Seattle Times Columnist Calls Out Mayor Katie Wilson's Pattern of Gaffes on Wealthy Residents

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat called out what he described as a pattern of political gaffes by Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson in a column published Saturday. The piece comes as the mayor faces backlash over her viral dismissal of wealthy residents leaving the state.

"A first political gaffe is like the first time you forgot to do your homework," Westneat wrote. "It leaves a pit in the stomach, and maybe you get an F that day, but it’s only a lasting big deal if you keep repeating the mistake. So a second gaffe is more a cause for concern. By the third gaffe, we have a trend."

Wilson drew widespread attention in April after waving goodbye to millionaires seeking to leave Washington during a Seattle University event interview. "This was my uncomfortable feeling watching Seattle’s new mayor, Katie Wilson, in that Seattle University event video that’s now ricocheting all over the country," Westneat wrote.

Westneat highlighted two earlier incidents. In February, Wilson told supporters, "This city is filthy rich."

The third gaffe came in November, after her 2025 mayoral election victory. Wilson joined a Starbucks protest picket line and said, "That is why I am proud to join them on their picket line and proud to say loud and clear, I am not buying Starbucks and you should not either," according to KUOW.

Fox 13 Seattle reported this month that Seattle could lose up to $750 million in tax revenue in coming years as Starbucks expands in Tennessee rather than Washington. On April 21, Starbucks announced a $100 million investment in Nashville that includes 2,000 new jobs.

"I’m not sure these were accidental, but in all three cases, they were revealing," Westneat wrote. "It would be easy for a mayor to lend support to striking workers without also urging a companywide boycott. It would be unremarkable for a Seattle mayor to talk about wealth disparities, but ‘filthy rich’ is definitely impolitic. And now, the waving goodbye."

"Instead the story now is Seattle’s new mayor waving them out of town, while the crowd cheers," he added. "Story’s got to change, or Starbucks won’t be the last to go."

Westneat quoted former Democratic state legislator Reuven Carlyle, who called it "a horrible strategic mistake" for the mayor to effectively say "fine, go away." "But you can do it without villainizing people," Carlyle said. "The language matters. Rhetoric matters. You’re going to wave goodbye to your hometown entrepreneurs? We can’t pretend that that rhetoric doesn’t have a serious impact."

Wilson's office did not immediately return a request for comment.