed out, you know policies were designed, programs were implemented. So I've had that kind of inside experience of working with people in City Hall.
00:23:51
Speaker
um And I also know that I don't have all the kinds of experience. And so that's why it becomes very important. I'm assembling the team that I'm bringing in with me to the Bears office and especially that kind of high level executive team.
00:24:03
Speaker
um And since we came to the primary was such a strong result, 51 percent of the vote. um ah we've been taking that very seriously. So we've been having a lot of kind of behind the scenes things going on um to map out a strong structure for the mayor's office that will be quite different from the current one because there's a lot of dysfunction in city hall right now.
00:24:22
Speaker
um And we're vetting candidates for a few key top positions. And you know I'm very aware that I need to bring in with me Some people who have a long experience in City Hall and the executive branch and you know people who have extensive management experience of various kinds. So it's really about you know assembling that team that collectively has the the skills and expertise um and also is all united around that that
Policy Feasibility and Leadership Confidence
00:24:43
Speaker
vision. And the mayor's job is really to provide that vision and to keep everyone working in in the same direction toward it.
00:24:49
Speaker
So um I'm really excited about that. Very confident. And and we'll see what happens next Tuesday. So kind of going off that, another thing I hear people say, especially, you know, when you talk about ah affordable housing and stuff like that, is people will say, oh, it's, ah you know, it might be a nice idea, but it's not practical in reality. It's impossible. That that could never actually happen. She's making promises that probably won't be or can't be delivered on.
00:25:18
Speaker
How would you ah how would you respond to people who are maybe feeling, ah you know, like it's it's kind of it's kind of pointless and you might be saying one thing, but it can't actually be delivered on and that ah the stuff that you're talking about ah with, you know, affordable housing is this example that it's impossible and it can't be done.
00:25:38
Speaker
I mean, what I would say to those people is that what I specialized in in my work is doing things that people at first probably couldn't be done, right? So, um you know, when we set out to raise the minimum wage in TQILA in 2022, there was not institutional support for that, right? Like I went around to, I don't want to badmouth the labor unions, but I went around to the labor unions. I went around to to others. and And there was a lot of skepticism. They're just like, you're going to get buried in cash. Like, there's no way you're going to win this.
00:26:05
Speaker
and We don't want you to do this. um And we did it. um And now Tickvilla has the highest minimum wage in the country because of what we did, right? And now I'm not saying that all the things that i'm um that are in my platform are going to be easy um or that we're all going to be able to accomplish all of them in a year or even in four years, right?
00:26:22
Speaker
um But ah its it's really about and building, you assembling the forces that can push something over the finish line politically, um and also dealing with the kind of bureaucratic inertia in City Hall that does stop something from happening, right? So when we look at the example of housing, um there's still a lot more that the city can do to streamline permitting and design review and some of these internal obstacles that make it so hard to build housing, whether that's market rate housing or um or housing in the affordable housing sector.
00:26:52
Speaker
um And so I, you know, I really do think that we can make progress. That doesn't mean that, like, you know, rents are going to are going to be cut in half or something like that. So um but but I think there's a lot of untapped potential. And like often people come into the mayor's office being really beholden to to certain interests and often not corporate interests and.
00:27:11
Speaker
um And in a way that then prevents them from taking on the the fights that they need to actually take on in order to to deliver things for people. And I'm coming in not really beholden. um And with a lot of, I think, ah i mean, hopefully we'll see the election results, but hopefully a strong popular mandate to see these things.
00:27:30
Speaker
um And so, again, not not saying that it's going to be easy, but I think we need a fighter in the mayor's
World Cup Opportunities and Community Engagement
00:27:35
Speaker
office. And that's who I want to be. I love that. I i'm i am.
00:27:40
Speaker
I have. We have our one soccer question. You know, this is a political podcast that sometimes talks about soccer. Apparently now closing out here. The World Cup famously is coming to the city of Seattle next summer.
00:27:55
Speaker
And i wanted to know what in the lead up to the World Cup can the city do or you can do as mayor, not only ah in the and we using that momentum to drive something um politically, but also community wise. What what kind of things you're interested in doing in that space?
00:28:14
Speaker
Yeah, well, I mean, I'm very interested in thinking through the improvements we can make to our public space and to our our transit system ah kind of in the lead up to the World Cup. And of course, there's all the complex issues related to homelessness in in downtown core and adjacent neighborhoods. But I think on a lighter note, um you know, i i I used to years ago play a lot of pickup soccer in Seattle, just kind of in parks. And I just love that culture of just like,
00:28:41
Speaker
people coming together who don't even necessarily know each other and having soccer game, right? Whether that's at Cal Anderson or at Green Lake or the U District. and um And I think, you know, I was down at Pioneer Square recently and they have like a ah little soccer pitch down there um and i it gets a lot of use. And I was thinking it'd be really cool to have ah more of those in in parks and just kind of um you know Seattle is a soccer city. I feel like we have, we're very international city and soccer is such an international game.
00:29:11
Speaker
um And I feel like we could um also working with some of the immigrant community organizations that you know that are what are really into soccer, we could probably do a lot to just like bring soccer to Seattle parks um ah in the in the months leading up to the games.
Campaign Reflections and Encouragement to Vote
00:29:27
Speaker
And I think it would be really cool to have that kind of on the ground participatory angle.
00:29:32
Speaker
I love that. Katie, we just got a one more for you for you here and then we'll ah let you go. We don't want to take up too much of your time. We know you're crazy busy. ah But I guess I just wanted to close out by asking, you know, Election Day is right around the corner, you know, like we were talking about.
00:29:48
Speaker
It's all culminating in a few days. So I was wondering, ah one, like what are the biggest things you've learned from your campaign over the last year that maybe you didn't expect when you went into it?
00:29:59
Speaker
And ah do you have kind of like ah any sort of ah final pitch or closing message that you would want to get out to people before they ah go out and vote on November four Yeah, good question. Like, I've learned so much. It's going to hard for me to just still. I mean, it's it's definitely just like I see the city with new eyes as a candidate.
00:30:20
Speaker
um And I think sometimes, ah you know, in the in the past, it's easy to, like, get stuck in whatever neighborhood you're living in. um And, of course, now ah running for mayor, it's like the whole city. I like this.
00:30:34
Speaker
um is is kind of ah my purview. And so definitely it's been it's been an amazing experience just like traveling to every neighborhood and you know meeting small business owners, meeting residents, meeting community organizations, um and just getting a much more like fine-grained understanding of the issues that people are facing in different neighborhoods around the city. And And of course, all of us are also facing the same issues, right? The affordability crisis is everywhere. The homelessness crisis is everywhere.
00:31:01
Speaker
Public safety continues to be a big issue for people around the city. um And yeah, so it's just, i you know, it's just like, it gives me a different feeling of connection to this the city. the and And yeah, I mean, we're just less than a week out from election day. And ah so just like vote, vote, vote. You know, what I said at the beginning about put your ballot in the drop box if you can, I think is really important.
00:31:27
Speaker
um And yeah, this is this is your city, right? So, you know, get out there and and and get your ballots in. lobbyingscorchers.com slash vote. You can see where all the Dropbox locations are That links to the King County page.
00:31:44
Speaker
um Fill them out. November 4th. Be there. Be square. Or you're like you you you just got to vote. like All the cool kids are doing it. All the cool kids are doing it.
00:31:56
Speaker
We're all going to, we're all going to, all three of us here are going to promise to turn our ballots in. So it's, it rocks that all three of us haven't done that, but yeah Katie, dick to be able to like vote for yourself.
00:32:08
Speaker
Cause I've always felt like that would be, that's actually good question. Yeah, it's um it is a it's a little surreal. It's a little surreal. And that you know, it's funny, I was reflecting because we had a um we had a rally this past weekend with Jamal Bowman, who came out to so like support my campaign. and And I was just reflecting, was like, if you told me a year ago that I would be like rallying with Jamal Bowman and then like filling in a bubble to vote for myself for mayor, I would have been like, what are you smoking? So yeah definitely as a surreal experience for
00:32:38
Speaker
Yeah, no, I mean, your your ascent has been, ah it's been wild to watch. I mean, like I said at the beginning, when we first interviewed you like six, seven months ago, even or whatever, it just, it seems like the perception of it was was so different.
00:32:53
Speaker
And now as we speak today, you ah you finished ahead in the previous primary and you're considered ah definitely like that you could actually win this race. So, it ah It's wild how things can change. But ah Katie, thank you so much for coming on the show again. We really appreciate you giving us all this time this close to the election.
00:33:13
Speaker
And yeah, I guess i would just say best of luck with everything. And maybe maybe next time when you come on the show, it'll be as a as mayor. We'll find out in a few days. Listen, we're we're open to being stalker czars, duo stalker czars of the city of Seattle. and We have no experience.
00:33:29
Speaker
We would not know what to do, but we are campaigning. We are lobbying Scorchers after all. Awesome. umll We'll file that in the in the ideas file.
00:33:41
Speaker
Thanks, Katie. We really appreciate it Good to be here.