Former Seattle City Councilmember and socialist organizer Kshama Sawant announced Monday that she is running for Congress in Washington’s 9th Congressional District, launching a campaign against longtime Democratic incumbent Rep. Adam Smith.
Speaking at a press conference in Seattle, Sawant stood alongside organizers from Workers Strike Back — the national movement she co-founded after leaving the council — as well as local union members and activists.
She described her campaign as a working-class challenge to what she called the “corporate and warmongering agenda” of both major political parties.
Sawant, who served on the Seattle City Council for a decade before stepping down in 2023, said her platform will focus on building mass movements to win policies like Medicare for All, a $25 minimum wage, and an end to U.S. military funding for Israel.
“Working people have no political representation under capitalism,” Sawant said. “Both the Democrats and Republicans serve the interests of the billionaires.”
Sawant’s campaign is running independently of the Democratic Party.
She sharply criticized progressive members of Congress such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, accusing them of capitulating to their party’s leadership.
She also took direct aim at Rep. Smith, who has represented the South Sound-based district since 1997 and currently serves as the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Sawant accused Smith of enabling U.S. militarism and specifically blamed him for supporting the Israeli military during its war in Gaza.
She cited his voting record on military spending, including his support for the Iraq War in 2002 and various U.S. military interventions since the 1990s.
“He has blood all over his hands,” Sawant said, referencing Smith’s role in approving defense funding and support for Israel.
She also accused Smith of receiving campaign contributions from defense contractors and health insurance companies.
Smith, a centrist Democrat who has served in Congress for nearly three decades, has not yet commented on Sawant’s candidacy.
He handily won reelection in 2022 with over 70% of the vote.
In her speech, Sawant outlined her plans for a Seattle-based healthcare ballot initiative that would raise billions in taxes on large corporations to fund free healthcare for city residents.
She argued that victories at the local level could build momentum for a national push for Medicare for All.
“There is no reason, in the wealthiest country on earth, that everyone cannot have free healthcare,” she said.
Sawant also revisited her legislative accomplishments on the Seattle City Council, including passing the city’s $15 minimum wage, taxing major corporations through the Amazon Tax, and pushing for multiple renter protections.
She credited these wins to grassroots organizing and dismissed mainstream political strategies as ineffective.
Sawant pledged to take only the average worker’s salary if elected, donating the rest of her congressional salary to labor and social justice movements.
She also criticized the influence of corporate money on both parties, warning that without mass mobilization, working people would continue to lose ground.
The 9th District includes parts of Seattle, Bellevue, Renton, Kent, and other South King County communities.
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