SEATTLE (Diya TV) — Former Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant is launching a bid for Congress, challenging Democratic incumbent Rep. Adam Smith in Washington’s 9th Congressional District. After a decade on the Seattle City Council, Sawant is running as an Independent with a campaign centered on labor rights, anti-war policies, and progressive economic reform.

Sawant, 51, filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on May 27 under the campaign committee name “Kshama for Congress.” 

Sawant’s platform includes bold proposals such as ending U.S. military aid to Israel, implementing Medicare for All, raising the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour, and enacting national rent control measures. In her campaign launch message, Sawant emphasized her goal of building a pro-worker, “anti-war, anti-genocide” movement, calling both Democrats and Republicans “political servants of the billionaire class.”

“Our experience in Seattle shows that we can defeat the rich and their political servants,” she wrote. “As we said throughout our decade-long fight with Amazon and Seattle’s corporate elite, ‘When we fight, we can win.’”

Sawant is perhaps best known for her role in leading the fight for a $15 minimum wage in Seattle—an effort that began shortly after she first took office in 2014. Her tenure on the council was also marked by consistent support for rent control, corporate taxation, and grassroots labor organizing. In 2024, she stepped down from city office to launch a national movement called Workers Strike Back, focused on empowering working people through direct action and independent politics.

The 9th Congressional District, which stretches through parts of Seattle, Bellevue, Renton, Tukwila, Kent, Federal Way, Auburn, Des Moines, and includes diverse neighborhoods like Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill, is known for its progressive voter base. However, Smith has held the seat since 1997 and remains a powerful incumbent. As of now, Sawant is the only declared challenger.

Smith, a moderate Democrat, has served as the ranking member and former chair of the House Armed Services Committee. He has generally maintained strong support among establishment Democrats and has routinely won re-election by wide margins. A formal response from Smith’s office to Sawant’s candidacy has not yet been issued.

In her text to supporters, Sawant reiterated the urgent themes of her campaign: “We’re campaigning to end the genocide in Gaza, to end U.S. military aid to Israel, to win free public healthcare for all by taxing the rich, and to win national rent control.”

Sawant, who identifies as a Socialist, often positions herself in opposition to mainstream political structures, arguing that true change cannot come from within the two-party system. Her decision to run as an Independent mirrors her efforts to challenge entrenched power through grassroots mobilization.

Her campaign will likely energize progressive and left-wing voters frustrated by the pace of change in national politics. But she faces a steep climb to unseat an established incumbent with deep ties in the district and across Washington state’s political landscape.