‘There’s No Shortcut’: Kshama Sawant Welcomes Zohran Mamdani’s Win but Warns Against Illusions in Democratic Party Politics

Socialist organiser and former Seattle City Councillor Kshama Sawant has welcomed the primary election victory of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, calling it “a resounding repudiation of the Zionist lobby” and of the conservative union leadership that opposed his campaign. But in a wide-ranging interview on the Bad Faith podcast hosted by Briahna Joy Gray, Sawant warned against viewing the result as proof that the Democratic Party can be a long-term vehicle for the left.

“It is paramount for us to understand that this is a resounding repudiation of the Zionist lobby, of the Democratic Party establishment, and also of the role that the union leadership played,” Sawant said.

She hailed the win as a rare breakthrough by an open socialist and vocal critic of Israel’s war on Gaza, especially in the face of what she described as “vicious attacks” on Mamdani from Democratic Party operatives and prominent pro-Israel groups.

But, she added: “If you’re not feeling trepidation, you are not in touch with reality.”

From Seattle Council to Capitol Hill?

Sawant’s warnings come as she prepares for her own independent run for federal office. In June, she announced that she would contest the 2026 election for the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington’s 9th Congressional District, taking on Democratic incumbent Adam Smith.

After a decade in office, Sawant stepped down from Seattle City Council in 2024, leaving behind a formidable legacy. She led successful struggles to make Seattle the first major U.S. city to pass a $15/hour minimum wage, championed renters’ rights, won a “Amazon Tax” on big business, and helped pass a first-in-the-nation law banning caste-based discrimination.

She is now campaigning for Congress on a platform of rent control, taxing billionaires, Medicare for All, and ending U.S. complicity in genocide and war. She is running not as a Democrat, but as a socialist independent, backed by her new organisation, Workers Strike Back.

A cautionary tale for the left

Sawant called Mamdani’s victory “a real moment of hope” but said it would be a mistake to use the result to rehabilitate faith in Democratic Party politics.

“It would be a disservice to the working class for us to now start peddling illusions that this victory proves that the Democratic Party can be a vehicle for us to win our demands,” she said.

Sawant contrasted Mamdani’s bold message with the caution displayed by many progressive politicians within the party: “The language that you hear from most of the Squad and Bernie Sanders now is one of retreat — it’s not one of defiance. It’s one of conciliation.”

She said Mamdani’s win demonstrated “that it can be done,” but insisted that change on issues like Gaza, housing, and inequality would not come through “trying to square the circle” and avoid political confrontation.

“There is no shortcut that avoids class struggle and confrontation with the ruling class,” she said. “And as long as you are in the Democratic Party, what you are trying to do is to find a shortcut.”

On Mamdani’s messaging

While praising Mamdani’s clarity on Gaza and his refusal to appease the political establishment, Sawant said the real test lies ahead. “It is also a question of how the elected representatives carry forward the movement once they are elected,” she said.

Sawant pointed to the record of previous progressive candidates — including Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — as examples of how institutional pressure and party discipline often dilute transformative agendas.

“The electoral victories will only translate into gains for working people if it is combined with an actual strategy for building movements and for being unafraid of confrontation,” she said.

“It is not just about saying the right thing when you’re campaigning. It is also about whether or not you’re going to carry through on that when push comes to shove.”

Lessons from Seattle

Throughout the interview, Sawant returned to the lessons of her own political career in Seattle — where she governed as an open socialist and independent, without the support of the Democratic Party machine.

She described her time in office as a constant struggle against both right-wing forces and Democratic Party politicians who sided with corporate interests. Her victories, she said, came not from insider negotiation, but from “relentless and courageous” mobilisation of working-class communities.

“Our victories were not achieved by clever arguments in the corridors of power,” she said. “They were won in the streets, through sustained organising.”

She warned that Mamdani and others on the left risk being neutralised if they do not draw sharp political lines within their own party and reject pressures to moderate their demands.

“If the Democrats really believed in rent control, in an end to the genocide in Gaza, in taxing the rich — then we wouldn’t need to be fighting them in the first place,” she said.

On union leadership

Sawant also reserved harsh criticism for union leaders who backed Mamdani’s opponents — including former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo — calling their endorsements “a betrayal of the rank-and-file.”

“This is not just a question of corruption — this is a political question,” she said. “This is a choice between aligning with the billionaire class and the warmongers, or standing up for working people.”

She added that the labour movement must go beyond electoral horse-trading and recommit to grassroots mobilisation: “We need fighting unions that will fight not only for workplace rights, but for social justice, housing, and against war and racism.”

Visa denial by the Indian government

Although not discussed in the Bad Faith interview, Sawant has also recently spoken out about being denied a visa by the Indian government to visit her ailing mother. The move is widely seen as retaliation for her outspoken criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and its human rights record.

Sawant, who was born in Pune and immigrated to the U.S. in her twenties, has been a consistent critic of the Indian government’s repression of Muslims, Dalits, and dissenters — as well as of its growing influence among right-wing diaspora organisations abroad.

Building something new

Asked what the left should take away from Mamdani’s victory, Sawant said: “This is a hopeful moment — but it is not a strategy. If we think that the road forward is to double down inside the Democratic Party, we will be making a historic mistake.”

She called on the left to build its own independent political organisations rooted in class struggle, movement-building, and uncompromising solidarity with oppressed communities at home and abroad.

“What we need is a mass party of the working class that does not take a dollar from big business or the billionaires — and that does not bow to the establishment, whether it comes with a red tie or a blue one,” she said.