Sawant is going to have to pull out all her tricks this cycle to keep her seat if even The Starnger is now pointing out how ineffective she is lol.

"She did attend a rent control rally this fall in Vancouver if that counts for anything"

It really doesn't. And I hope that this is Vancouver, WA, and not actually a completely different country.

"Mosqueda is safe in the coming year—she just won election in 2023"

It's still 2022, and Mosqueda actually won reelection in 2021. Do you people have a copy editor?

“She won her re-election quietly without any issues…”

Her opponent was a complete nobody, and on election night, incumbent Mosquera was barely ahead. Has she a real opponent, Mosqueda might well have joined Gonzalez, Oliver, and NTK on the permanent discard pile.

“The authority would have also helped House Our Neighbors Public Development Authority get off the ground if the voters pass it this February.”

House Our Neighbors, which is actually Real Change trying to stay on the public gravy train, barely qualified I-135 for the special February Ballot, after failing to make the November ballot. The chance of it getting approved is slim, and the Council should not try to prejudge the voters.

“In Morales’s case, her bills faced criticism for redundancy, as they doubled up on existing, statewide protections.”

All of the abortion activity at the local level was performative virtue-signaling. The one thing Seattle could have done was fund the Abortion Access Network, and at this they failed completely.

“She won over her district largely by appealing to renters in Capitol Hill,”

Sawant barely beat the recall because her (paid?) vote-harvesting teams registered new voters and harvested their ballots on the spot. Without that advantage, she would have lost. Her dismal record in office, which the Stranger here admirably recounts, explains why. As @4 notes, the Stranger’s phantom right-wing bogeymen had nothing to do with it.

I can't believe it's about to be 2023 and there's people who think we should still be extending the eviction moratorium. At what point is anyone going to be allowed to evict? If ever? The Stranger should just admit that what they really want is a permanent ban on evictions, because renters=good and landlords=bad. Wait, why is rent so expensive again?

The labels seem like a stretch. I haven't noticed any sort of alliance forming between these groups. It isn't that common for them to vote as a block. Even as a way to put them on an arbitrary (and very oversimplified) spectrum it is wanting. There is a world of difference between Sawant and other members of the council, in that Sawant is largely a demagogue, disinterested in actually forming a coalition to pass legislation (i. e. governing). In contrast, Mosqueda represents an at-large district, and is often leading legislation and getting support from various members. Morales is probably the left-most of the members, so I suppose there is that. Anyway, the labels seem like an arbitrary designation so you can assess each representative without overwhelming the reader by listing all nine at once.

I was opposed to the recall, but hope that Sawant gets replaced by someone who is more effective. The left has enough champions -- they need people who can get shit done. The other two are very effective, and will hopefully continue to serve.

@8 sadly no matter who Sawant's opponent is, 52% of D3 will end up convinced that they're a harcore homophobic right-wing corporatist capitalist christian conservative Trump supporter by the end of the election, purely off the basis of the Sawant propaganda machine (including this very paper), backed by her nationwide fundraising machine. It is destiny. And then within a week after the election, those same people who voted for her will be back saying "yes I don't like Sawant and I hope she gets a good opponent next time [but this most recent election I did vote for her]."

You know what the City Council requires now for a landlord to give a 10-day warning to a tenant who serially hits on female guests of female tenants in my building when they are waiting to be buzzed in? This clown has only been in our building 3 months and has gotten into near violent confrontations with every tenant in the building, and drags around 2 'psychic help' dogs, one a puppy, in a manner that could only be called abusive. To complain against this loud, aggressive, harassing and near violent tenant, the other tenant must PUT THEIR OWN PERSONAL NAME ON THE 10-day notice WHICH GOES ON TO HIS DOOR! YES, you read that right! But you don't get to know HIS NAME! Like it matters! This city council has made it IMPOSSIBLE to evict violent and harassing abusers in this city. None of these women live outside of a warm private home I am sure. Phu them and the city council and any 'progressives' who think that crime reform meant letting total aholes do whatever they please without punishment. Brilliant version of liberalism you've shown the nation. Gonna get us all into dictatorship with your ivory tower nonsense! And when I hear landlords talking about vigilantism, all I can think is 'good' since this city has no interest in helping anyone but nutcases who are bringing in tons of benefits money. Some kickback is going on somewhere.

If you want to be safe, DO NOT MOVE INTO A COMMUNITY ROOTS BUILDING! THEY CODDLE ADDICTS, CRIMINALS AND SEXUAL OFFENDERS at the expense of normal people trying to just live and work.