David Brewster : Josh Feit of Publicola has an important take on the election: Sawant won re-election but lost the election. She proved to have few coattails for other candidates and may find she has only one real ally among the 9 councilmembers, namely Mike O’Brien. This outcome reminds me of what used to be said about liberal gadfly Nick Licata, who always got lots of votes. Voters felt they wanted Licata on the council, so long as there were not more than one.
I had been expecting Sawant to run for mayor in 2017, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe, instead, for Jim McDermott’s seat in Congress, particularly if he retires?
David: You were wrong but are right now. Sawant is a hard nut to figure because she is so protected from public interactions .. she may be more a figure head then an independent actor. Here coterie say she is very bright but her PhD thesis is trivial and her puboic appearances are scripted. Her few small group meeting bring back stories about a super cautious person who refuses to comment because “we” have not had a chance to discuss the issues.
So, who is “we?” at least part of that is a very extensive. expensive and talented crew form SEIU. Whatever intelligence the Savant of Leschi may have, these folks are SMART.
If she ran against Murray his machine would eat hers alive. Here in District 3 she won because Pam Banks got in too late and ran as a Black woman. Sawant’s cadre of Zonian red shirts, fueled by perhaps a million dollars of SEIU public and (especially) dark money, came out in almost exactly the same numbers as in the primary. Banks failed to get out the white vote. Murray would not have that problem.
Running against McDermott, even if he runs for re election, would be a much easier lift. McD’s antiquated machine is based on memes she simply does better than he does. He is also very dependent on labor money that would be at least split and likely lost to the Savant Sawant. Moreover she would be running in 16, on the back of a very well funded and existing operation that is likely to be weaker by 17. Finally her likely opponents .. Reuven Carlyle, Tim Burgess, Pramila Jaypal, Dow Constantine, Mike McGinn, Alan Durning, Brady Walkinshaw… are not all that formidable and some of them, McGinn and Jaypal , would only be able to run if the SEIU were to switch its support from Sawant,
Her real problem running for Congress would be a small r republican. The restricting that cut the “minority majority” part of Seattle away from the rest of Seattle. What is now McD’s district is very affluent and has very few voters who are working in medium or low wages ..that is very few union members. For Sawant running against a Democrat, that is not a huge issue … she is very fashionable and is likely to get increasing votes from the cocktails and coding community I call “Zonians.” BUT, these folks are often very small r republican. The Zonians may recoil from the insanity of the Tea Party, but a corporate Republican, backed locally by money from Bezos and Balmer could take the McD seat.