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Harrell a hit at MAGA cohosted event
But he thinks he can fool you into believing he is a progressive
Ron Davis
October 15, 2025
While Seattle’s Mayor Harrell is a Democrat, you’d hardly have known it by reporting about the fawning audience at a recent event sponsored by some of the region’s most prominent MAGA-aligned groups.
Since getting trounced in the primary, Harrell has been lying like crazy (about many things, including) about being “progressive.” But the proof is in the 16 years of political record, and in the MAGA adulation.
(And yes, I’m aware there were surely plenty of people at this fancy club sponsored by some Trump acolytes who are genuine Dems. That doesn’t undermine the larger point.)
Among the sponsors were three major MAGA-aligned Seattle organizations:
The Discovery Institute, which originally made its name as a creationist “think tank,” and has since been partnering with groups like the Heritage Foundation (of Project 2025 fame) on the culture wars.
As King 5 reports about a recent gathering with Trump:
A Turning Point affiliate and another Seattle media figure, Jonathan Choe, also spoke at the roundtable. Choe was separated from KOMO News in 2022 after posting a video montage of the far-right Proud Boys, scored to “We’ll Have Our Home Again,” a song written and produced by a member of The Mannerbund, which the Southern Poverty Law Center designates as a white nationalist group.
“I just wanted to say that all of our resources at Turning Point USA [Charlie Kirk’s MAGA culture war machine] and Discovery Institute are at your disposal,” Choe told Trump.
That was one host.
Then there is the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild. This not the Seattle Police Department - it is the union that represents frontline cops, and it is notoriously MAGA. These are the guys who put up a display to brag about killing a young black man, who keep electing MAGA fire breather Mike Solan to be their union leader, and who supplied more officers caught at the January 6th insurrection than any other city in the country.
They were joined by “We Heart Seattle.” You may recall that their founder Andrea Suarez ran for the legislature in Seattle last year and was trounced by Shaun Scott. Suarez was obviously MAGA, but lied about this repeatedly, even putting “Democrat Andrea Suarez” on her signs. (A frequent assumption of MAGA pols is that that voters are dumb dupes.) The state Democratic Party made it abundantly clear that our tent is big but it does not include her poisonous politics, and of course as soon as she lost her race, she tweeted fawningly at newly reelected Donald Trump, surprising absolutely no one.
At We Heart Seattle, Suarez’s partner has assaulted and dehumanized the homeless, and she herself has exploited, doxxed and abused homeless people.
What to make of this?
Now to be clear, I’m not suggesting Harrell is MAGA. I 100% believe he is not. He is genuinely a Democrat (who happens to be bad at management, created a hostile workplace for women, has repeatedly stood by abusers, has fought against funding for affordable housing, caters to the mansion-class, and has gotten terrible results on housing, homelessness, and public safety.)
But I am saying that the fact that his Democratic brand of politics pleases MAGA culture warriors is alarming.
It means at the very least that his brand of Democratic politics does not reflect the values of Seattle voters, at all.
And the fact that Harrell spoke so soothingly about Trump and his advisors like Peter Thiel and Musk until he learned it was unpopular means he is not the person we need to stand up and keep us safe in these troubling times.