For the second consecutive year, a Seattle city council member and "proud Socialist" will deliver a rebuttal to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.
Kshama Sawant was elected to city council on a Socialist Alternative platform in 2013. She's scheduled to deliver her remarks Tuesday evening directly after the GOP rebuttal, which will be given by freshman Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) following the conclusion of Obama's address. You can watch it here:
A college professor and proponent of the Occupy movement, Sawant touted her support for a measure to increase Seattle's minimum wage to $15 an hour as a key part of her campaign. The city later passed that wage hike in a historic vote, and in November, Sawant was arrested in a protest against an effort to deny certain airport workers that level of pay.
In 2014, Sawant also offered a rebuttal to Obama's State of the Union address, criticizing the president for not pushing more aggressively on wage stagnation and deepening economic inequality, themes that Obama is expected to address again on Tuesday. She also blasted both parties for their failures to crack down on Wall Street "criminals" and for their support of drone warfare and government surveillance programs.
Watch Sawant's 2014 rebuttal below: