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Seattles Super Bowl triumph earlier this year came only a month after another kind of triumph for the Emerald City: the election of Socialist Kshama Sawant to the City Council. It represented the third pendant in the Citys progressive charm bracelet, which includes marriage equality and legalized marijuana. While there was a wide range of prognosticating on what her victory meant (a vote for something different or an affirmation of communitarian economics), there has been no doubt that Sawant is a different kind of politician, shifting the discussion quickly to her demand to increase the minimum wage to $15; and it wasnt just talk, she succeeded. Yesterdays election was the first test to see whether people would vote for a Socialist who is not Kshama Sawant. Jess Spear took on incumbent Democratic State Representative Frank Chopp, who isnt just any state representative, hes the Speaker of the State House of Representatives. Not only did Spear take on the Speaker who represents the most liberal of liberal districts in Seattle, she made her campaign a kind of referendum on rent control. Unfortunately for Spear the Sawant charmor ideological momentumdidnt rub off. Spear lost the election by a significant percentage, 83 percent to 16 percent. But in spite of the drubbing did she accomplish anything? In fact, she did push the speaker to change his tune on rent control and to return campaign contributions from some developers and landlords. He has now says he supports allowing cities to impose rent control, something preempted by Washington State law. With a right leaning State Senate, its unlikely that a repeal of the preemption is coming soon, but Chopp might just sponsor the bill, legislation nobody has discussed in years. Spear and Seattle Socialists can also draw some solace from the defeat: Sawant ran against the Speaker in 2012 before her historic win taking her to the City Council. Perhaps running against Chopp is the testing ground for Seattles swiftly leftward tilting ideology. And Chopp is an excellent politician, knowing that having Socialists in his own backyard means his own efforts to ameliorate broader ideological squabbles between rural and urban Democrats, and with Republicans and the business community could, one day, cost him his own seat. That means supporting rent and price controls. When it comes to housing, its likely that a rent control measure might fair well in Seattle. The general consensus among frustrated neighbors opposing development, former Occupy Seattle activists, and Socialists seems to be that increasing housing supply actually makes housing more expensive, and taxing it will make it cheaper. Can electing a Socialist to the state legislature or the even the Congress be far behind?

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Socialism and Rent Control on the Ballot in Seattle