Back كاشاما ساوانت Arabic كاشاما ساوانت ARZ کشاما ساوانت AZB Kshama Sawant German Kshama Sawant Finnish Kshama Sawant French קשאמה סוואנט HE Քշամա Սավանտ Armenian 크샤마 사완트 Korean Kshama Sawant Dutch

Kshama Sawant

Kshama Sawant
Sawant in 2016
Member of the Seattle City Council
In office
January 1, 2014 – January 2, 2024
Preceded byRichard Conlin
Succeeded byJoy Hollingsworth
ConstituencyPosition 2 (2014–2016)
3rd district (2016–2024)
Personal details
Born (1973-10-17) October 17, 1973 (age 51)
Pune, India
Political partyRevolutionary Workers
Other political
affiliations		Socialist Alternative (until 2024)
Democratic Socialists of America (since 2021)
Spouses
Vivek Sawant
​
(before 2016)​
Calvin Priest
​
(m. 2016)​
EducationUniversity of Mumbai (BS)
North Carolina State University (MA, PhD)
Signature
WebsiteGovernment website

Kshama Sawant (/kʃʌmɑː sɑːˈwʌnt/; born October 17, 1973)[1] is an Indian-American politician and economist who served on the Seattle City Council from 2014 to 2024. She was a member of Socialist Alternative, the first and only member of the party to date to be elected to public office.

A former software engineer, Sawant became an economics instructor in Seattle after immigrating to the United States from her native India.[2] She ran unsuccessfully for the Washington House of Representatives in 2012 before winning her seat on the Seattle City Council in 2013. She was the first socialist to win a citywide election in Seattle since Anna Louise Strong was elected to the school board in 1916.[3][4] Sawant narrowly survived a December 7, 2021 recall election for her position on the council by a margin of 310 votes, or 0.76%. It was the first held in Seattle since 1975.

In January 2023, Sawant announced that she would not seek re-election, and would instead promote the Socialist Alternative campaign Workers Strike Back to unionize workers.[5] In 2024 Sawant announced she had left Socialist Alternative and formed her own party Revolutionary Workers.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference dissertation was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Scigliano, Eric (November 6, 2013). "Disenchantment and dismay - unless you're Kshama Sawant". Crosscut. Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  3. ^ Connelly, Joel (November 14, 2013). "Socialist Sawant wins City Council seat". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on November 17, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  4. ^ Seattle elects first socialist City Council member Archived November 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. KING 5. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  5. ^ Taylor, Sarah Grace; Beekman, Daniel (January 19, 2023). "Kshama Sawant will not seek reelection to Seattle City Council". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on January 20, 2023.
  6. ^ https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25041448-why-were-launching-revolutionary-workers-leaving-socialist-alternative

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