In Seattle, Socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant has declared victory in a re-election race that pitted her against Amazon — Seattle’s largest private employer and one of the largest companies in the world. Amazon backed Sawant’s opponent, Egan Orion, with nearly half a million dollars. Overall, Amazon poured $1.5 million into Seattle’s City Council election. But over the weekend, Sawant declared victory as later vote counts showed her pulling ahead of Orion. Sawant is Seattle’s first Socialist politician elected in nearly a century, and she has successfully pushed a number of progressive policies, including making Seattle the first major American city to adopt a $15-an-hour minimum wage.