Less than five months into Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's term, a fellow Democrat on the city council is publicly breaking with her dismissive posture toward the wealthy residents and corporations heading for the exits. Councilmember Rob Saka told the New York Times he is "gravely concerned" about a growing business exodus, a stark shift from the warm welcome he gave Wilson after she defeated incumbent Bruce Harrell on a wave of progressive enthusiasm.
"This is real," Saka said.
The warning lands at an awkward moment for Wilson, a self-proclaimed socialist who recently waved off fears that high earners would flee Washington state. Fox News Digital reported that Wilson told an audience, "I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are super overblown," before adding with a laugh: "the ones that leave? Like, bye."
The facts on the ground in Seattle suggest the departure is anything but overblown.
Starbucks, the coffee giant born in Seattle and long synonymous with the city, recently announced it will shift 2,000 corporate jobs, primarily in IT and supply chain management, to a new regional headquarters in Nashville. KOMO News reported the company also laid off an additional 61 employees last week as part of a reorganization of its technology department at its Seattle corporate headquarters.
Fox 13 Seattle, as cited by the New York Post, reported the city could lose up to $750 million in tax revenue in coming years as Starbucks expands in Tennessee rather than Washington.
Wilson's own history with the company makes the optics worse. Last year, she declared at a barista picket line: "I am not buying Starbucks, and you should not either." A mayor who urged a consumer boycott of her city's most prominent employer is now watching that employer pack up jobs and send them to a red state with no income tax. Nashville didn't need to run an ad campaign. Seattle's leadership did the recruiting for them.
The Columbia Tower Club, perched atop Seattle's tallest skyscraper and open for more than four decades, closed last month. The club cited declining office traffic and downtown business activity tied to remote work and high vacancy rates. It is one more visible sign that downtown Seattle's commercial core continues to thin out.
The pattern is not unique to Seattle. Progressive cities across the country are discovering that aggressive tax-the-rich proposals risk sending the last productive taxpayers running. But Seattle's version of the problem carries a particular sting because the city's political leadership has been so openly contemptuous of the people it needs to keep.
A survey cited by Breitbart found that the number of businesses considering leaving Washington has nearly doubled since the state's new millionaire tax was introduced. "There's a lot of fear and trepidation with what's going on in our government when it comes to taxes," Seattle barber Matt Humphrey told the outlet.
On March 30, Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson signed what has been described as Washington state's first-ever income tax, a 9.9% levy on households earning more than $1 million a year. Progressives and socialists backed the measure. Conservatives opposed it, warning it would accelerate capital flight from a state that had long attracted high earners precisely because it lacked an income tax.
Wilson has acknowledged that Seattle faces a structural budget deficit and said her office is exploring progressive tax options. That posture, admitting the city needs revenue while mocking the people who generate it, captures the contradiction at the heart of the socialist governing model. You cannot simultaneously tell millionaires "bye" and depend on their tax dollars to fund universal preschool and neighborhood programs.
The dynamic mirrors what is playing out in New York, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani has pushed aggressive tax hikes while watching the political ground shift beneath him.
What makes Saka's alarm noteworthy is the distance he has traveled. After Wilson won the mayor's office, Saka praised "the energy she brings to leadership" and said he looked forward to "partnering with her to build a thriving, inclusive Seattle that uplifts working families, expands universal preschool for all, ends food deserts, and creates safer, more connected neighborhoods across our city."
He described the election result in sweeping terms: "The voters have spoken, calling for change and a renewed focus on affordability, community, and fighting back against a resurgent Trump agenda."
Now, barely five months later, that same councilmember is telling a national newspaper that the consequences of the "change" he celebrated are real and alarming. Fox News Digital reached out to both Saka and Wilson for additional comment. No responses were reported.
The Washington State Republican Party has not been shy about the contrast. In a post on X on Monday, the party wrote: "Marxist @MayorofSeattle Katie Wilson is more concerned about toilet ribbon-cutting photo opps than massive capital flight in downtown #Seattle all the while @SeattleCouncil stands idle as a once iconic city crumbles."
In a separate post, the party added that Wilson "is not only unfit to be mayor, she lacks grace and gratitude. Perhaps, she's the one who should leave #Seattle." The state GOP also said of Wilson's "bye" clip: "This clip will live in infamy."
Brandi Kruse, a local commentator, posted her own reaction: "Seattle's Socialist Mayor responds to exodus of wealth from Washington State by saying 'BYE'... then laughing. We're doomed."
Wilson has also steered the Seattle Police Department to investigate, verify, and document any reports of immigration enforcement activity, a directive that signals where her priorities lie. Between the boycott calls, the new tax burden, the mocking tone toward departing wealth, and the immigration-enforcement posture, the message to businesses and high earners is consistent: Seattle's leadership views you with suspicion, not gratitude.
That message has been received. Starbucks is moving jobs. The Columbia Tower Club is gone. Businesses are reconsidering their presence. And a Democratic councilmember who once championed Wilson's vision now concedes the damage is real.
The situation in Seattle echoes a broader pattern in blue-state governance, where leaders lecture voters on affordability while pushing new taxes that make their cities and states less affordable for the people who create jobs. When the productive class leaves, the bill doesn't shrink. It just gets divided among fewer people, the ones who couldn't afford to go.
Progressive mayors in cities like New York have encountered the same friction, with their own supporters pushing back once ambitious plans collide with ground-level reality.
Wilson told millionaires "bye" and laughed. The joke will age poorly when the budget shortfall arrives and there is no one left to tax.
