‘These are big names’: Mariners owners, Microsoft execs support Harrell’s playoff campaign ad

Campaign advertisements for Bruce Harrell and Katie Wilson, both vying to be the mayor of Seattle, were broadcast during one of the Mariners’ playoff games on Monday.

Funding for the ad placement of Mayor Harrell’s commercial came from some of Seattle’s biggest names, including Mariners majority owner John Stanton, Tod Leiweke, part-owner of the Kraken, and Brad Smith, the vice chair and president of Microsoft.

“These are big names. There’s a reason why these folks want Mayor Bruce Harrell to keep his job,” KIRO host Jake Skorheim said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “They’re not necessarily saying they think he’s the best mayor in the history of the town, or even the best option. But of these candidates, they seem to think Harrell is the better option than Katie.”

“It’s a better option for their particular business interests,” KIRO host Spike O’Neill responded. “That’s what the election cycles are all about. Giving to the candidate who’s going to help your business, and your employees do better.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Mayoral race heats up

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and mayoral candidate Katie Wilson have participated in numerous debates leading up to the general election, discussing various Seattle-based topics.

Wilson earned nearly 51% of the vote in the August primary, compared to Harrell’s 43%.

“We need a mayor’s office that is responsive and effective, and right now we are failing,” Wilson said during an opening statement of an Oct. 3 debate. “We cannot have another four years when the rates of unsheltered homelessness go up and up and up. I cannot keep watching families like mine move out of the city because they cannot afford to live here … I know that together we can build a city that we can all believe in.”

Harrell, who served on the Seattle City Council from 2008 to 2020 before becoming mayor, has been exhibiting his experience as both a lawmaker and a Seattle native, having grown up and attended school in the city before assuming a leadership role.

“I need four more years to right the ship, and we’ve laid the foundation for it,” Harrell said.

It’s been a contentious race, marked by numerous allegations and controversies between the two. Harrell and his campaign team claimed that Harrell’s skin was edited to a different color in a photo posted by Common Power, which Kate Wilson and her campaign team later promoted.

Wilson was also accused of falsifying an endorsement from Claude Burfect, a prominent civil rights activist who was the first vice president of the Seattle-King County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Earlier this year, former Seattle Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell accused Mayor Bruce Harrell of sexism and running a toxic office where sexism was the apparent norm. Monisha is the mayor’s niece.

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