Socialist in Seattle Survives Recall, and Is More Dangerous Than Ever

Socialist Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant survived a recall attempt—barely.

And her victory may stall any momentum after the off-year election which finally brought the defeat of fringe socialist candidates. {snip}

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Sawant faced many charges, which included using city resources to support a “Tax Amazon” ballot initiative, and leading a Black Lives Matter and Antifa march to Mayor Jenny Durkan’s home. The mayor’s address is supposed to remain private due to threats she received as a former U.S. Attorney.

To rally the troops, Sawant baselessly claimed she was the victim of a “racist, right-wing campaign” in a city that had only eight percent Trump voters in the last election. The leader of the recall effort was actually a progressive constituent who is sick of Sawant’s divisive, self-serving brand.

It was the kind of political manipulation that led so many to distrust Sawant city-wide. But in her far-left district, home to what was known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), she isn’t much of an outsider. {snip}

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Seattle voters, as a whole, vote reliably progressive. But they started to course-correct in the November off-year election, rejecting two police and prison abolitionist candidates running for Seattle City Attorney and City Council. They even eschewed the police defunding mayoral candidate for a more pragmatic progressive.

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But in district-wide races, the far-left voting base coalesces effectively behind extremist candidates. It’s how Sawant earned her seat in the first place.

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Sawant was an early supporter of defunding the Seattle Police Department by 50 percent. She even forwarded vicious and verifiably false accusations against cops during the height of the BLM and Antifa riots. Sawant claimed, sans evidence, that cops seemed “prepared with instructions to orchestrate violence” against protesters—the violent kind CNN might label “mostly peaceful.”

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Sawant has undoubtedly been effective at pushing through legislation that makes socialists happy. They’re blinded by their fringe beliefs and they don’t realize (or care) how badly it’s hurting the city. When they do acknowledge a negative impact, they argue it’s because their policies weren’t allowed to go far enough.

Now Sawant feels invincible, buoyed by this campaign win. That makes her more dangerous than ever.