Justin Smeltzer

.@briebriejoy asks left podcasters and influencers who promoted Graham Platner's campaign: "You created Graham Platner, why are you ignoring Kshama Sawant?" "I just would really like folks to ask themselves: Why did I immediately glom onto this campaign and boost it? But I have been completely silent about the first elected Socialist City Council person in like a hundred years in American history, who fought for and secured the ... $15 an hour [minimum wage] and made that issue a national one because of her success, and is fighting against Jeff Bezos in Washington state?" I'm Kshama Sawant and I'm running for Congress as an independent antiwar socialist. I'm fighting to end all military aid to Israel, for a permanent arms embargo on Israel, to win free healthcare for all funded by taxing the rich, and to win national rent control and a national $25.hour minimum wage. I was an independent socialist on the Seattle City Council for a decade, and I used my office to win the nation's highest minimum wage, the Amazon Tax, and unprecedented renters' rights. My main opponent is 29-year incumbent Adam Smith, a general among the warmongers. Adam Smith is the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee and has joined the Republicans in cosponsoring nearly two trillion dollars in war funding just since December. Smith has voted to create and repeatedly fund ICE. He is bankrolled by AIPAC and the billionaire class. My campaign is the strongest-ever challenge, by far, to Adam Smith and we have a real shot at defeating him. But we are facing a huge media blackout, including from many independent left-wing shows. I call on all left-wing podcasters and independent media outlets to have me on their shows and feature our campaign. Instead of continuing to ignore this chance to throw out a genocidal warmonger from Congress, let’s unite on the basis of our anti-imperialist principles and bring this campaign past the primary on August 4th. I also call on the audience of these outlets to urge the hosts to bring us on. We have less than three weeks before the August 4th primary election and we need to get out every vote that we can. Having an independent revolutionary socialist in Congress would be a game changer for the working class. My track record proves my commitment to fighting uncompromisingly for working people, and to build mass movements capable of threatening the political establishment and accomplishing real victories. We have a real opportunity to challenge both parties of the billionaire class, but in order to achieve that, we will need the support of people with big platforms that are capable of countering our invisibilization from mainstream media. Help us send the first independent revolutionary socialist to Congress!

The lies that come out of this guy's mouth are breathtaking. "We need more diplomacy," says Adam Smith, right after he proudly announced a bill for a trillion NEW dollars for war & to fuse U.S. & Israeli militaries. I'm fighting to stop Adam Smith’s insane warmongering agenda.

If you were in Mamdani's position you would quit it and start a podcast.

If you were in Mamdani's position you would quit it and start a podcast.

Despite the dire situation with SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program), Democratic Party politicians have refused to do what it would take to continue SNAP benefits uninterrupted — fund SNAP at the state level by taxing the rich. The Democratic Party has a trifecta (Governor and majorities in both State houses) in 15 states. In every single one of these states, they could be carrying out emergency taxes on the billionaires and multimillionaires to fully cover SNAP funding. If any state succeeded in winning taxes on the rich to protect SNAP, it would undoubtedly lead to enormous pressures on both parties not only to do that in other states, but also to immediately restore federal funding for SNAP. But not a single Democratic politician is even talking about taxing the rich. As Trump and the Republicans have made brutal cuts to services at the federal level, the Democratic Party has refused to mount any real fightback all year. Instead, they have led draconian budget cuts of their own in multiple states. Working and poor people are losing out from both the Democratic and Republican parties, both of which represent billionaires. We need independent organizing, strike actions, and a new party for the working class. workersstrikeback.org/news-a…

Solidarity with @GretaThunberg and the more than 90 other activists who have been detained by the Israeli military in an attack against their courageous effort to break Israel's genocidal blockade and deliver crucial food and medical aid to Gaza. So far, this assault on peaceful activists has been met with deafening silence from Democratic Party politicians like @BernieSanders, @AOC, and @PramilaJayapal. The Democratic Party had no problem praising Greta when they thought she was "safe" for them and could be molded into yet another political gatekeeper. Even my pro-genocide opponent @RepAdamSmith congratulated Greta in 2019 when she was selected as @TIME Person of the Year, saying, "Thank you for all that you do!" Now, even self-described progressive Democratic Party politicians have turned their backs on Greta the MOMENT she started speaking out against the genocide in Gaza, which they are complicit in. These same Democratic politicians were also silent when Chris Smalls (@Shut_downAmazon) was detained and beaten by the Israeli military in July. What's happening in Gaza is the holocaust of the 21st century. More than half a million are now estimated to have been killed, and more than 400 are confirmed dead from forced starvation. Democrats like Adam Smith voted to ban U.S. funding for United Nations food aid for Gaza AFTER they knew about the catastrophic mass starvation. The attack on Greta and other flotilla activists is part of a widespread attack on antiwar protesters. My husband and our campaign’s political director, @CalvinPriest, was also arrested for protesting the genocide at a public town hall hosted by Adam Smith in July, and is currently being slandered in the media by Adam Smith, who labeled antiwar protesters "leftwing fascists" and called for their arrest. Stopping this genocide will require protests on a much larger scale, along with mass strike action and mass peaceful civil disobedience. We need actions like we’re seeing in Italy, where a general strike has been called Friday in solidarity with Greta and the other arrested activists, and where dockworkers have refused to load military cargo headed for Israel. Union leaders in the U.S. need to call similar actions, including a general strike. Unfortunately, most top union leaders are tied at the hip to the Democratic Party and, in some cases, the Republican Party. We need new, fighting leaders who will break from these two genocidal parties and call mass protests and strike action to stop the attacks on Palestinians, immigrants, antiwar protesters, workers, and oppressed people everywhere, and fight to win real victories for working people. This is also why our campaign to defeat genocidal Democrat Adam Smith and elect the first-ever revolutionary socialist to the U.S. Congress is such a crucial part of the antiwar movement. I'm fighting to end all U.S. military funding to the Israeli state and to win free healthcare for all funded by taxing the rich.

🎉 ENDORSEMENT ALERT! 🎉 We are proud to endorse @cmkshama for Congress in #WA09! Kshama Sawant is running to unseat AIPAC's Rep. Adam Smith, an Israel First Democrat who rubber-stamps endless military aid to Israel and supports censorship bills attempting to criminalize criticism of the Israeli regime. Kshama says: "He has helped lead the financing of the ongoing genocide in Gaza as one of the most influential members of the House Armed Services Committee. Smith is a darling of AIPAC and the Zionist lobby, the weapons industry, and the billionaire class." It's time for change! Kshama Sawant: ✅ Rejects support from the Israel lobby ✅ Stands against genocide ✅ Supports overturning Citizens United We need representatives who will fight for their constituents, not a foreign apartheid state!

🎉 ENDORSEMENT ALERT! 🎉 We are proud to endorse @cmkshama for Congress in #WA09! Kshama Sawant is running to unseat AIPAC's Rep. Adam Smith, an Israel First Democrat who rubber-stamps endless military aid to Israel and supports censorship bills attempting to criminalize criticism of the Israeli regime. Kshama says: "He has helped lead the financing of the ongoing genocide in Gaza as one of the most influential members of the House Armed Services Committee. Smith is a darling of AIPAC and the Zionist lobby, the weapons industry, and the billionaire class." It's time for change! Kshama Sawant: ✅ Rejects support from the Israel lobby ✅ Stands against genocide ✅ Supports overturning Citizens United We need representatives who will fight for their constituents, not a foreign apartheid state!

The road to Trump's brutal attacks on immigrants was paved by Democratic Party politicians like warmongering corporate Congressmember Adam Smith. In 2002, Adam Smith voted to create ICE as part of his support for Republican President George W. Bush’s Homeland Security Act and the bipartisan assault on immigrants. In 2001, Smith voted for Bush’s Patriot Act, which unleashed a new wave of mass surveillance and attacks on peaceful protest movements.  I'm running as an independent socialist against Adam Smith. I'm fighting to stop all deportations, to shut down the detention centers, and to shut down ICE. Join us at kshamasawant.org.

Adam Smith says: "The choice couldn't be clearer: Kshama Sawant wants to take us to a place nobody should wanna go." I agree the choice couldn't be clearer. Adam Smith has voted to send tens of billions of dollars for Israel's genocide in Gaza, and voted repeatedly to ban U.S. funds for United Nations' food aid to Gaza. I'm fighting to end the genocide in Gaza, end all U.S. military funding to Israel, and end the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. I'm campaigning for free healthcare for all, funded by taxing the rich, and for national rent control. I'm calling for a $25/hour federal minimum wage — in major cities, this should be at least $30/hour. I think the overwhelming majority of American working people VERY MUCH want to go to this place. My campaign's median donation is $25. Can you DONATE $25 TODAY to help us get to the place that Adam Smith and his Zionist billionaire backers fear? JOIN my campaign to build a working-class fightback to defeat Adam Smith! kshamasawant.org

Workers Strike Back and I stand in solidarity with New York City legal aid workers, unionized with Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys (@alaa2325), UAW local 2325, who are on strike. These workers are demanding higher wages across the board, with the lowest-paid jobs getting at least $68,500 a year, the bare minimum necessary to keep pace with the overall cost-of-living crisis with rapid inflation and skyrocketing rents. The Democratic Party, which controls the Mayor’s Office with Eric Adams and has 45 out of 51 seats on the New York City Council, has catastrophically and chronically underfunded legal aid, including for immigration or housing defense cases. This is absolutely shameful in general, but especially now. More and more vulnerable working people are in need of these legal services, as the Trump Administration carries out its brutal crackdown on immigrants. Rent has been skyrocketing in NYC. In 2023, average wages in NYC increased by 1.2 percent, while the median rent soared by 8.6 percent. Many working-class and poor renters find themselves in eviction court due to obscenely high rents in NYC. Having an attorney dramatically reduces the chance that a working-class or poor renter gets evicted, and yet, nationally, 90 percent of renters don’t have access to legal representation in court.