The Socialist Alternative Party has qualified a candidate for the Washington state legislature this year. She is Kshama Sawant. Here is the party’s web page, describing the campaign. She is running in the 43rd district, place one, for State House. Because the only other person who filed is a Democrat, she is guaranteed to place second and will be able to run in November. Here is a community news blog about her campaign.
The Socialist Alternative Party is the U.S. affiliate of the Committee for a Workers’ International, which seems to have its strongest branches in Asia. As far as it known, this candidacy in Washington state is the first time the party has contested an election in the United States.
Because Washington state does not permit party labels to exceed fifteen characters, her ballot label is “Socialist Altern.”
Washington state has very few minor party candidates (for office other than President) this year. The only other ones who are members of actual organizations are one Reform Party member running for Governor, one Constitution Party member running for Lieutenant Governor, one Progressive Party member running for state legislature, and one Green Party member running for state legislature. The Socialist Workers Party nominated a candidate for Governor but she did not pay the filing fee to appear on the primary ballot.
Voters in the 43rd district can be grateful to Ms Sawant that there will be a choice in the general election rather than an individual winning for lack of any opposition.
Candidates are free to label them selves as they like and she might have chosen something mainstream sounding such as Democratic, democrat, Republican, GOP, Mainstream, or something mainstream-left as it is the 43rd (anyone could think of many) but again Ms Sawant wanted to supply the voters with a choice and decided upon a label that would clearly identify her as a political minority. Good for her.
She would have scored a hat-trick if she also was now explaining why our political system loathes political minorities and quite precisely how that can be fixed so all political minorities might be sure they are also included at the table of power, a lock to get representation.
She ought to upload on to You Tube a 10 minute lecture on the single-member district and how much virtue is attatched to that.
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P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
ONE election.
Equal nominating petitions.
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Much too difficult to understand for the mini-armies of MORON election law reformers ???
Is a *Socialist Altern* related to a *Socialist Intern* ??? — esp. in the gerrymander Congress.
Socialist Alternative did run a candidate for Boston city council in 2007, though Boston has non-partisan elections, so he wasn’t listed on the ballot as a Socialist Alternative candidate: http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article22.php?id=590 This will be the organisation’s first candidate in a partisan race, and they’re trying to get a candidate for Congress in New Hampshire as well.
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