Social Candidate won the seat of seattle city council defeating her democratic opponent

[Joel thakkar]

Last edited Sat Nov 16, 2013, 10:09 AM - Edit history (1)

socialist party candidate Kshama Sawant won!!!!!!!! yay!!!!!


EDIT : Full news here : http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/nov/16/socialist-kshama-sawant-wins-seattle-city-council/

Old News : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/13/kshama-sawant-socialist_n_4268733.html


The democratic candidate opposes Rent control, Paid sick leaves and higher minimum wage...Do you really think he represents the view of democrats?

She has a history with occupy movement and was one of the foremost activisit for demanding $15 per hour wages.

[Warpy]

1. Every once in a while, the party puts up a total loser

and that's just a fact of political life. While the worst Democrat is better than the best Republican, it's often a close call.

Do you think the socialist has a ghost of a chance of winning? If not and if he siphons off the Democratic vote, you'll get a Republican in office.

And that's why the TOS here specify not promoting a third party or other candidate. Ever.

[Joel thakkar]

2. Have you even read the article?

Socialist candidate is 400 votes ahead of democratic candidate...there is no republican candidate in the race anywhere near both of them...

"Do you think the socialist has a ghost of a chance of winning" ---> This attitude of yours is worse...Yes, socialists can win..look at bernie sanders and i hope soon another socialist will be seen in Seattle city council.

[SeattleVet]

14. After today's counting, she's 1,148 ahead of Conlin.

That's over a .6% difference, so it's out of the automatic recount territory.

Unless Conlin pays for a recount it looks like Sawant just won this one with a little over 50% of the vote.

[Tx4obama]

4. Well, that election is over. They are just waiting for the mailed in votes/totals to be announced.

So, anything anyone says here is not going to affect the outcome.

[Warpy]

6. I'm delighted she's winning at the present.

I hope she hangs onto it. She's the only Democrat in that race, IMO.

There are a few places where Socialists have a fighting chance. Apparently Seattle has joined Vermont and the city of Boston.

Generally speaking, unless the Republican is incredibly unpopular, voting 3rd party will put him into office.

And that's why it's against TOS to promote third party candidates here. You can do it elsewhere.

[Joel thakkar]

8. In general case

This is special...republican is nowhere..thus, by endorsing a socialist candidate, i am not indirectly helping republican.

[jmowreader]

11. Washington has a "top two" election system

The primaries are used to narrow the field down to the two candidates who got the most votes; those two are the only ones who make the general election ballot. In an area where one party is exceptionally strong, this means both candidates can be from the same party. Vote-siphoning can't happen in Washington.

[liberal_at_heart]

3. any democrat who opposes paid sick leave and a higher minimum wage deserves to lose.

[Scuba]

18. +1,000

[Joel thakkar]

19. Rightly Said n/t

[Tx4obama]

5. Below is an excerpt from the DU Terms of Service

-snip-

Vote for Democrats.

Winning elections is important — therefore, advocating in favor of Republican nominees or in favor of third-party spoiler candidates that could split the vote and throw an election to our conservative opponents is never permitted on Democratic Underground. But that does not mean that DU members are required to always be completely supportive of Democrats. During the ups-and-downs of politics and policy-making, it is perfectly normal to have mixed feelings about the Democratic officials we worked hard to help elect. When we are not in the heat of election season, members are permitted to post strong criticism or disappointment with our Democratic elected officials, or to express ambivalence about voting for them. In Democratic primaries, members may support whomever they choose. But when general election season begins, DU members must support Democratic nominees (EXCEPT in rare cases where were a non-Democrat is most likely to defeat the conservative alternative, or where there is no possibility of splitting the liberal vote and inadvertently throwing the election to the conservative alternative). For presidential contests, election season begins when both major-party nominees become clear. For non-presidential contests, election season begins on Labor Day. Everyone here on DU needs to work together to elect more Democrats and fewer Republicans to all levels of American government. If you are bashing, trashing, undermining, or depressing turnout for our candidates during election season, we'll assume you are rooting for the other side.

-snip-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=termsofservice

[Luminous Animal]

16. Well, the OP is not advocating in favor of a Republican nor is the OP

in favor of a spoiler candidate that would throw the election to a conservative.

[yewberry]

7. I work in Belltown.

I think Sawant would be a good candidate for this position. There's nothing wrong with that.

[LuvNewcastle]

9. I wish this was a world where we could always vote our conscience and

root for the person we agree with most. However, that's not always the best thing to do. I think this particular candidate in Seattle has a great chance, though, and because I disagree so much with the Dem who's running, I'm pretty sure I'd vote for the Socialist in this election if I lived there.

My greatest hope is that the Democratic Party becomes more like the Socialist Party. It's a great feeling to vote for someone you really admire. The older I get, the more important it is to me to vote my conscience, so I'm going to support more people whose views I respect in the future.

[copperearth]

10. This isn't a democratic candidate ...

It's a dumbocrat!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

12. I like the OWS connection. But the Socialist label may be a problem.

This would just be the extreme opposite of The Tea Party. Not sure how that plays out as a political move.

[JI7]

13. i think DU allows it as long as the Republican or more conservative doesn't have a chance of winning

[DFW]

15. It looks to me like the TOS were respected here

" in favor of third-party spoiler candidates that could split the vote and throw an election to our conservative opponents is never permitted on Democratic Underground. "

The third party candidate in this case could NOT split the vote, or throw the election to a conservative opponent. Ergo, I would think no violation.

Besides, if it is a "socialist" candidate in the vein of Bernie Sanders, she stays within the norms of Social Democracy, which, in many cases, is (often in Europe, anyway) a counterpart to the more progressive wing of our Democratic Party. It would be wrong to compare a true friend of the people like Bernie Sanders to an unfeeling bureaucrat/technocrat like France's Hollande, who cares about the people he rules about as much as he cares about a bug his aide squashed (and his 21% approval shows it).

[eridani]

17. If you go by the WA State Democratic Party platform, she's more of a Democrat--

--in values than her opponent. The irony is that 16 years ago, Conlin was much more progressive than he is now.

[progressoid]

20. Sadly, there are a LOT of Democrats that sound like that.

Good luck to Kshama Sawant!

[Joel thakkar]

21. Update

She has won the election.