Support Kshama Sawant

A DELAYED RULING by the Washington State Supreme Court will determine whether a recall petition campaign against Seattle City Council District 3 representative Kshama Sawant is allowed to proceed. Sawant, first elected in 2013 as an at-large member and then as District 3 council member in 2015 and 2019, is a member of Socialist Alternative and outspoken supporter of a $15/hour minimum wage, renters’ rights, a city tax on Amazon, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

In her reelection campaigns, Sawant has defeated candidates backed by corporate powers including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, one of the world’s two richest men. The recall effort launched in 2020, ostensibly by one Ernest Lou who calls himself “a bleeding heart liberal,” is believed to be backed by a few big capitalists including developers. The pretext is Sawant’s allegedly “improper” behavior, such as opening the doors of city hall to a mass meeting of BLM protesters.

Sawant appealed to the state Supreme Court after a lower court ruled that the recall petition could proceed on the basis of four (out of six original) charges.

The decision has been pending since the first week in January. If allowed to proceed, recall petitioners would need some 10,700 signatures, 25% of the votes cast in the previous District 3 election, to get on the ballot.

Kshama Sawant was the first socialist elected to Seattle City Council in 97 years, and deserves the support of everyone on the left.

March-April 2021, ATC 211

In her reelection campaigns, Sawant has defeated candidates backed by corporate powers including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, one of the world’s two richest men. The recall effort launched in 2020, ostensibly by one Ernest Lou who calls himself “a bleeding heart liberal,” is believed to be backed by a few big capitalists including developers. The pretext is Sawant’s allegedly “improper” behavior, such as opening the doors of city hall to a mass meeting of BLM protesters.

Sawant appealed to the state Supreme Court after a lower court ruled that the recall petition could proceed on the basis of four (out of six original) charges.

The decision has been pending since the first week in January. If allowed to proceed, recall petitioners would need some 10,700 signatures, 25% of the votes cast in the previous District 3 election, to get on the ballot.

Kshama Sawant was the first socialist elected to Seattle City Council in 97 years, and deserves the support of everyone on the left.

March-April 2021, ATC 211