Seattle is on the verge of potentially choosing its first democratic socialist mayor, with a razor-thin lead of just 65 votes, provided the candidate maintains her current voting percentage from the latest ballot count.

Katie Wilson, aged 43, has significantly narrowed the gap between herself and the current mayor, Bruce Harrell. As of Friday, she was trailing by fewer than 4,300 votes—a margin of less than two percent—as the ballot counting proceeds following the November 4 election day.

The competition remains intensely close, with the lead shifting back and forth since the general election a week ago, and approximately 50,000 ballots still awaiting counting.

Former mayor Gregory Nickels has speculated that if Wilson continues to capture 54.85 percent of the votes from these outstanding ballots, as she did in the latest count, she could clinch victory by merely 65 votes.

“This is going to be tight,” the former mayor remarked on Facebook.

If elected, Wilson would be the first democratic socialist mayor of Seattle, echoing the recent victory of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who handily won the general election in New York City by nine points.

Like Mamdani, Wilson has run on a campaign characterized by promises to increase affordability in the expensive city. Another core part of her platform is addressing Seattle’s homelessness crisis, which is one of the worst in the country. 

But critics have called Wilson privileged and out of touch, as the 43-year-old candidate regularly receives checks from her professor parents to pay for childcare. 

Katie Wilson could become Seattle’s first democratic socialist mayor by just 65 votes if she takes 54.85 percent of the uncounted ballots like she did in the votes counted on Friday

Wilson is running against incumbent Bruce Harrell. As of Friday, he leads the race by less than two percent. He is pictured with former Vice President Kamala Harris

Those critics also highlight Wilson dropping out of Oxford University just six weeks before graduation, debt free thanks to her parents. 

Harrell’s reelection website highlights a quote from Carolyn Riley-Payne, former Seattle King County NAACP President, who said: ‘It’s hard to trust a candidate running on their challenges with affordability when her family’s wealth shields her from actual consequences and financial stress.

‘Wilson chose to not graduate from college, and now chooses to rely on parental subsidy to avoid financial hardship.’

Wilson and her husband spend $2,200 per month on daycare for their toddler, and another $2,200 to rent their apartment. 

The democratic socialist has acknowledged her privileged upbringing, and said she became aware of it while attending public schools, where she had friends without the same means. 

She told KUOW that when she moved to Seattle in 2004, she cut herself off from her parents’ money and ‘worked a bunch of working-class jobs,’ which she said: ‘Psychologically, it really did something to me.’

In 2011, she founded the Transit Riders Union, a nonprofit focused on improving public transportation in Seattle and King’s County. Tax records show she earned close to $73,000 from the nonprofit in 2022 while working 55 hour weeks.

Currently, her husband does not have a paying job. That means the couple’s household income is below what would be considered enough money to support themselves and their child in Seattle.

Wilson, pictured here at a protest, dropped out of Oxford University just six weeks before graduation, debt free thanks to her parents

Wilson has been compared to Zohran Mamdani for her progressive positions and political affiliations. In this photo, she poses next to Jamaal Bowman, a progressive former representative of New York State

That fact is part of the reason Wilson is not ashamed of the financial assistance she receives. ‘It just speaks to how expensive and unaffordable it is, right?’ she said. 

‘If you’re lucky enough to have parents who can pitch in a little bit, that’s not something to be embarrassed about.’

A spokesperson for Wilson’s campaign told the Daily Mail: ‘Families from all different kinds of economic backgrounds support each other in all different kinds of ways.

‘Katie Wilson’s experience—as a working mom who lives in a one-bedroom apartment with her husband and two-year old-daughter and recently received a small amount of financial support from her middle-class parents to help pay for childcare in one of the most expensive cities in the country while she ran for mayor—is far less of an aberration than that of the incumbent mayor Bruce Harrell, who lives in a 7,000 square foot house and has a net worth in excess of $15 million. 

Current mayor Harrell is pictured with his wife, Kamala Harris, and his grandchildren

The race between Harrell and Wilson is incredibly tight and has swung back and forth in the week since election day on November 4

‘Katie’s experience is, if anything, representative of her generation and underscores the need for broad system change to address affordability for working people in our city and nation.’

In August, Wilson won the mayoral primary by 9.5 points. Turnout at the primary this year was slightly lower than the last election in 2021, according to Ballotpedia.

Unofficial King’s County election results last updated on Friday showed that about 40,000 more registered voters cast their ballots in the general election than in the primary. 

That represented about 46 percent of the city’s registered voters, which is lower than the 2021 turnout of 54.6 percent in the 2021 general election. Every vote in the tight race is thus highly important. 

That lower turnout also represents a stark difference with New York City’s mayoral election, where 2 million votes were cast – the most by raw number since 1969 and the highest percentage of registered voters to engage in the election since 2001.

If Wilson wins, not only would she be the first democratic socialist mayor of Seattle, she would also be the third woman to earn the position, and the first mother of a toddler to do so.