“Your Job Is Questions.
Mine Is Deciding
Which Ones I Answer.”
Seattle’s self-described “democratic socialist” mayor paused the city’s camera network, banned ICE from city property, told fleeing millionaires “bye,” and organized a Starbucks boycott that cost Seattle hundreds of millions. When a KOMO News reporter asked whether a shooting outside her event changed her mind about surveillance cameras, a city staffer answered instead. Mayor Katie Wilson (D) eventually returned with her answer: “Not really.”
A shooting outside her event. A reporter with a question. A staffer with an answer.
On April 29, 2026, shots were fired outside the Yesler Community Center in Seattle while Mayor Katie Wilson (D)was inside announcing an expansion of the city’s preschool program. Police confirmed the shooting was not targeted at Wilson. No injuries. Suspects fled in a dark-colored sedan.
Two days later, KOMO News reporter Chris Daniels caught Wilson at a separate event — a wood recycling facility ceremony — and asked whether the Yesler shooting changed her perspective on the citywide surveillance camera expansion she had paused weeks earlier pending a “data and privacy audit.”
As Wilson began to answer, a city press handler stepped in: “I appreciate it, but let’s keep it on topic, OK?”Daniels pressed. A second staffer intervened. When Daniels noted that the interference made Wilson look worse, a staffer delivered the line that went viral.
“Your job is to ask questions. It's our job to figure out which questions we want to answer.”
Katie Wilson aide to KOMO News reporter Chris Daniels · May 1, 2026 · wood recycling facility event, Seattle
Wilson eventually returned and answered. Her answer, on whether a shooting outside her event changed her mind about cameras: “Not really.”She added that she supports cameras but that “we also have to be very careful” about data sharing — specifically mentioning concerns that cameras could be used to assist immigration enforcement. The two-minute video accumulated nearly 1 million views on X within hours of publication.
She inherited a camera program. Within 100 days, she froze it.
Within her first 100 days in office, Wilson paused the prior administration’s citywide CCTV expansion program — launched by former Mayor Bruce Harrell (D) — pending a privacy and data-use audit by NYU School of Law’s Policing Project. She also turned off at least one camera located near a Planned Parenthood.
“I believe that CCTV cameras have an important role to play in our public safety system. We also have to be very careful to make sure that our data storage, security, sharing practices don’t make that system vulnerable to misuse and abuse.”
Translation: She is concerned that surveillance footage could be shared with federal immigration authorities. She paused the program designed to catch criminals so that it could not accidentally help ICE.
The pause frustrated both her left flank (activists who wanted the program shut down entirely) and law enforcement officials who had pushed for expanded camera coverage after a series of violent incidents. Seattle’s crime rate, already among the worst in the country, did not pause along with the cameras.
A self-described democratic socialist who beat an incumbent by 0.73 points
Mayor: Katie Wilson (D) — took office January 1, 2026
Self-identifies as: “democratic socialist” — her own words, comfortable with the label
Governing philosophy (per Jacobin): “sewer socialist mentality” — public ownership of utilities and transit
Election margin: Won general election by 0.73 percentage points — closest Seattle mayoral race since 1906
Background: Co-founded Seattle Transit Riders Union (2011), executive director from 2019 earning ~$73,000/year
Personal: Does not own a car. Rents a Capitol Hill apartment. Relies on public transit.
On January 29, 2026, Wilson signed an executive order directing Seattle Police officers to document all ICE activity — requiring body cameras, ID checks of federal agents, and evidence gathering for potential prosecution. She also barred ICE from using any city-owned property for civil enforcement: parks, garages, the Seattle Center. Police union president Kent Loux called the order “confusing.” SPOG president Mike Solan called it “political theater.”
When Wilson won in November 2025, Trump commented at a FIFA World Cup event: “I watched her over the weekend… wow, that’s another beauty we got there.”He threatened to move Seattle’s six World Cup games, calling Wilson “a very, very liberal-slash-communist mayor.”
Seattle just elected a COMMUNIST Mayor who doesn't own a car, wants to close down police, and thinks ICE agents should be filmed and arrested for doing their jobs. She ran on 'democratic socialism' — which is just Communism with a nicer name. She won by less than 1%. The people of Seattle deserve MUCH better. SAD!
“The ones that leave — like, bye.”
On April 14, 2026, at a Seattle University forum, Wilson addressed concerns that Washington state’s new 9.9% millionaire’s tax — signed by Governor Bob Ferguson (D) on March 30, 2026 — would accelerate wealth flight from the state.
“I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are like super overblown. And the ones that leave, like, bye.”
Mayor Katie Wilson (D) · Seattle University forum · April 14, 2026 · Washington state millionaire's tax
The “bye” came with a wave of her hand, on camera, and went viral on Fox News, RedState, and Town Hall within hours. Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO whose company built Seattle’s global brand, subsequently announced he was leaving Washington state. His departure followed Starbucks’ announcement of a $100 million investment in Nashville and 2,000 new jobs in Tennessee — not Seattle.
Seattle's 'Mayor' just waved 'BYE' to the millionaires leaving her failed city because of radical socialist tax hikes. Meanwhile Seattle has one of the WORST crime rates in America. Thousands of homeless people on the streets. Companies fleeing. Starbucks left. And she thinks it's funny! This is what DEMOCRAT-run cities look like. VOTE THEM OUT!
She called a boycott on election night. Starbucks responded with $100M in Nashville.
On the night she won the November 2025 election, Wilson joined Starbucks workers on a picket line and declared:“I am not buying Starbucks and you should not either.”Seattle’s downtown Starbucks headquarters had been a cornerstone of the city’s economy for decades, employing thousands and generating an estimated $750 million annually in tax revenue and economic activity.
Starbucks subsequently announced a $100 million investment in Nashville and 2,000 new jobs in Tennessee. Howard Schultz, who built the company into a global brand headquartered in Seattle, announced he was leaving Washington state. Wilson was asked about it. She did not express regret.
4th worst crime rate among the 30 largest American cities. The cameras are paused.
According to the FBI’s 2024 Uniform Crime Report, Seattle ranks 4th worst among America’s 30 largest cities for total crime. Seattle’s total crime rate stands at 5,782.7 per 100,000 residents — 172.9% higher than the national average of 2,119. Its property crime rate of 5,007.6 per 100,000 is nearly triple the national average. Its violent crime rate of 775.1 is more than double.
Total crime rate: 5,782.7 per 100,000 residents
National average: 2,119 per 100,000 — Seattle is 172.9% above it
Property crime: 5,007.6 per 100,000 — nearly 3× the national average of 1,760
Violent crime: 775.1 per 100,000 — more than 2× the national average of 359.1
Ranking: #4 worst among the 30 largest U.S. cities
Police staffing (Dec 2024): 848 deployable officers — lowest since 1991. National avg: 2.6 officers per 1,000 residents. Seattle: 1.3.
Early 2026: Two Rainier Beach High School students killed at a bus stop in January. Another man killed in Pioneer Square.
The SPD’s 2025 Year in Review did show improvement during Mayor Harrell’s final year: overall crime down 18%, homicides down 36% to 37 (lowest since before the pandemic), shooting victims down 36%. Wilson inherited those gains on January 1, 2026. In her first months, two high school students were shot dead at a bus stop. Drug arrests had risen 47% (from 633 to 942) in the prior year as the city moved away from pre-arrest diversion.
$12.26 million unaccounted for. $44.7 million in the red. And the county is moving to dissolve the agency.
On a single night in 2024, King County’s official Point-in-Time count found more than 16,000 people homeless— with unsheltered homelessness up 28% to 9,810. Washington state’s homelessness rate has risen 25% since 2022 and 4.4% year over year. The city spent $153.8 million on homelessness services in 2024.
An independent forensic audit of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) — the regional body created in 2021 specifically to solve homelessness — released in April 2026 found:
$12.26 million: Unaccounted for in the audit
$44.7 million: Negative cash position as of July 31, 2025
$6.4 million: In unapproved overspending
Fraud finding: Auditors found “no direct evidence of fraud” but stated they could not rule it out
County response: King County Council is moving to dissolve KCRHA entirely
Wilson’s plan for homelessness: $17.5 million for 500 tiny homes by June 2026, with a goal of 1,000 new shelter units in 2026. In a city that has already spent hundreds of millions on homelessness with the problem getting worse, the agency managing those dollars is now being dissolved for missing millions it cannot account for.
Seattle has 16,000 homeless people, the 4th worst crime rate in America, and $12 MILLION missing from their homelessness agency — which they spent $153 million on last year! Now they're talking about dissolving the whole agency. Meanwhile the Mayor thinks millionaires leaving is FUNNY. This is Democrat governance. The people of Seattle deserve so much better!