Sawant running AHEAD of Conlin as of Tuesday in Seattle City Council race, "The Stranger" reports.

[Ken Burch]

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/kshama-sawant-pushes-ahead-of-conlin/Content?oid=18201682

Serves Conlin right for opposing rent control and living wage laws, AND for being the only "no" vote on paid sick leave.

It would be amazing if the much-derided "socialist insurgent" actually pulled it off.

[eridani]

1. "Nation" article

Looks like we're getting some national attention here.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/177155/could-socialist-actually-win-seattles-city-council-race

The last big-city Socialist Party mayor was Milwaukee’s Frank Zeidler, who finished his final term in 1960. More recently, Bernie Sanders served as the independent socialist mayor of Burlington, Vermont, in the 1980s; while Benjamin Nichols, a member of Democratic Socialists of America, served as mayor of Ithaca, New York, in the 1990s. And just last year, 19-year-old Socialist Party member Pat Noble was elected to the regional board of education in Red Bank, New Jersey.

But Seattle is a major urban center, with what many local analysts have portrayed as an entreched politics. So Sawant’s progress has been seen locally as big news. The Seattle Times headlined its Wednesday edition “Socialist Sawant Now Leads Seattle Council Race.”

“I think we have shown the strongest skeptics that the Socialist label is not a bad one for a grassroots campaign to succeed,” Sawant declared as the count turned her way.

A former software engineer who now teaches economics at Seattle Central Community College, Sawant ran a Socialist Alternative “Fund Human Needs, Fight Corporate Greed” campaign that argued: “We live in one of the richest cities in the richest nation on earth. There is no shortage of resources. Capitalism has failed the 99%. Another world is both possible and necessary—a socialist world based on the needs of humanity and the environment.”

[eridani]

2. NW Progressive Institute article

Thursday election update: Kshama Sawant pulls further ahead of Richard Conlin

http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2013/11/thursday-election-update-kshama-sawant-pulls-further-ahead-of-richard-conlin.html

Seattle City Council candidate Kshama Sawant’s momentum has sometimes slowed in the days since November 5th, but it has never stopped.

Moments ago, King County Elections published new numbers that reflect the latest batch of tabulated ballots. The fresh results show that Sawant is now ahead of incumbent City Councilmember Richard Conlin by more than 1,000 votes.

Yesterday, Sawant had a four hundred and two vote lead. As of today, she has a lead of 1,148 votes, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it was bigger tomorrow.

If she defeats Conlin, Sawant will be the first openly declared Socialist ever elected to the Seattle City Council. Owing to the adoption of Seattle Charter Amendment #19, she would serve only a two-year term. She could choose to run for reelection in the district where she lives or run for one of the at-large seats.