Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson will be officially sworn in Friday during a public ceremony at City Hall.
The inauguration will begin on January 2 at 10 a.m. at Seattle City Hall. The event will be open to the public.
Upon her inauguration, Wilson will become the third woman to serve as mayor of Seattle. She will also be Seattle’s fifth consecutive single-term mayor. The last re-elected mayor was Greg Nickels, who won his second term in 2005.
With a 55% turnout, Wilson defeated Bruce Harrell in the 2025 general election, receiving 50.2% of the vote to Harrell’s 49.5%. The 0.73% difference was the closest municipal election in Seattle by percentage since 1906.
“While I’m not afraid of the label, I certainly didn’t introduce myself either,” Wilson said on CNN about her “socialist” label. “And I think we’re really at a moment where people care a lot less about labels than they care about outcomes. And I ran for mayor of Seattle, because we’re in a moment where we have an affordability crisis, just like many cities across the country, people are struggling with the cost of housing, with the cost of child care, with the cost of food, and people are really looking for municipal leadership that is going to tackle this affordability crisis and our housing crisis with everything we have.”
Wilson intends to use his tenure as mayor to improve the city’s homeless crisis, make the city more affordable, including housing, and “Trump-proof Seattle.”
“We’re also facing a serious homeless crisis here in Seattle, and people are really looking for meaningful solutions,” Wilson told CNN. “We have higher rates of homelessness than anywhere else in the country. »
The 42-year-old mayor wants to solve Seattle’s affordability problem on every level — from housing to food to child care.
“I think a lot of people in my generation, younger and older, found it very relevant that, during this stressful campaign, my parents helped pay for their granddaughter’s daycare,” Wilson said. “I think, you know, families help each other, and I certainly recognize that I’m lucky to be in a position where my parents were able to do that. Not every family has that privilege.”
Katie Wilson’s Management Team
Wilson is retaining Tanya Kim as director of the Seattle Department of Human Services (HSD) and Dwane Chappelle as director of the Department of Early Education and Learning (DEEL), while she named Angela Brady as interim director of the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT).
Additionally, Wilson announced she was retaining Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes.
Its senior team includes Brian Surratt as Deputy Mayor, Jen Chan as Director of Departments, Kate Brunette Kreuzer as Chief of Staff, Seferiana Day as Director of Communications, Alex Gallo-Brown as Director of Community Relations, Aly Pennucci as Director of the City Budget Office and Nicole Vallestero Soper as Director of Policy and Innovation.
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