KIRO NEWSRADIO OPINION

‘Does Katie Wilson finish her term?’: Curley polls the room after Starbucks, Starlink controversies

May 23, 2026, 5:00 AM

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson backtracked on some of her comments regarding Starbucks and her decision to boycott the Seattle-based company, which is leaving a rotten taste in the mouths of her supporters.

On top of the Starbucks comments, Wilson’s supporters are also displeased after a recent report surfaced that she tapped Elon Musk-backed Starlink for a $100,000 contract to provide backup internet during the FIFA World Cup.

Starbucks backtrack, $100K Starlink contract draw fire from supporters

In light of the developing dilemma within Wilson’s ever-changing stance on working with some of the world’s largest companies, KIRO host John Curley questioned whether she can survive an impeachment in her first term.

“Do the people of Seattle think Mayor Katie Wilson will finish her term? Does she make it all the way through?” Curley asked on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

“Yes, I say she makes it bumper to bumper,” KIRO traffic reporter Nate Connors replied. “Katie Wilson makes it four years.”

“Joe, what say you?” Curley asked.

“Yeah, I think she does. Honestly, a lot of things that people are mad about her are just things that she says,” KIRO producer Joe Wallace responded. “The Starlink contract, that’s at least actually something she did. Most everybody else is mad at her for the ‘tax the rich’ stuff, which she didn’t have anything to do with. She just says she wants to do it. She has almost zero policies in place so far.”

From Trump’s policies to Wilson’s pledges: Curley reflects on broken political promises

Curley ran through a list of promises politicians have made and broken, tying it to how Wilson has handled the early stages of her time as Seattle mayor.

“How often does a candidate say they’re going to do something and then go into office and actually do it?” Curley asked. “Donald Trump did it with immigration, good for him, A+ on that. Not getting the U.S. involved in endless wars? F. Making things more affordable? F. First of all, I don’t know how anybody could do something like that. Taxing or tariffing us to prosperity? Yeah, that didn’t work either.

“They promise, and never deliver. And people are fooled constantly by the con artist, the suave, slick salesman who can come along, and that’s what people vote for,” he continued. “I think it was either Socrates or Plato, said, ‘We can’t have people vote. You want to see a crappy government? Let people vote.’ H. L. Mencken said, ‘The greatest argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with a common man.’ I’m not saying you should pass a test to vote, but you have to have an educated populace to have a government that works.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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‘Does Katie Wilson finish her term?’: Curley polls the room after Starbucks, Starlink controversies