Business - A Beta Test For Big Tech's Clout

NAME A POLICY SUPPORTED BY A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL candidate this year and odds are good it’s been passed into law in Seattle.

- Alana Semuels

The Emerald City has approved a $15 minimum wage (which Elizabeth Warren calls for); unveiled a domestic workers’ bill of rights (like the one Kamala Harris wants); and voted to tax the rich (a Bernie Sanders–backed plan), though that’s tied up in court.

But Seattle’s business leaders are pushing back, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into an upcoming election in an effort to unseat the city’s progressive leadership in favor of contenders who, while still Democrats, take more moderate positions on fiscal issues. “There’s a basic feeling that [the city council] isn’t doing a good job, and we don’t want them to take actions that are going to hurt the one thing that is going well in our town: the economy,” says Heather Redman, a venture capitalist and the chair of the Washington Technology Industry Association, whose membership includes Amazon and Microsoft.