Glenn Greenwald interviews Kshama Sawant, the former Seattle City Councillor running an independent socialist campaign to unseat Democratic congressman Adam Smith in Washington state’s 9th congressional district. Sawant argues Smith is both obscure and unusually influential as the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and portrays him as a central driver of US war policy. She alleges Smith co-authored major war funding measures and backs policies that deepen US military integration with Israel, and claims he has attacked the anti-war movement in punitive terms.
Sawant explains why she is not running as a Democrat or as part of the Democratic Socialists of America, insisting that winning material gains requires confronting party establishments rather than operating within them. She points to her record in Seattle, including the city’s minimum wage increases and tenant protections, and says she defeated a billionaire-backed recall effort.
The pair discuss why incumbents continue to win despite broad public dissatisfaction with Congress, and Sawant attributes it to disengagement and party structures that discourage credible primary challenges. She also argues for cross-partisan, class-based organising, saying working-class voters’ views on war spending, healthcare and economic policy cut across red/blue lines. In the closing section, Sawant describes the state of her campaign, citing fundraising totals and local endorsements, and alleges tactical candidate recruitment designed to keep her out of the general election under the state’s top-two primary system.
Sawant alleges that Smith has characterised anti-war organisers as “left-wing fascists” and argued they should be arrested. She frames the remark as an attempt to delegitimise protests against US wars and Israel’s military campaign.
Read this moment →