Holds narrow lead in Seattle City Council race.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Seattle City Council candidate Kshama Sawant has overtaken her opponent, Richard Conlin, by a narrow margin, meaning her historic victory could be imminent.
If Sawant wins, which is highly possible, she would be one of the first Socialist candidate to ever win a seat in elected office in US history. She won’t be the first Socialist to have ever run for elected office, but being one of the first to win would put her in the history books.
The Indian American college professor is leading by 41 votes (as of nighttime on November 13), meaning she holds 49.91% of the total ballots. Conlin, the 16-year Democratic incumbent who seat Sawant is vying for, has 49.88% of the vote.
On election day last Tuesday, Sawant was trailing by a larger but still close margin, enough for the city of Seattle to have to count absentee and late ballots to confirm who the winner of the race would be.
As the week went by, Sawant narrowed the gap; the group of ballots counted this past Tuesday, November 12, going over 57% in favor of Sawant. Now, with only 12% of ballots left to count, it’s looking increasingly likely that Sawant will win the election.
Younger voters seems to be helping Sawant quite a bit, who tend to skew much further left than their older counterparts. Also giving Sawant a boost are lower-income citizens, who obviously are more supportive of her because of her “re-distribution of wealth” stance, as well as first-time voters and immigrants.
Sawant’s platform includes provisions such as Obama’s so-called “millionaire tax” – an effort to redistribute wealth to citizens who need it more, with funds also going towards improving the city’s education and public transportation systems – as well as her beliefs in increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour and establishing more rent-controlled buildings in order to make housing more affordable for a greater number of citizens.
This is not Sawant’s first run at elected office. Last year, she challenged Frank Chopp for his seat in the US House of Representatives; she won 29% of the vote, with Chopp winning comfortably with 70%.She also has the endorsement of The Seattle Stranger, which wrote that “her very presence on the council would help make other council members more effective, simply by adding [some] context to the public debate.”
Originally from Bangalore, Sawant earned her BS in computer science from the University of Mumbai in 1994, and holds a Ph.D. in economics, which she received at North Carolina State University. She currently teaches at Seattle Central Community College.
The election results for the Sawant/Conlin race are due to be certified on November 25th.