Following the tradition of threats of violence and harassment toward those whom they disagree with, far left activists in Seattle have forced a city council candidate to drop out of the race, just three weeks into his campaign.
Christopher Rufo promised to challenge the status quo in Seattle, which has become a beacon of misery. The city experiencing an epidemic of homelessness, skyrocketing housing costs, tons of new taxes, and rising crime rates. So Rufo filed to run for city council for the 2019 elections. Cue the leftist crybullies, who began to threaten Rufo, along with his wife and family.
Seattle City Council members have been focused on making a national presence for themselves instead of actually governing the city and focusing on what the city needs. You’ve got tent cities decorating what was once the Emerald City. You’ve got people who haven’t been to Seattle for awhile commenting on how unpleasant it is, how violent it is, how aggressive it is, and how ugly it is.
So we’ve got a new crop of candidates saying that this is a failure of government, and promising to give people an alternative to the socialist viewpoints and programs of Seattle politicians.
Here’s the problem with wanting to stop the ideological divide in Seattle — anybody who gives a hint of being tolerant toward a conservative base is instantly frowned upon in some circles in this city. In fact, when Rufo first made the announcement that he was running, someone on Facebook commented that he seemed like a nice guy, but had been at an event in town thrown by a conservative group, which automatically made him suspicious. Does attendance at a conservative event now disqualify you? What if you attended an event of a conservative you disagreed with just to hear what they had to say?
But anyway, Christopher Rufo said that he wanted a new way of doing business, a new method — and now he’s already out. On Wednesday, he sent an email out to members of his campaign saying that he’s got to leave. It’s not because he wants to leave; it’s because of the “tolerant” atmosphere in Seattle.
Rufo released a statement to his supporters:
“I had hoped that this would be a campaign of ideas, but I quickly discovered that the activists in this city have no interest in ideas. Since the campaign launch, they have harassed and threatened my family nonstop. I was prepared to take the heat, but unfortunately, they have focused their hatred on my wife and children. They’ve made vile racist attacks against my wife, attempted to get her fired from Microsoft, and threatened sexual violence. They have even posted hateful messages to my 8-year-old son’s school Facebook page. I know that as the race progresses, the activists will ratchet up their hate-machine and these attacks will intensify significantly.”
Antifa supporting The Stranger adds:
A documentary filmmaker who has worked for PBS, Rufo had recently announced his candidacy for Seattle City Council’s 6th District, currently held by Mike O’Brien, and while the election was many months away, he’d already gotten some constituent interest and media attention.
“I started getting dozens and then hundreds of messages from people saying, ‘This is exciting. What are you doing? What’s your platform? What do you want to see change?'” Rufo said. “A business owner just messaged me and said ‘We’re getting hammered because of how we’re handling homelessness.’ Someone reached out and said, ‘Someone came at me with an axe in the middle of Ballard yesterday.’ Victims of violent crimes have said, ‘What can we do? We feel like we don’t have a voice. No one cares about us.'”
Rufo hoped to be that voice. When I asked what he would do differently that the current city council, he offered to send me his white paper on effective ways to combat homelessness. Socially liberal and fiscally conservative, Rufo calls himself a centrist, and if elected to city council, he hopes to counter what he called the “activist class.”
Rufo at least managed to make a campaign video;
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