Kshama Sawant declares victory in District 3 Seattle City Council race

Not all the votes are counted yet, but Kshama Sawant made a victory speech Saturday morning in the District 3 Seattle City Council race.

How a vote recount works in Washington state

Sawant and her opponent, Egan Orion, are 1,515 votes apart, with Sawant at 51.6% of the vote. King County Elections says it still needs to count another 6,300 ballots, with new results coming on Tuesday at 4 p.m. About 2,500 of those are from Seattle. The elections office said there are roughly 250-350 votes per district to count, and then signature challenges to sort through.

Sawant was trailing Orion on Election Night by 8 percent. She surged ahead of Orion on Friday evening when King County Elections updated its vote tallies. Her campaign tweeted about the victory Saturday during her speech at the Langston Hughes Performing Art Institute:

“Our movement has won our socialist office, for working people. The election results are a repudiation of the billionaire class…and the relentless attacks & lies…and working people have stood up and said Seattle is Not For Sale!”

Sawant thanked the Socialist Alternative, among others, during her speech.

“It is the power of socialist ideas, Marxist ideas, the power of our analysis, strategies, our understanding of class struggle, the historical memory and lessons we bring of the past victories and defeats of our class, the working class,” she said.

Sawant said the election was polarized by the corporate elite in her unequal district, but there were supporters in every neighborhood who tried to stand up to the “attempt to turn Seattle into a playground for the rich.”

“Working people, people of color, young people came out in huge numbers to vote by overwhelming majorities for our socialist politics and against this attempted hostile corporate takeover,” Sawant said.

KIRO Radio’s Hanna Scott contributed to this report.

“Our movement has won our socialist office, for working people.

The election results are a repudiation of the billionaire class…and the relentless attacks &lies…and working people have stood up and said Seattle is Not For Sale!” #rentcontrol #greennewdeal
–@KshamaSocialist pic.twitter.com/5FyvdBwg7v

— Vote Sawant (@VoteSawant) November 9, 2019

Introducing, our secret weapon which is really no secret: our movement.
Of working people, who are tech workers, students, nurses, housing activists, security guards, Uber drivers, and so much more.
Let’s build the fight for #rentcontrol and #taxtherich #taxamazon #greennewdeal pic.twitter.com/iCFwgCRCmo

— Vote Sawant (@VoteSawant) November 9, 2019

“Our movement needs to organize for rent control, for a Green new deal for working people, to make sure this council stands with working people… join us in the People’s Budget movement and fight to tax big business. Join our Ppl’s Budget in City Hall on Weds Nov 13th, 8:30am.”

— Vote Sawant (@VoteSawant) November 9, 2019

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