So when he learned the online retail giant had poured $1 million into remaking the Seattle City Council with more business-friendly candidates, he pulled out his wallet.

The New York resident sent $15 to socialist council member Kshama Sawant, a target of the online retail giant. While that doesn't compare to Amazon's unprecedented spending Oct. 14, about 1,900 others also have donated to Sawant since then, her campaign says. It's a dramatic rise in support and a reflection of the risk Amazon is taking as it splashes into the politics of its liberal hometown.

Many in Seattle aren't happy with the council, but they also may not like a company headed by the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, trying to influence their vote. As historic income inequality fuels homelessness and soaring housing prices, some progressives elsewhere don't like it either.

"Amazon could do this in hundreds of places around the country with all the money they're not paying in taxes," said Sweeney, a 28-year-old software engineer turned carpenter in Valley Stream, New York.