The last two US election cycles have established that socialists can win local, state, and even federal office. Besides the high-profile congressional wins of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, some three dozen socialists won elections last year, and momentum has carried over in 2019 with wins from Philadelphia to Chicago to Denver.

But what hadn’t been tested in this era — until now — is whether, having secured political office, socialists can manage to hold on to power in the face of a maximum assault by corporate CEOs and their political patrons.

That first stress test of socialist political durability came this year in Seattle, pitting six-year incumbent city council member Kshama Sawant, a member of Socialist Alternative, against the combined might of Amazon, Starbucks, Comcast, Expedia, Lyft, Boeing, major real-estate developers, the mayor, most of the political establishment, and the corporate media.