Kshama Sawant wants to start a 'political earthquake'

It would be easy to dismiss Kshama Sawant as a far-left extremist with pipe dreams, were it not for the fact that she has been elected three times in a row to the Seattle City Council, narrowly survived a recall campaign, and achieved victories while in office, such as setting a $15 an hour minimum wage in 2014, and fighting for a landmark tax on large corporations like Amazon. Now, Sawant — who was born in India, immigrated to the United States in 1996, and describes herself as a Marxist and revolutionary socialist — has entered the ring to run for the U.S. Congressional seat currently held by fourteen-term incumbent Adam Smith in Washington state's 9th Congressional District.

Kshama Sawant spoke with The Progressive virtually from her home in Seattle on October 28. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Can you talk a little about your time on the Seattle City Council?

Kshama Sawant: I was first elected to the City Council in 2013. I was re-elected in 2015, ran for re-election in 2019, and won. Then, in 2021, there was an attempt by the Trump-oriented right, the Democratic Party, and big business to get me back, but it failed. I left the city council undefeated in December 2023. I was the only socialist on the council; The other eight members were all affiliated with the Democratic Party, although the council seats are officially nonpartisan.

During those 10 years, we were able to win what became the highest minimum wage in the country at the time by launching the “15 Now” campaign and winning, in June 2014, the first $15 an hour minimum wage in a major city. As part of that fight, we won increases in inflation, so the minimum wage today is $20.76, the highest in the country. In January 2026, it will rise to $21.35.

During my time in office, we also won the “Amazon Tax,” a tax on Seattle’s wealthiest companies in order to raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually to fund publicly owned, affordable social housing. We've also achieved unprecedented victories on renters' rights, such as setting a $10 cap on late rent fees; Six months notice for all rent increases; Stop evictions in the winter months [for those at or below the area’s median income]For school children and their families during the school year; And more.

I am a revolutionary socialist, and have always run as an independent. We have shown that the autonomous combat strategy is quite successful. We were not marginalized, and I was not sold out; Instead, we forced Democrats to implement a working-class agenda.

Question: You are now running for Congress in Washington's 9th District, against incumbent Democratic candidate Adam Smith. On the news, he appears as one of the most liberal Democrats in Congress, and is treated as one. Why are you challenging him?

Sawant: Adam Smith voted to send tens of billions of dollars to support Israel's genocide in Gaza. He has repeatedly voted to ban any US funding for UN food aid in Gaza. He did this while there was mass starvation in Gaza. He voted for the Iraq War in 2002. He voted to create ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] By voting for George W. Bush's Homeland Security Act and Bush's Patriot Act, which unleashed a new wave of mass surveillance and attacks on peaceful protests.

In 1997, Smith voted for what Bill Clinton called the Balanced Budget Act, which brutally cut Medicare and Medicaid by about $120 billion. In 1999, Smith voted for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which deregulated banking and helped create the 2008 recession — and then voted to bail out Wall Street, rather than bail out millions of stricken working families. In 2022, Smith voted to break a strike by railroad workers. For nearly thirty years, Adam Smith has been a loyal and unwavering defender of big business and the interests of war-mongering American imperialism. In my view, Smith has blood on his hands, and he should be tried for war crimes and removed from office.

Question: He bears the same name as the father of laissez-faire capitalism.

Sawant: [Laughs.] This is correct. I am a Marxist economist. It is almost poetic that a revolutionary socialist would compete against him. To your point, treating Adam Smith as a truly liberal man really reveals the true nature of the Democratic Party. Smith is supposed to be a member of the Congressional Democratic Progressive Caucus. It raises the question of the meaning of the word “progressive.” Even a pro-genocide, war-mongering, billionaire-backed Democrat like Smith could be considered a member.

Most working class people are quite angry with both parties, but what we are missing is a left alternative. A recent poll showed that 63 percent of Americans want a new party. This election is particularly crucial, because it represents the progress we need to build a new party for the working class.

Q: What is your campaign platform?

Sawant: An End to Genocide; and for all US military funding to the Israeli government; The brutal occupation of Palestinian territories by the Israeli apartheid state. There is a ceasefire, but Israel is still attacking Gaza and has a shameful record of violating the ceasefire.

[We should] Stop all deportations, and close detention centers and ICE. We fight for free health care for all, funded by taxing the rich; For a national minimum wage of $25 per hour; for national rent control; And for the massive expansion of publicly owned social housing.

Q: What do you think about the growing number of candidates and some office holders calling themselves socialists?

Sawant: I strongly agree with Zahran Mamdani's campaign demands, including freezing rents in rent-stabilized apartments, making public transportation free, and setting the minimum wage to $30 an hour in New York City.[this last one,]Unfortunately, Mamdani didn't talk about it much. I have also publicly pledged that if after Mamdani's election there is a struggle for the $30 minimum wage, I will personally go to New York and help. If the working class can achieve those victories, it will drive other victories for working class people at the national level as well.

But I think the strategy to win any of these victories will not come from forging alliances with the Democratic Party, or from trying to appease big business. This is what I disagree with about Mamdani's approach.

Q: In 2024, Donald Trump received seventy-seven million votes, while Kamala Harris received seventy-five million votes, but nearly ninety million people eligible to vote did not cast ballots for either candidate.

Sawant: This is an important part of the story. Nearly nineteen million people polled, who voted for Biden in 2020, refused to vote for Kamala Harris in 2024. These Democratic Party voters did not vote for anyone. Why? Because they were angry about the genocide in Gaza and the high cost of living crisis. There is clearly great anger among the working class at the betrayal of both parties. If you want to defeat Trumpism, you have to defeat the Democratic Party, too.

Q: Do you believe that socialism will be achieved by ballot or by bullet?

Sawant: Framing the question this way is very misleading. What we really need is a political rebellion. Clearly we need a revolution, like the Russian Revolution, which was the most important progressive event in modern world history. Because the capitalists will not freely hand over the wealth they confiscated from the working class, we will need to struggle.

History shows that the arsenal for killing people is primarily in the hands of the capitalist class. Regarding the polling part of your question, I think it's a false dichotomy to say, “I believe in movements; I don't believe in elections,” or vice versa. Marxist revolutionary leadership is crucial, as is challenging Republicans and Democrats, building our own party, and winning elections—realizing that all aspects of our work must be directed toward revolutionary movements. The election of a revolutionary socialist to Congress would be nothing less than a political earthquake.

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