Seattle Is Screwed: Mayoral Debate Goes Off the Rails When Candidates Are Asked About Repeat Offenders

Reporting that Seattle is screwed might seem a lot like reporting "dog bites man," but in this case, it is profoundly true considering how the city's mayoral debate went Thursday night.

A focal point in the national debate for the last couple of months has been crime in blue cities, especially as it relates to repeat offenders.

It was sparked in part by the brutal murder of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zartuska, who was trying to get home from work on the Charlotte light rail system one Friday night in August, only to be stabbed to death a short time later, allegedly by 34-year-old homeless man and repeat offender Decarlos Brown Jr., who had 14 prior arrests.

A House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight field hearing in Charlotte on Monday emphasized the point, with Stephen Federico, father of murdered Waxhaw, NC native Logan Federico, 22, going off on soft-on-crime Democrats, noting his daughter's alleged killer, Alexander Dickey, had been arrested nearly 40 times prior to Logan's death (which happened in South Carolina).

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, a Democrat and former city councilman, is up for reelection. His opponent, Katie Wilson, a community organizer who has been compared to Zohran Mamdani, is also a Democrat. They were the top two vote-getters in the August 5th "non-partisan" primary, with Harrell getting 41.21 percent of the vote and Wilson getting 50.75 percent of the vote.

Thursday night was their second debate, and one of the questions related to repeat offenders. Harrell's answer should give Seattle residents who are concerned about crime nightmares.

The moderator asked, "If somebody has offended six, seven, eight times, even if it’s a minor offense, but they continue to fail to turn their life around, at what point do you balance public safety to giving this person some accountability? Where is that balance?"

This was Harrell's answer:

So, let me make something very clear. I was the one that sponsored the Ban the Box legislation when everyone opposed it, because the criminal system has had a disparate impact on black and brown communities, let me lead with that.
So, when this person is committing six or seven crimes, I don’t know his or her story. I don't know, maybe they were abused as a child. Maybe they’re hungry. So, my remedy is to find their life story to see how we can help first. I have no desire to put them in jail. But I need to protect you, and that’s the calibration that we have.
[...]
Whether they commit seven or eight crimes, to me, is not the issue. The issue is, why are they committing these crimes? And so we have a health-based strategy.

For the record, "ban the box" policies typically hamstring employers from being able to inquire as to whether or not a prospective employee has a criminal history.

Watch:

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell cares more about criminals than their victims. pic.twitter.com/4L037n3qQP
— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) October 3, 2025

Wilson's answer, unfortunately, was no better:

When asked about her plan for addressing repeat offenders, Wilson touted the city’s "diversion" program "where if someone is arrested they have the opportunity instead of going through that booking and jail process to be diverted" into case management processes for drug treatment and shelter.

Washington state has become even more blue in recent years thanks to a Republican exodus and an influx of Democrats, so this tracks, unfortunately.

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

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