Politics

Seattle’s Mayor Laughed Off the Wealth Exodus. Starbucks Called Nashville.

By Mike Harper · May 19, 2026

When Katie Wilson won the Seattle mayor’s race last November, Democratic City Councilmember Rob Saka was enthusiastic. He praised her “energy,” welcomed her calls for “change,” and said he looked forward to “building a thriving, inclusive Seattle that uplifts working families.”

Five months later, Saka told the New York Times: “I am gravely concerned. This is real.”

What changed: Starbucks, the company most associated with Seattle’s identity, announced it was shifting thousands of corporate jobs to Nashville while cutting Seattle-based positions. The Columbia Tower Club — an iconic executive gathering space atop Seattle’s tallest skyscraper that had operated for more than four decades — quietly closed last month, citing declining downtown business activity. Boeing left years ago. Amazon has long been expanding elsewhere. And Washington State passed a 9.9% income tax on households earning over $1 million annually — the first income tax in state history, set to take effect in 2028.

Wilson, a self-described socialist, had a specific response to concerns about wealthy residents and businesses leaving. At a Seattle University forum in April, she said: “I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are, like, super overblown. And if — the ones that leave, like, bye.” She laughed. The audience cheered. The clip went viral with more than 4 million views.

The “bye” framing has since been tested by events. The billionaire most responsible for building the intellectual and financial architecture of Washington’s progressive tax agenda — Nick Hanauer, who spent years arguing that high taxes on the wealthy would not trigger an exodus — told GeekWire: “Virtually every wealthy friend I have has either left or is planning to. It’s a catastrophe.”

The Association of Washington Businesses found the number of businesses considering leaving Washington had nearly doubled since the millionaire’s tax was introduced. Washington’s housing market has shown early signs of strain, with active listings up 29% year-over-year while closed sales have barely moved — a pattern economists associate with wealthy buyers withdrawing from the market ahead of a significant tax change.

Wilson is not unaware of the political challenge this creates. After going viral for the “like, bye” comment, she began publicly praising Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft, and major donors for partnerships with the city — a pivot that critics noted somewhat contradicted her earlier rhetoric. She had, as mayor, called for a Starbucks boycott. Starbucks’ response was to announce expansion plans for Nashville.

The story is unfolding in parallel in New York City, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani — elected on a similar democratic socialist platform and widely compared to Wilson — has already prompted figures like hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin to publicly reinforce his Miami presence, while warnings of a potential $12 billion GDP impact from wealth flight have been published in the New York Times.

The Washington Post editorial board weighed in on Wilson’s position in a piece that characterized her dismissiveness as “arrogant” and warned that her approach ignored “the reality of a shrinking tax base and growing taxpayer fatigue.” Wilson’s office has not responded to the Post’s characterization or to Saka’s public alarm.

The income tax doesn’t take effect until January 2028. The exodus — if it materializes fully — is already underway.