Friends,

Have you seen the new issue of The Stranger? Kshama Sawant is featured as the cover story! Inside, there are two articles. One explores many of the reasons 16-year incumbent Richard Conlin’s “agenda largely reflects the city’s wealthiest interests.” The other outlines why Kshama is “the real deal.” They’re powerful must-reads.

And they will be read. Well over 100,000 Seattleites a week read The Stranger, and for the next week, countless more will see Kshama’s cover image multiple times a day. The message is clear: the Sawant campaign is not only an unusual working class challenge to an established incumbent, it’s changing Seattle’s political conversations on a host of issues.

Just this week, mayoral candidate Ed Murray and incumbent mayor Mike McGinn both conditionally endorsed the idea of a $15 minimum wage, acts that would have been unthinkable before Kshama’s campaign. Kshama’s is a serious campaign with a real shot at winning a seat as an independent socialist – something that has not been done in a major U.S. city in decades.

We will never match the incumbent’s corporate war chest. We don’t need to. He has pricy consultants and patrons in corner offices. We have passion, an army of volunteers, and a winning message.

But we also need money to reach those tens of thousands of Seattle workers and young people who don’t follow politics closely, and don’t know what Kshama would bring to city council.

Time is short – ballots will be mailed in only three weeks! For every additional $1000 we raise, we can send out mail to 2,500 additional Seattle households; or we can print another 7,000 flyers.

While Kshama is on newsstands across our city, we want to raise $25,000 in the next week. If you want to see Kshama win – get 50 percent plus – please donate $50 or more. Or donate $15 to support the fight for a $15 an hour minimum wage, and ask five friends to also donate.

If you’ve already donated, thank you so much – but if it was less than the legal limit of $700 per person – which most of our donors have been – in this home stretch we need your help again. If you haven’t donated yet, do it now, when it will make the most difference.

Make no mistake: Kshama Sawant has already made history as the strongest socialist candidate in the U.S. in decades. She’s already changing Seattle politics. If she can unseat a corporate incumbent like Conlin, it will be a game-changer: a political earthquake locally and an inspiration to people across the country. You can help make it happen.

Thanks,

Geov Parrish
Fundraising Director
Kshama Sawant for Seattle City Council

PS: From the new Stranger:

Sawant is the real deal. She kicks ass. And she could actually win in November.

An immigrant woman of color, an Occupy Seattle organizer, and an economics instructor at Seattle Central Community College, Sawant offers voters a detailed policy agenda, backed up by a coherent economic critique and a sound strategy for moving the political debate in a leftward direction. She is passionate but thoughtful. She speaks comfortably on non-economic issues. She is likable. And most important, she’s winning over voters….as more voters understand what she stands for – and, more importantly, what she would bring to the council – Conlin has every reason to be worried.

Just imagine that voice on Seattle City Council. Help make it happen. Go to www.VoteSawant.org and donate today!