King County Elections officials tallied another 3,500 or so District 3 votes in Wednesday’s second release of Primary totals and the numbers show incumbent Kshama Sawant’s number one position strengthening.
Sawant and now out of the running challenger Zachary DeWolf were the only candidates to make percentage point gains in the second day’s totals. Sawant now commands 34% of the total vote. Egan Orion is poised to join Sawant in the primary though his percentage total has dipped ever so slightly to just over 23%. In past races, Sawant has consistently gained ground in tallies of late voters.
The Primary results are setting up “a straight-up battle between the billionaire class and the working class” for Sawant’s City Council seat, the Socialist Alternative leader said in her Election Night speech — exactly the kind of rhetoric her supporters cheer and the kind of statement many Orion supporters point at as proof Sawant and her policies are unfit for City Hall.
Pat Murakami, currently third, saw her percentage total fall in the latest count. The Beacon Hill small business owner and neighborhood activist has not yet publicly conceded the race.
UPDATE 8/8/19: Murakami tells CHS that after the second ballot update Wednesday, she has decided to end her campaign. Supported by an endorsement from the Speak out Seattle pro-policing and public safety group, Murakami outpaced many expectations but fell far short of the top two slots.
In a statement to CHS, Murakami called for the eventual D3 victor to “help those suffering on our streets” and “protect and preserve private property ownership for future generations.”
I hope whomever prevails will put the residents of District 3 and the people of Seattle first. The people should come before the dictates from one’s political party or one’s personal financial interests. We need a leader who will boldly take action to help those suffering on our streets and who will protect and preserve private property ownership for future generations. I wish them the best in addressing the many challenges facing our city.
King County Elections will continue updating the totals (PDF) daily at 4 PM until all ballots are counted. District 3 voters are currently producing a 38.3% turnout — the highest in the city.
UPDATE 8/9/19: How about the third count? Thursday’s update shows just how powerful the Sawant camp’s “get out the vote” machine continues to be as her late voter totals are dominating the field. Sawant commanded some 40% of the votes tallied Thursday to bring her overall percentage over the 35-point mark. The strong showing dented every other candidate in the field as Sawant has passed above 10,000 votes in the race. Orion now stands at 6,469. Turnout in D3 has hit 46.4% but is no longer the strongest showing in the city. Northwest Seattle’s District 6 has pushed its turnout to 46.5% as of Thursday night.
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This pull quote is both so on brand and so offensive that I’m not sure whether it’s an endorsement or an indictment.
This is a district election, right? Are there a lot of billionaires here in D3? I’ve spent the last almost 20 years being proud that this was a diverse, mixed income district. Seems like that’s out of vogue. Maybe I’m just getting old.
I think there’s value in it, though.
So, apparently all the people who voted for any candidate besides Sawant is a billionaire, or at the very least, pro-billionaire?
Wow.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe any billionaires live in District 3.
You are wrong.
Ah, it appears you are right: there is one, Howard Schultz (https://seattle.curbed.com/maps/washington-state-billionaire-homes-bill-gates-jeff-bezos/howard-schultz-net-worth-3-9-billion).
If there are more you can confirm, Ryan, I am all ears. I don’t think Schultz alone constitutes a class, though.
Weak argument. There are lots of areas in our country (Republican) that don’t have billionaires yet still vote for the interests of the billionaire class over their own.
Personally, I’m not a billionaire, so I won’t be voting for the billionaire’s puppet. Also, I’m not in tech, so I won’t be voting for the guy who pandered to tech bros over working people.
You make a valid point that, Simon. You don’t have to be a billionaire to vote in a way that benefits billionaires. But I believe Alex S.’s earlier comment is also valid: just because you happen to cast the same vote as a billionaire does not mean you and that billionaire voted for the same reasons.
Running a city effectively isn’t binary. I don’t agree with all of Orion’s views, but he checks more boxes for me than Sawant does. If another D3 voter, whether they be billionaire, millionaire, or below Seattle median income, votes for Orion, it’s unlikely that we are in total overlap of our reasons for doing so (it’s also unlikely we are in total overlap of our criticisms of Sawant).
I voted for Sawant in previous cycles because I felt like we needed someone who would refuse to bend or compromise, and I liked some of her ideas at the time. I’ll admit, I also wanted to shift the Overton window to the left. She has delivered on being uncompromising, I’ll give her that. But I regret my prior votes. She is excessively disagreeable. Some of her own coworkers can’t stand working with her. At the very least, D3 needs someone reasonable, someone who realizes they can’t get everything they want when they propose legislation.
What is promising to focus on is that 66% of the D3 residents who cared enough to vote don’t want Sawant. Let’s hope that percentage stays that way in the final election. She’s such an embarrassment.
She is THE WORST
Loved the signs that someone pasted over the Sawant signs all down John Street from 15th to Broadway.