The fight to lead District 3 has many fronts but one area is clearly a battlefield — the money war. According to the latest filings with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, campaign contributions to incumbent Kshama Sawant and challenger Pamela Banks are spiking and pushing the race to the top of the money-powered giving pile with under two months to go to the primary.
According to the SEEC, District 3 remains the race with the second highest contribution totals but, in the latest update of numbers last week, the campaign appears on track to unseat citywide Council Position 8 as the most money-powered race in Seattle. As of today, Position 8 has attracted nearly $330,000 in contributions while District 3 candidates have netted a whopping $291,000, a 55% jump from the last tally in May.
The primary recipients of this cash flow have been Sawant and Banks. While the incumbent Socialist Alternative candidate turned in an impressive 54% jump over her May totals, her Democrat challenger nearly doubled her totals with a 96% gain.
Meanwhile, Banks recently criticized Sawant’s travel to New York for a fundraiser and the numbers from the SEEC to show the incumbent’s campaign coffers are, indeed, more dependent on giving from beyond Seattle.
According to the latest numbers, Sawant has received 36% of her $126,000 in contributions from outside of the city. 15% of the money Banks has accepted has come from beyond Seattle. The citywide total across all races is 24%, by the way. A full roster of all contributions reported by the campaigns is at the end of this post.
While the contributions are critical for supporting the campaign and getting the candidate messages out, lets not forget about the candidates’ positions on key issues. Tuesday night, one candidate will have the opportunity to put his positions to the test as the 43rd District Democrats hold their monthly meeting. Democratic fundraiser Rod Hearne will make his delayed case to win the group’s endorsement. In May, the 43rd Dems voted not to hand out an endorsement to any of the eligible District 3 Democrats in a nod to Sawant. Thanks to late answers on a questionnaire, Hearne will be back on the agenda Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, the final District 3 forum before August’s top-two primary was held last week in Madison Valley. CHS reported here on the “more scripted tussle.” You can also watch the forum here:
While the Madison Valley event may have been the last scheduled forum for the D3 candidates, CHS is planning to bring you more coverage of the candidates and their positions in the weeks leading up to August’s primary. Stay tuned.
“In May, the 43rd Dems voted not to hand out an endorsement to any of the eligible District 3 Democrats in a nod to Sawant.”
If I recall correctly that was not a nod to Sawant as all, but the lack of any of the five canidates to get to 60% vote of the membership.
Thank you for confirming my recollection. The full slate of Democrats running in District 3 were not on the ballot last meeting and no eligible candidate received sufficient votes (60%) for the endorsement. Following the rules set for endorsement does not mean the 43 Dems went rogue (or lost our freaking minds) and gave a “nod to Sawant.”
Here’s to hoping tonight’s meeting is more civil (still stunned and dismayed at the nasty, nationalistic, anti-immigrant garbage screamed at an accented constituent who spoke at the last meeting) and that we endorse a strong candidate.
How did it go last night?
Oh, wait, I already know—a vote for no endorsement.
The only issues Kshama Sawant is talking about are rent control and taxing the rich, both state wide issues, not city of Seattle issues, and certainly not District Three issues. With regard to the actual issues specific to District Three (e.g. transportation, public safety, etc.) she has yet to demonstrate even the slightest interest in representing her constituents. If she wants to impact statewide issues, she should run for state office. At the very least, she should run for an at large position on City Council. We at District Three deserve someone who will represent us and the needs of our district. Please don’t vote for Kshama Sawant!
Not to worry. Sawant is tilting in the wind. Shrill monotone whining and negativity. She represents the views of herself and a coterie of acolytes, few of whom live in the district. District 3 is full of hard working people, most of whom own their homes or are renters who have chosen to rent or who will own one day. They know that there is no free lunch and are entirely disinterested and unimpressed with her negativity and victim stance. The views of many in the districts is that anyone would be better than Sawant. In the end, the voters will speak, but her decision to run in the district rather than at large is the end of her story.
Apparently District 3 is just full of Republicans
The reported fact that 36% of Sawant’s donors come from outside Seattle speaks for itself. These are people who believe in the socialist dogma and not in the issues which affect District 3. Sawant represents this group and not the people of our district.
Lots of Socialists live in District 3. But besides that, lots of fed up Dems are ready for Sawant as well. She collected thousands of signatures from voters in her district in order to list on the ballot (as opposed to just paying the filing fee). Signatures that were validated by the election committee. How many other District 3 candidates presented that kind of show of support?
If I told you someone is a humorless ideologue who detests her co-workers and lets them know how inferior they are, would you vote for her? If I told you further that her agenda of social programs would be funded by an unrealistic dream-world government takeover of Boeing, Amazon, Microsoft, and virtually every other large employer in town, would you vote for her? If I told you she was a chair of a government committee who has cancelled meetings on whims, would you vote for her? If I told you that she refused to respond to repeated requests by the nonprofit open-government organization Vote Smart (votesmart.org ) for her views on various positions, would you vote for her? If I told you that 36% of her huge campaign coffer came from outside Seattle, would you vote for her? That’s Kshama Sawant, who cares more about the masses than about individuals. I can’t fathom why labor unions have poured money into her campaign, when she’s accused them of “betraying the working class.”
Pamela Banks is Sawant’s only opponent who’s actually running an active campaign, and she’s endorsed by a host of neighborhood activists.
As Mao said, “Beware of the revolutionary without a twinkle in his eye.” Sawant has no twinkle.