How a Socialist Won: A Playbook from Seattle
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/06/03
Everybody knows you have to accept corporate money and work within the corporate-dominated two-party system to get elected, right? Not so with Kshama Sawant. In November, nearly 100,000 voters elected her to Seattle City Council as an open Socialist and she didnt take a dime in corporate cash!
In a huge political upset, Sawants victory sent shockwaves through the political establishment and even around the globe. Sawant is the first independent Socialist elected in a major U.S. city in decades. Her historic breakthrough was covered by every major newspaper in the country, major TV stations, and newspapers around the world.
Now she and her Socialist Alternative political party are leading a movement to implement their main campaign pledge: raising Seattles minimum wage to the highest in the country $15/hour and the movement is spreading nationally.
How did Sawant and Socialist Alternative succeed in unseating a well-connected, 16-year incumbent Democrat? Is Seattle just a Mecca of progressive politics?