A petition to recall Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has been filed, with FOX 13 Seattle reporting that King County elections confirmed the filing. The effort, described as grassroots and only just starting up, marks the first step in what officials stress will be a long and demanding process before any recall could actually reach voters. The station pushed an alert to phones announcing that a petition to recall the mayor had been filed.
According to FOX 13, the recall effort is being driven above all by public safety concerns tied to the deadly Bite of Seattle shooting and everything that followed. Central to the frustration is the roughly five-hour gap during which the community had no information about what was happening or whether to shelter in place, even as people kept showing up to the festival and vendors kept selling, unaware of the danger around them.
The grievances do not stop at the shooting itself. The recall filing also expands on Wilson's decision to remove former Police Chief Sean Barnes, as well as the way she has handled the city's controversial CCTV surveillance camera program. Together, those decisions have fed a broader sense among some residents that the mayor has mishandled public safety across the board in her short time in office.
The backdrop is a tragedy that is still under investigation. The shooting at the Bite of Seattle left three people dead, including one of the suspected shooters, and several others injured, and detectives are still working an active murder case. In the aftermath, Chief Barnes resigned, reportedly leaving with a payout of around seven hundred thousand dollars, and Andre Sales stepped in as interim police chief.
As FOX 13's Alejandro Guzman explained, the petition now heads to the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, which reviews it to make sure it meets the technical requirements. If it passes that review, the office must prepare a summary of the charges being leveled against the mayor before the matter can advance any further through the process.
From there, a superior court judge decides whether the allegations meet the legal standard of malfeasance or misfeasance. Only if the judge allows the effort to move forward would supporters then have 180 days to gather a specific number of verified signatures. That required number depends on how many people voted, so the exact threshold is tied to turnout in the relevant election.
Reporters cautioned that the filing is far from a done deal, describing it as an opening salvo rather than a slam dunk, since simply submitting paperwork does not guarantee anything happens. FOX 13 said it had reached out to Mayor Wilson's office about the attempted recall and was waiting to hear whether she would give an interview or release a statement in response.
