Harger: As Seattle embraces a Democratic Socialist mayor, fears of a business exodus emerge
Nov 20, 2025, 6:10 AM | Updated: 4:36 pm
Seattle just elected Katie Wilson, and she’s got big plans for our economy.
Young voters put her in office because they’re frustrated. Good jobs, decent salaries, and they still can’t afford to live here. They wanted someone to shake things up.
Here’s the Democratic Socialist mayor-elect last week, explaining her fiscal philosophy:
I am very committed to making sure that we are using our existing resources as effectively and efficiently as possible. So we will review the ways the city is spending money, and I think we’re gonna have to do that given the size of the budget deficit. And I am not averse to ending spending on programs that were maybe well-intentioned when they were first implemented but aren’t fulfilling their goals. So we are going to be doing our very best to be the best stewards of public resources as we can.
I do think that we will need to pursue new progressive revenue in order to fund our priorities and make sure we’re delivering the services people in Seattle need. There are several progressive tax options I proposed as part of my platform. So we’re gonna have city staff looking into developing those into legislation. I don’t know yet exactly what the timeline is going to be on that.”
Translation: After reviewing city spending, we’re going to need “new progressive revenue.” That’s City Hall speak for higher taxes on businesses. She’s floated expanded JumpStart levies, $30 minimum wages, and professional service taxes — the whole progressive wishlist.
Look, Wilson’s not crazy. She sees teachers commuting from Federal Way, nurses living in their cars, tech workers needing roommates at 35. Amazon made billions here using our infrastructure and educated workforce. Her argument is simple: these companies got rich off Seattle, they can help fix Seattle. Maybe she’s betting businesses need what Seattle offers enough to stay despite new taxes.
It’s not an insane theory. It’s just that Bellevue is 15 minutes away.
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Exodus from Seattle
Businesses are already fleeing, and Bruce Harrell is still the city’s mayor for six more weeks. Harrell, who’s practically a conservative compared to Wilson. If this is the exodus under a moderate, relatively pro-business mayor, imagine what happens when a Democratic Socialist takes charge.
Amazon has moved more than 10,000 jobs to Bellevue. Actually moved. Past tense. A company called Snowflake relocated seven hundred employees to the Eastside. TikTok and OpenAI went straight to Bellevue. Didn’t even stop for coffee in Seattle.
Thomas Gilbert at the University of Washington’s (UW) Foster School has the numbers: Seattle lost nearly 6,000 jobs while Bellevue gained over 4,000. Our office vacancy rate hit 27%. Closer to 35% downtown. Bellevue’s? Sixteen percent and dropping.
This is happening under Harrell. Today. Before Wilson’s new taxes even existed.
Why Bellevue? No JumpStart payroll tax. No trial balloons about forcing unprofitable grocery stores to stay open. They offer something revolutionary: predictability. Businesses prefer boring.
Wilson’s advisors want vacancy taxes to punish empty offices. But offices aren’t empty because owners enjoy losing rent. They’re empty in many cases because companies moved to Bellevue. Or their employees are working from home. Taxing empty space doesn’t create businesses. It just adds costs.
Remember 2018’s head tax? The city wanted $275 per employee from Amazon. Amazon’s response? They canceled a downtown tower and expanded in Bellevue. The tax died fast, but the message stuck: Seattle is unpredictable.
Those young supporters who voted for Wilson because they can’t afford Seattle? Their employers are the ones leaving. That tech job that barely covers rent here is relocating to Bellevue, where rent is even higher.
Wilson believes businesses have a civic responsibility to stay and pay. They won’t say it, but from Amazon’s point of view, they don’t owe Seattle anything. A lot of companies feel this way. They’ll go where they can operate efficiently. Tax them enough, and they’ll efficiently operate somewhere else.
They already are. And Wilson hasn’t even taken office yet.
Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here.
