On Saturday, September 7, over 75 activists and community members gathered for an incredible general election doorknocking kickoff for District 3’s socialist Councilmember Kshama Sawant!
The primary election saw a flood of corporate cash, with our opponent Egan Orion benefiting from the most corporate PAC spending of any of the 55 candidates across the city! This year’s PAC spending is on track to shatter records for Seattle elections. This underscores what we’ve been saying all along: this election is about who runs Seattle — Amazon and big business or working people. As Kshama said in her speech at the kickoff rally, progressives and socialists need to unite to stop the Chamber of Commerce backed candidates who made it into all seven city council races for the general election.
During Saturday’s kickoff we knocked on over 1,500 doors with a volunteer team consisting of union members from UAW 4121, the Seattle Education Association (SEA), and more; middle and high school climate strikers; members of the Democratic Socialists of America and Socialist Alternative; and dozens of other supporters from the community. Many of our volunteers were out canvassing for their first time with our campaign, demonstrating the growing momentum for rent control and unity against the onslaught of corporate PAC money.
In the face of $1.7 million spread across three corporate PACs, the Kshama Sawant re-election campaign has built the strongest canvassing operation in the history of Seattle politics. Over 350 volunteers joined us to knock on 90,000 doors in the primary election. The $300,000 we raised came with a median donation of just $20 and more grassroots donors than any other candidate. We’ve used our doorknocking efforts not just to build support for Kshama Sawant, but also to invite community members to get involved in the movement for rent control.
As an unambiguous fighter for working class people, Councilmember Kshama Sawant has brought working people and our movements into City Hall. This year, big business is going all out to get a brazenly pro-corporate majority on the City Council. We must go all out to stop them from buying this election.
This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared on Kshama’s election website: kshamasawant.org.