For years, the Left marched in Seattle. From the 1999 WTO protests to the anti-Iraq War movement, through Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, the city incubated an insurgent politics that learned how to take back the streets.

The politicization has taken an electoral turn in recent years, however. Socialist Alternative’s Kshama Sawant became the first US socialist in decades to win a citywide election in 2014. In the years since, she’s used her office to bring battles for rent control and a $15 minimum wage to the forefront of politics in the city. And now, a new wave of candidates is looking to follow in her footsteps.

This year, Seattle DSA organizer Shaun Scott is running to represent Seattle City Council District Four on a platform of public housing, taxing the rich, and a municipal Green New Deal. With his August 6 Democratic primary approaching, Scott sat down with Jaden Adams to discuss the inspiration for his campaign and how it plans to advance the fight for our right to the city.