Pete Buttigieg, the former U.S. transportation secretary and mayor of South Bend, Ind., endorsed Mayor Bruce Harrell’s reelection bid Monday.
The backing from a figure like Buttigieg cements Harrell’s broad support from state and national mainstays of the Democratic Party as he and his campaign fight tooth and nail to retain the mayor’s office.
Seattle’s primary results cast doubt on how much Seattle voters will be swayed by endorsements from institutional Democrats, especially without strong ties to Seattle.
“He is a principled, nationally recognized leader in the fight to protect the rights of marginalized communities, as reflected in his lifelong work for equity and fairness, and rooted in the experience of his own family,” Buttigieg said in a video Monday.
National involvement in Seattle races is not a given, but neither is it rare. Sen. Elizabeth Warren endorsed Harrell’s 2021 opponent, M. Lorena González. And in 2019, both Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized Amazon’s $1.5 million cash dump into the City Council races.
Though Harrell has won the support of mayors from around the country, Buttigieg is by far the most well-known endorsement from outside of Washington.
Harrell called the support from Buttigieg, who has already run for president once and appears likely to do so again, “validation of the work I am doing here in Seattle.”
If endorsements translated to votes, Harrell would be the runaway favorite. Name an establishment Democrat in Washington and that person has probably backed Harrell – Gov. Bob Ferguson, Attorney General Nick Brown, Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and many more.
Wilson, by comparison, has relatively few endorsements, though she has picked up more support from local unions recently.
Despite the imbalance, Wilson’s strong showing in the August primary – exceeding 50% and besting Harrell by nearly 10 percentage points – has made her the favorite to win in November.
Both Harrell and Wilson are approaching $1 million in fundraising – with Harrell at $846,000 and Wilson at $791,000.
But while Wilson has around $40,000 in independent spending behind her, the pro-Harrell political committee has raised more than $900,000. The largest donation, $100,000, is from the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. John Stanton, the Seattle Mariners’ largest shareholder, gave $50,000.
