If you want a candidate who's a powerful advocate for We the People, who doesn't take corporate PAC money, and who has spent her life building real solutions for peace, justice, dignity, and opportunity for all — who doesn't make enemies of her own team — read on.
Sawant is materially misrepresenting Melissa's positions. Why she feels she needs to do that, you should ask her.
| Melissa Chaudhry | Kshama Sawant | |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate PAC money | ✓ None. Zero. Grassroots only. | ✓ None. |
| Gaza — ceasefire & end US arms shipments | ✓ Unequivocal. Palestinian rights activist since age 11. Marching against the genocide since November 2023 — weeks after October 7. | ✓ Yes. Has been vocal. |
| End US support for Israeli government | ✓ Yes. As of this writing, the only candidate in the nation to sign TrackAIPAC's PEACE Pledge — seven concrete policy commitments to restore American sovereignty, end foreign influence, end our support for genocide, protect American freedom of speech (including economic speech), and prosecute those who've facilitated war crimes committed with our weapons. Watch: Melissa signs the PEACE Pledge | ✓ Yes. |
| Medicare for All / universal healthcare | ✓ Yes. Signed the Patients Over Profits pledge — no campaign donations over $200 from the healthcare industry. | ✓ Yes. |
| $20+ federal minimum wage | ✓ $20 tied to inflation — never falls behind again. | ✓ Won $15 in Seattle (2014). Supports higher floor. |
| Immigration justice / oppose ICE terror | ✓ Fought ICE detention in federal court. Pro se. Won. Her husband — a disabled American veteran — was abducted by ICE and held without due process. She got him home. W.D. Wash. No. 25-cv-02339. | ✓ Yes — policy position. Hijacked Melissa's husband's detention as a political platform. |
| Housing — oppose private equity buyouts | ✓ Helped secure $3.2M for permanently affordable cooperative housing in King County. | ✓ Amazon Tax / JumpStart for housing. |
| Climate action | ✓ Implemented regenerative agroforestry and food systems across 5 countries. Built decision-support tools for public works planners on carbon lock-in. Green New Deal champion — sworn to cosponsor bold climate legislation and refuses all donations from the oil and gas industry. | ✓ Supports Green New Deal framework. |
| Tax the ultra-wealthy | ✓ Restore top marginal rates, close offshore havens, modest wealth tax on $50M+ net worth. | ✓ Yes. |
| Anti-militarism / reassert congressional war powers | ✓ Military family. Husband is a disabled veteran. Calls for repeal of the AUMFs and restoration of Constitutional war powers to Congress. Opposes no-bid defense contracts, unilateral military action, Pentagon bloat. | ✓ Yes. |
| Melissa Chaudhry | Kshama Sawant | |
|---|---|---|
| Defamation lawsuits filed against candidate | ✓ None. |
✗ Several — her divisiveness and antagonism have cost Seattle taxpayers six figures and up, just to defend her in court. What would that cost in Congress? Miller v. Sawant, U.S. District Court (W.D. Wash.), with two appeals to the Ninth Circuit (2021 and 2024). Seattle Times: defamation suit against Sawant dismissed A second defamation suit: the City had already spent $258,752.78 of taxpayer money defending her before it was resolved. Seattle Times, May 18, 2018: "Seattle has spent $258,752.78 so far, gets partial win in 1 Sawant suit." Seattle Met, Oct. 27, 2017: "City Will Defend Sawant in Both Defamation Lawsuits." |
| Volunteer data protection | ✓ Built a fully self-hosted, sovereign infrastructure stack specifically to protect the data of donors, volunteers, and subscribers. No vendor platforms. No shared lists. No agency access. No DCCC spam. No exposure. | ✗ Doxxed her own volunteers after promising she wouldn't. When volunteers were retaliated against at work — and pleaded with her, repeatedly, to remove their information — she refused. Read the petition — organized by the volunteer harmed |
| Honesty about opponents | ✓ Has not made false claims about Sawant's positions. |
✗ Claimed that Melissa doesn't stand against ICE terror — directed at the woman whose husband was abducted by ICE, whom she fought for in federal court. Claimed Melissa doesn't call for an end to genocide — directed at a woman who has been a Palestinian rights activist since age 11 and was in the streets in November 2023. Circulated a comparison graphic listing working-class demands — including universal healthcare, ending U.S. military aid to Israel, shutting down ICE and the detention centers, canceling student debt, and a public jobs guarantee — and marked Melissa "No" on all of them, grouping her with the AIPAC-funded incumbent. Melissa's own platform says yes to every one. Comparison graphic: kshamasawant.org homepage. |
| Used a family member's suffering for political gain | ✓ Has not done this. | ⚠ Publicly claimed credit for organizing the first demonstration against Zahid Chaudhry's ICE detention — and used his case to boost her congressional campaign and political agenda. Zahid is Melissa's husband. "At an event at the detention center in support of [Zahid], while he was held there, [she] made a really long speech all about promoting HER and her campaign. The organizers specifically begged people to not speak longer than 3 minutes, but she went on and on, as many waited in the boiling heat for their turn to speak." — C.F., public Facebook comment |
| DSA endorsement | ✓ DSA declined to endorse Sawant. Melissa has been in dialogue with DSA chapters in the district. | ✗ DSA declined to endorse her — citing that she is not a team player and has trash-talked DSA and their endorsed candidates for years. This despite running as an independent socialist. DSA communicated this directly to Melissa; not a public statement. |
| Relationship with progressive coalition | ✓ Building a coalition. Endorsed by the Veterans & Military Families Caucus of the Washington State Democrats. Working with labor and community organizations. Unifying, cross-party, Constitutional American message that serves and protects We the People. |
✗ Labor didn't leave her — she drove it off, one union at a time. In 2019, MLK Labor endorsed her opponent over her, 74% to 26%, after backing her twice before. Teamsters and Iron Workers followed. She'd inserted herself into Teamsters–UPS contract talks, made the Amazon head tax "all about" her when no one in labor asked her to, and passed over Teresa Mosqueda for a fringe socialist instead.
"She had all the support at one time, she systematically alienated a lot of people with her views, and has lost that support." — Monty Anderson, Construction Trade Council. MyNorthwest/KIRO Radio · KUOW Badmouthed Zohran Mamdani — a fellow socialist — at a critical, contentious moment in his primary. "[H]e ran unopposed both years, which means neither the Democrats contested him in the primaries, nor did the Republicans run any candidate against him in the general election. Such a thing does not happen if you are fighting for working class people. Because if you are fighting for working class people, you are going to become enemy number one to the Democrats and Republicans. There is absolutely no universe where you will not have a fight on your hands and let alone run unopposed." — Sawant, on Zohran Mamdani. Source |
| Her own test for authenticity | ✓ Sawant herself said: "If you're really for the people, you'll have opposition." Melissa had real opposition. Washington State Democrats tried to destroy her 2024 campaign: they lied about her, lied about one of their own caucuses, threatened her with a lawsuit and jail, and demanded she burn nearly all her campaign materials over an endorsement they knew she had won. Read the full story — with receipts | ⚠ Applied this standard to Zohran Mamdani — who just won anyway. |
| Personal experience paying the costs | ✓ The only candidate in this race whose family has directly paid the costs of ICE terror, war, military deployment, VA issues, disability, federal lawlessness, and the inability to afford a lawyer in federal court. Not as a policy position. As a lived reality. | — Policy positions. Important ones. But positions. |
| Working style | ✓ Collaborative. Coalition-building. Principled and relational. | ⚠ Known for antagonizing allies. Aggressive. Has made enemies of people who share her values. "Kshama Sawant is an irresponsible bully and a divisive person. She deliberately foments conflict wherever she is, including Seattle City Council... All Kshama leaves in her wake are burned bridges and distressed and angry former co-workers. We don't need that in Congress." — E.W., public Facebook comment "She is a grifter out for herself." — C.F., public Facebook comment |
| Can win WA-9 general election | ✓ Running as a Democrat in a Democratic district. Building a broad coalition. Deep cross-cultural relationships with the immigrants and communities of color across this majority-minority district. Real global lived experience, profound empathy, and unifying American message. | ✗ Has spent years running against Democrats. A general election in a Congressional district requires the very coalition she's alienated. |