Socialist Seattle City Councilmember survives recall attempt

Voters in Seattle have retained socialist Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, a lawmaker who pushed the city to adopt a $15 minimum wage, raged against hometown tech giant Amazon for its business practices and angered many with her aggressive political tactics.

Sawant had faced a recall effort. King County Elections on Friday officially certified the Dec. 7 recall election, showing Sawant narrowly prevailing with 50.4% voting “no” on the recall question and 49.6% people casting “yes” ballots. The election was conducted by a mail-in vote.

Sawant, a 48-year-old economics professor, is the longest-tenured council member in Seattle. She has pushed for rent control, police funding cuts and increased taxes for corporations like Amazon to pay for affordable housing, schools and community services [Star Herald].

The recall question on the ballot had cited a minor campaign finance violation that Sawant acknowledged and for which she paid a fine and her alleged leadership of a protest march to the home of Mayor Jenny Durkan, even though Durkan’s address was protected by a state confidentiality law due to her prior work as a federal prosecutor.

The recall question also cites her decision to let a crowd of protesters into City Hall while it was closed due to the pandemic. Sawant denied having led the march to Durkan’s house, though she did participate in it. And she has defended her decision to let Black Lives Matter demonstrators inside City Hall following George Floyd’s death [Washington Times].