Seattle City Council candidates in District 3 say they're very concerned about where incumbent Kshama Sawant is getting her money.
Sawant, who is not participating in the Democracy Vouchers program, has raised $158,890 so far. That's the most money out of anyone in the 2019 city council races. That's impressive, but it's also caught the attention of her challengers, the majority of whom say they're deeply concerned about the amount of money Sawant is receiving from outside Seattle.
Exactly how much has Sawant received from people who don't live in Seattle, but really want to influence Seattle's elections?
According to disclosures filed with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, more than $83,000.
Put another way, more than half—52.4 percent, to be exact— of Sawant's campaign contributions aren't coming from this city.
The only other candidate who comes close to this percentage of outside-Seattle funding is Ethan Hunter, the 19-year-old running in District 4. Hunter has received $2,850—or 47 percent—of his $6,060 total from non-Seattleites.
"I’m proud that for my campaign, 39 percent of the dollars and 45 percent of the contributors live in my district," said Logan Bowers, the D3 candidate and owner of Hashtag Cannabis, wrote in an email to The Stranger. "Ninety percent of my contributors live in Seattle. I’m here for our neighbors and our community, and the money shows it. By contrast, half of Kshama’s money comes from outside of Seattle. The money shows she’s representing someone, but it isn’t us."
Egan Orion, director of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and the Broadway Business Improvement Area, echoed pretty much the same sentiment.
"Her massive outside funding concerns me," Orion told The Stranger. "The people who are funding her campaign are more concerned about the policy initiatives and priorities of the Socialist Alternative Party than the concerns of the people who live here in district. Nearly all of my funding comes from Seattle and the majority of my campaign support is from right here in the district."
When asked about these criticisms, Sawant's campaign finance director, Eva Metz, cast the council member's high percentage of out-of-Seattle contributions as working-class people in other cities and states "being inspired by what socialists and working people have accomplished in Seattle." Their motivation for funding Sawant from afar, Metz said, is that "they want the movements to expand to their cities."
According to the Metz, "there is a fundamental difference between working people across cities donating to our working-class campaign, and big businesses and corporate PACs headed by mega multinational corporations trying to buy this election." (An apparent swipe at the interest the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce's well-funded PAC is likely to take in defeating Sawant. The Chamber's PAC has not yet declared who it's backing in D3.)
That claim seems to be true. Sawant's contributions are coming from a myriad of places and workers. Eleven unemployed people sent money her way. Four of them were from out of state. An unemployed person from Grand Rapids, Michigan sent in $200 in three donations spanning three months. People from universities all across the country (omitting Seattle schools) contributed $2,362—many of these were small sums spread out over months. Employees from Minneapolis Public Schools ($400) and Chicago Public Schools donated ($480). Service industry folks from coffee shops in Los Angeles ($240 over three months) to one worker at a Potbelly sandwich shop in Burlington, Massachusetts ($400 across four donations) spent money for Sawant.
There was also a big showing in the transportation sector in Minnesota: Employees from the Minnesota Department of Transportation and Metro Transit in Minneapolis spent $250 and $200, respectively. Some of her donors were thirty-six retirees across six states (three from Illinois, two from Minnesota. I guess the Midwest loves Sawant?).
And, weirdly enough, Big Tech employees gave Sawant $5,277. Microsoftees are her biggest supporters, nine of them made up $3,340 of that. The rest were (3) Amazon employees ($1,320) and (2) Googlers ($617).
Despite more than half of her campaign's contributions coming from outside this city, Sawant has raised $72,131 from Seattle residents. That's more money from inside the Seattle city limits than any other candidate. That's also more than twice the amount Orion has raised in total ($34,515).
"We’re proud that our re-election campaign has the most donors from within Washington State of any campaign in the race, with 1,100 and counting!" Metz said.
