Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and progressive challenger Katie Wilson have debated many times over the course of the general election, and one of the most recent was at Seattle University and co-sponsored by KOMO. Seeking to make up ground after finishing a distant second in the primary, Harrell continued to harangue Wilson for a perceived lack of inexperience, while she hit the mayor for his broken promises and blunders managing the city’s homelessness response, housing, and the Seattle Police Department.
Wilson noted she disagreed with the promotion of controversial officer Michael Tietjen to captain of East Precinct in Capitol Hill (Seattle’s traditional gayborhood), which had leaked early last week. The Harrell Administration had backtracked and canceled the promotion by Thursday. During 2020 protests, Tietjen once drove his unmarked SUV into a crowd of protesters in 2020 and called protesters “cockroaches.” He has a number of conduct complaints, including harassing a trans woman with a group of officers, who asked her if she “had a dick under” her skirt.
