How a KUOW Story Became a Weapon in the Mayoral Race 

On October 21, KUOW published a story with the headline: “Katie Wilson can barely afford to live in Seattle. That's why she wants to be mayor.” The story then goes on to reveal that while she “speaks the language of the working people,” there’s something missing from her campaign narrative: “Her parents give her money,” the reporter wrote.

Harrell’s campaign seized on the idea that support from her parents undermines Wilson’s credentials as an advocate for working-class Seattleites. Two days after the KUOW article came out, Harrell sent out a press release with the headline: “Katie Wilson is Not Who She Says She Is.” It went on to say that the profile “shatters Wilson’s carefully constructed narrative: she is not a working-class Seattle resident, and doesn’t bear the stress felt by cost-p