‘A scary proposition’: Harrell warns of policy differences with challenger Katie Wilson

Seattle’s mayoral race is in full swing as thousands of residents across the city will cast their vote for either the incumbent candidate, Mayor Bruce Harrell, or his challenger, Katie Wilson.

As the election nears its end, Harrell outlined the differences between his policies and Wilson’s, focusing primarily on public safety within Seattle and the improvements his administration made throughout his first term.

“We are very proud of our plans and investment strategy to make downtown the most pedestrian-friendly area possible, and a great experience. That’s how we will compete with other cities in this country,” Harrell said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “Yes, you see pocket areas of people still killing themselves, loitering, doing drugs, and now that we have a police department and a care department responsive to their needs, we will be able to clean that up here in the second term. I think people focus on what you see that’s negative, but let’s remind people what it was like three years ago, where you would see plywood; now you’re seeing more and more businesses come back.”

Both Harrell and Wilson emerged out of the state’s August primary as the two leading candidates for mayor in Seattle, with Wilson receiving 18,000 more votes than Harrell. Notably, Seattle has not re-elected a mayor since 2006, when Greg Nickels’ second term began.

“A huge contrast or distinction between [Wilson] and I is that my opponent, up to this day, has never said what adequate staffing looks like, knowing that [Wilson] was the lead architect and voice on defunding the police; that’s why this is a scary proposition,” Harrell said. “We should be fully staffed on the police side with 1,415 officers, and that’s why I’ve been saying that on the campaign trail when my opponent wouldn’t commit to one number.

“You’re going to see a great ecosystem, a public safety ecosystem under our administration. And quite candidly, my opponent knows nothing about public safety other than being an advocate for defunding it. I need voters, quite frankly, to understand that,” Harrell continued.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.