Comments

1

Orion isn’t a Progressive? Give me a fucking break.

Sawant lost, get over yourself.

2

This 'Amazon vs everyone else' seems very exaggerated, since candidates run on a myriad of issues.

4

I do t think anyone voted “for Amazon” as much as they voted against Sawant and her approach to politics.

5

Saying either you are with Sawant or with Amazon is lazy and disingenuous. You're not helping, Stranger.

6

$30 car tabs!

7

@6, also 8 Minute Abs! 30 Days to Enlightenment! As seen on TV

9

Alex Pedersen's victory party was whiter than a Trump rally.

10

These results look like the best of all possible outcomes if the current trends hold: maintaining a reasonably progressive Seattle City Council while tossing out the ranting, ineffective Sawant.

There was very real potential for things to turn out much worse for progressives - all of their candidates losing was not outside the realm of possibility - while there was no realistic chance of progressives winning all of these races.

I think Shaun Scott would have been a great addition to the City Council - especially if Sawant is gone - but he never stood a chance in D4 against Pedersen. Amazon and 'moms' bought that race in the Primary when they 'picked their opponent' by going all in against Emily Meyers, who whould have been a much tougher opponent in the General.

11

We Socialists have far lower birth rates than Our Foes. Also, Anti-Socialists have always cheated ( they can't help themselves: it might be genetic!😁), what with gerrymandering, cock-block ballot access, Citizens United and similar earlier laws on all political levels, is it any wonder that We Reds, despite numbering in the millions in the USA, have been virtually unrepresented in city halls, state legislatures and the Congress since Day One? --- politicalcompass.org & fairvote.org & verifiedvoting.org & rangevoting.org & blackboxvoting.org & citizensincharge.org. 😮

12

Too bad We Reds don't have Our Own country . . . . I've been championing secession for years . . . .

13

“...Amazon’s unprecedented $1.5 million contribution...”

Any precedent for an incumbent spending as much not-from-Seattle money as did CM Sawant on her lackluster effort?

Any precedent for tens of thousands of citizens signing Referendum petitions as quickly as we did against the EHT?

Any precedent for an illegal spot rezone costing us a million dollars in court?

The Stranger might have an easier time with CM Sawant’s poor showing if it would consider more relevant precedents.

14

@9: Well, a Scott victory would have been equally as white given the demographics of the district.

15

@6 & @7

Listen to this: 7... Minute... Abs. We guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.

And if you're not happy with the first 7 minutes, we're gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That's it. That's our motto. That's where we're comin' from. That's from "A" to "B".

16

@14 I was at the Scott party, it matched the demographics of the city fairly well aside from being very young

17

@12 Who would pay for it?

18

Orion is right, Amazon's donation backfired. It didn't "buy" anything.

19

@14. You should visit the U District.

20

"You can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool everybody all the time." The voters are finally waking up to the false promises of Seattle Progressives/Socialists/Communists and rejecting these anti-freedom and anti-American ideologies, that are literally responsible for destroying the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Unfortunately, Seattle still has to live with the fruits of their policies, higher taxes, higher costs of just about everything on the menu, higher piles of garbage under every freeway, higher and higher costs of rent, higher and higher regulations, higher and higher lack of respect for the average taxpayer / voter.

21

I agree with @1 and @2. This is an overly simplistic analysis. It is like describing the conflict in Libya as being between Islamic extremists and nationalists. Things are a lot more complicated than that.

Even your summary of the positions of the various candidates is off. Orion is far more progressive than Herbold. She was just running against someone farther to the right.

There is no question that money had an influence, as did endorsements. Ultimately, each race involved several issues, not simply where each candidate sits on an left-right spectrum. Here is my own analysis:

1) Herbold is a typical Seattle centrist. She does not favor upzones. Her opponent was simply worse. It wasn't that there was a major policy difference between the candidates, it is just that Tavel was running as a reactionary -- an alternative to Herbold even if he can't differentiate himself in any meaningful way.

2) This was one of the races where there really was a big difference between the candidates. A lot going on here. Morales is quite progressive, and has plenty of ideas for raising taxes. She also is clearly the most qualified candidate in the district. She had the endorsement of every organization that matters (young Democrats, old Democrats, you name it). Her opponent was weak. The fact that Amazon supported her opponent is weird and ultimately stupid. The fact that the mayor opposed Morales says more about the mayor -- her paranoia and overall weakness -- than it does about Morales. Morales is smart, hard working, and has her shit together. Maybe the mayor fears she will take her job.

3) This race got way too much attention. The political difference between the two candidates are minor. Both are lightweights. Amazon money probably backfired in this race. I'm sure there were folks on the fence who decided to support Sawant just because they were pissed at Amazon money. Ultimately though, folks rejected Sawant not because they oppose her positions, but because they doubt her ability to do her job. They figure Orion will do a better job, despite his obvious weaknesses. My guess is Orion will be a one term member, as there are likely smarter people in this district.

4) I'm a bit surprised that Scott got crushed. I thought this would be a lot more competitive. It looks like this district will chose someone much like Herbold, even though the district isn't that suburban. (Amazon) money may have played a part -- and unlike the third district, there was very little attention to this race (and thus very little backlash).

5) Jaurez ran a lackluster campaign, but she ran against someone whose policy positions ranged from non-existent (NE 130th station) to horrible (rounding up the homeless). Juarez lack of strong opposition says a lot about her. She may not have the best outreach program, but most community organizers -- i. e. potential opponents -- are reasonably happy with her. I expect her to have more influence on the council, as one of the few incumbents and the one that won with the biggest margin.

6) I am a bit surprised about this race as well. Both candidates are pretty strong, really. This is another race where Amazon money might have backfired. They ran adds saying that Strauss would be another Mike O'Brien. That is not necessarily a bad thing, really, especially for an attack ad. If the worst thing you can say about a guy is that he might be like the guy who won his last race by 57%, you can't be that bad.

7) This race is too close to call, and got too little attention. There are significant differences between the candidates (much more than Sawant and Orion). Pugel would oppose any change in zoning, as well as taxation. Lewis would be one of the more progressive members of the council. This is one of the more important races and it looks like it will go down to the wire.

23

Yes, all those voters who thought, “Gee, I would like to vote for the Marxist, Kshama Sawant, but after receiving the 15th mailer I threw away without reading, I’m going with Orion!”

Find me that voter and I’ll lick your taint.

24

@15 That's right.
That's - that's good.
That's good.
Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs.
Then you're in trouble, huh?

25

They Threw Me Out of Church

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZKApT6vC0g

26

So... to re-cap:

-The Sawant got drained because of (Evil!) Super PAC money spent against her (from (evil!) Amazon)

-I-976 passed despite (Virtuous?) Super PAC money spent against it (from (virtuous?) Amazon)

27

Considering half the ballots haven't even been counted, and the ones postmarked yesterday, which was the highest turnout point, haven't even been received, I'd hold off on this analysis.

I doubt the final turnout is 25%. It's much much more than that.

28

@21 District 4 isn't suburban? It contains Sand Point, Laurelhurst, View Ridge, and a smidge of Maple Leaf. Wallingford and the U District don't balance that out. In addition, Scott used all the right social justice buzzwords but didn't seem very qualified, according to my friends who live in that district.

29

"Alex Pedersen's victory party was whiter than a Trump rally."

So as white as a Bernie rally then?

30

Serious question: Why is this so surprising?

I dislike so much of what Amazon and tech in general has done to this city but the Socialist members of our city council's way of dealing with it was to be collectively shrill and shitty to corporate monoliths have nearly bottomless sources of funding. There was little upside to getting on board with this because in addition to being alienating and smug, their plan for the city was just a meandering ghost ship of a plan that even they couldn't internally agree on.

It had much less to do with Socialist politics in the broader sense and a lot more to do with just being dumb at their collective jobs.

31

I voted for Sawant in past elections. Amazon didn’t buy my vote, she lost it. After several years watching her work, I personally felt she was more passionate about activism than representing her district and governing the city. And saying that Orion isn’t progressive is pretty ridiculous. Like, is Trotsky Marxism seriously the bar for progressivism? If Orion ends up winning, we’ll see if he turns out to be an effective city councilor.

32

I hope Egan wins so I can see his darling precious face more often! What a dream

33

@28 -- OK, good point. But District 4 includes U-District, Wallingford, Eastlake and Roosevelt. Overall, I'm guessing it is a lot more urban than West Seattle. As for being qualified or not, he did have plenty of endorsements (but then so did Pedersen).

34

The mistake that progressives make when they use Amazon as their is boogeyman is 1) Amazon isn't the only high paying employer in the region. They're part of the problem, but not the whole problem, and 2) Amazon is one of the biggest employers in the region. People take attacks on it personally, because that's where their paycheck, or one of their loved one's paychecks, comes from. I know lots of locals (and lots of progressives) who work there, and make very good money. (Not gazillionaires, but very comfortable). They're not evil. Stop painting them that way.

If Sawant ends up losing, it will be in part of because of racism, but in much larger part because she's a divisive, unpleasant person who is not open to compromise, and creates simple-minded cartoon villains to avoid doing the hard work of politics. She was always more interested in building a movement than governing, and more interested in getting a name for herself as a Socialist than actual real-world Socialist principles that might help people. I'll give her credit for the $15 minimum wage, but I haven't seen much come out of her since then.

Seattle has many problems, but most of them are external. Income inequality and homelessness go hand in hand, as does homelessness and the lack of access to healthcare on the national level. We can't begin to solve them, but we can alleviate them in our little corner of the world. But if you villainize the middle-class, threaten their livelihood, tell them you want to take their home and cater to special interest groups like cyclists, you're going to push people over the edge.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the at-large candidates are up for re-election.

36

@35: I reported you to The Stranger for trolling ( besides, there are no Socialistic nations to emigrate to; you and your ilk make sure there are none, century after century. Besides, like most Socialists in the USA, My family has helped build this country since day one, and I'll be damned if I told any of My Fellow Reds to immigrate so chumps like you can steal whatever wealth their ancestors created. )

37

@17: Pay for it? Payment is an Anti-Socialistic idea that isn't falsifiable; We Reds would be just fine if sick fucks like you died off like the passenger pigeons.


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