Seattle mayor endorses challenger to WA Senate majority leader

The democratic socialist mayor of Seattle on Saturday night endorsed opponents running to the left of two longtime Democratic state legislators who represent the city, including the party’s top lawmaker in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen said Mayor Katie Wilson told him during a meeting she requested yesterday that she would endorse Hannah Sabio-Howell, the progressive activist challenging Pedersen in Seattle’s 43rd Legislative District. Pedersen said he’d asked Wilson last fall for her endorsement, but she’d demurred.

Rep. Gerry Pollet said Wilson told him in a phone call on Saturday morning that she planned to endorse one of his primary opponents, Ron Davis, for the House seat in the 46th District, which includes much of north Seattle east of Aurora Avenue and extends out to Lake Forest Park and Kenmore. Pollet has held the seat since 2011.

“It’s just astonishing to me,” Pollet said Saturday. “I have worked hard to support the city’s agenda, including since she became mayor.”

Wilson confirmed the endorsements in an emailed statement late Saturday. 

With the endorsements, the first-term mayor of the state’s biggest city is spurning two veteran Seattle legislators — including one of the most powerful lawmakers in Olympia — while backing a pair of political newcomers who are more firmly in her camp on the party’s left flank.

“There is strong pressure for elected officials to endorse fellow incumbents. It’s a way of maintaining relationships, part of the quid pro quo of governing. I understand this, but it’s not the way I want to do politics,” Wilson said in the statement.

“We’re at an inflection point in our city and our region. Voters are feeling a warranted frustration with the status quo,” she added.

Wilson said she was also backing Jaelynn Scott in her bid for a House seat in the 37th District, which covers south Seattle neighborhoods like Beacon Hill, the Central District, Rainier Valley, Columbia City and the city of Renton. That seat opened up because Democratic state Rep. Chipalo Street is running for Senate.

Her endorsements come after Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist mayor of New York City, supported a slate of successful congressional candidates in New York primary races this week. They ran on progressive economic policies and opposition to U.S. support for Israel, and their wins rattled centrists in the party nationwide heading toward this year’s midterms.

“It looks to me like she’s clearly being influenced by what she saw happen in New York City,” said longtime Seattle political consultant Sandeep Kaushik.

He suspects that the mayor is betting that the New York results are not unique, but part of a national shift in the Democratic Party, where progressive insurgents are gaining traction against established lawmakers.

“It’s a high-risk move by the mayor to do this,” Kaushik said, adding that if Pedersen and Pollet do win reelection, Wilson’s relationship with the political establishment in Olympia will likely be strained. On the other hand, if she picks winners, he said, it could strengthen her standing with her base and her image as someone on the leading edge of a political movement. 

Pedersen didn’t rule out the idea that the dynamics in New York are reflected here. 

“I think there are people who want it to be a comparison,” he said. “Who aspire for us to be divided in that same way.” 

The 43rd District includes Seattle neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, the University District, Fremont, Belltown, Montlake, Eastlake and Laurelhurst. It’s one of the more left-leaning strongholds in a city that is decidedly Democratic. 

Sabio-Howell jumped into the Senate race there earlier this year, criticizing Pedersen for taking an approach that’s too “corporate and incrementalist.” She’s calling for policies like higher taxes on corporations and a ban on Washington police departments hiring former immigration officers.

She said she wasn’t able to immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

“Hannah Sabio-Howell is, like me, a renter in the 43rd, where three in four residents now rent their homes,” Wilson said in her statement. “She’s built her career organizing for stronger labor standards and workers’ rights. I know she’ll be an effective and energetic fighter for the most progressive district in Washington state.”

Pedersen, who was elected to the Legislature in 2006 and has served as Senate majority leader since late 2024, was a main architect of the state’s new income tax on high earners. He said Saturday that he’d hoped Wilson would devote her political energy this year to defeating an expected ballot measure aimed at overturning the income tax.

“It’s a little disappointing that she’s instead doing this,” Pedersen said.

Pollet, who has a reputation as a key liaison between Seattle municipal government and Olympia, said Wilson indicated that her decision was driven not by his policy positions, but by the mayor’s ties to Davis. Davis helped lead efforts to create a campaign fundraising operation that supported Wilson’s mayoral run last year, raking in around $442,000.

“She acknowledged that I’ve been a leader in support of the city,” he added, recounting his phone call with Wilson. The message, he heard: legislators who work with the city “can be thrown overboard if the mayor has a personal relationship with someone else.”

Wilson described Davis as “one of the hardest workers I know.” 

“He’s equally at home deep-diving into housing policy and knocking on the doors of actual houses to hear from his neighbors about their lives and concerns,” she added. “He’s also a dad who cares deeply about making our city affordable for working families.”

Davis didn’t immediately respond to a phone message and email seeking comment.

Both Pedersen and Pollet questioned how much of a difference Wilson’s endorsement will make as Washington’s Aug. 4 primary election approaches. 

In Pollet’s race, both he and Davis trail a third contender in fundraising. Will Dreher, also a Democrat, has raised around $257,000. Pollet has about $165,000 socked away, and Davis has raised around $135,000. Because it’s a three-way race, it’s possible Pollet could get knocked out in the primary stage.

Pedersen is well-positioned to advance to the November general election. A third candidate in his race, Heather-Marie Wilson, does not state any party preference and has not raised any money, according to her most recent campaign finance reports. As it stands, Pedersen’s has a big fundraising advantage, with $345,000 raised, compared to Sabio-Howell, who has piled up around $81,500.

Pedersen ran unopposed in 2022, winning 98% of the vote in the general election.

But this year is different politically, with the growing rift within the Democratic Party.

Wilson’s endorsement isn’t the only noteworthy one to not break in Pedersen’s favor. The 43rd District Democrats also backed Sabio-Howell.

Asked Saturday if he was worried about his reelection, he recalled what someone once told him about electoral politics: “You’re either running unopposed or you’re running scared.”

“There’s no certainty in this work,” he added.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to note Heather-Marie Wilson’s candidacy in the 43rd District.