Socialist mayor-elect reveals why she embraced her parents giving her money as a 43-year-old

Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson, 43, said now that she has been elected mayor and is earning more money as a result, she no longer needs to ask her parents for help to pay the bills.

Wilson, who recently told CNN that she thought embracing the help she got from her parents made her more “relatable” to Seattle voters, quipped on social media that “after much deliberation and a grueling interview process” she was “pleased” to announce that her higher salary as mayor will mean she no longer needs financial support from her parents. During Wilson’s campaign, she credited her parents’ financial support for allowing her to run. 

“My opponent’s campaign and the corporate PAC that tried to stop my election certainly cast it as a negative thing,” Wilson responded when asked whether she thought people in Seattle saw her parents’ financial support as a negative or a positive.  

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“Campaigning for office is stressful,” Wilson continued. “Seattle is one of the most expensive cities in the country, our childcare is off-the-charts expensive, and honestly I think that a lot of people of my generation, and younger, and older, found it very relatable that during this stressful campaign my parents chipped in to help pay for the cost of their granddaughter’s daycare.”

Wilson added that it isn’t unusual for parents to help their children with money, but also noted that she recognized her “privilege.” 

“You know, families help each other out and I certainly acknowledge that I’m lucky to be in a position where my parents were able to do that – not all families have that privilege,” Wilson said. “And that’s why I’m going to fight for affordable childcare and affordable housing for every family in this city.”

Wilson said during her campaign that the cost of childcare was about $2,200 per month for her and her reportedly unemployed husband. Wilson did not share precisely how much her parents contributed during the campaign, pointing out that she does not keep track. However, when pressed for more details, Wilson reportedly said the money comes in every few months.

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Meanwhile, prior to moving to Seattle in 2004, Wilson lived in upstate New York. After graduating from high school in Binghamton, Wilson studied physics and philosophy at Oxford University, thanks to financial assistance from her parents living in New York. Wilson ultimately left Oxford debt-free, which she credits to her parents. However, she also left without a degree, dropping out just six weeks before her graduation.

Prior to earning her new mayoral salary, Wilson was getting paid by the nonprofit she founded in 2011, called the Transit Riders Union. She began collecting paychecks from the group in 2019. Before that, Wilson worked a series of odd jobs, including barista, boatyard worker, apartment manager, lab technician, baker, construction worker and legal assistant.

Tax records show that Wilson brought in $72,669 in 2022 for 55 hours of work as the president of the Transit Riders Union. There are no records of Wilson’s salary for 2023 or 2024, reportedly due to the fact the nonprofit changed tax preparers recently, according to PubliCola. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not require nonprofits to disclose salaries of employees making under $100,000 per year.

Wilson reported earning between $60,000 and $99,000 in a financial statement to the city upon declaring her candidacy for mayor. Wilson also reported income “less than $30,000” from PubliCola, The Urbanist and The Stranger, respectively, for work as a “columnist” for the left-wing online news outlets.