That seat is currently held by Democratic Rep. Adam Smith.

Standing outside the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle on Monday, Sawant told supporters she’s challenging Smith because of his response to the war in Gaza. Sawant said working people need representatives in Congress who will end the war in Gaza and all U.S. funding to Israel.

"No politician who has supported this genocide deserves one more working-class vote," Sawant said. "Every single one of them deserves to be thrown out of office, starting with Adam Smith."

Smith criticized Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza last month, and has affirmed the U.S.'s "financial and military commitment to Israel's security."

Sawant said her congressional campaign against Smith will focus on building an anti-war movement, fighting for Medicare for all, and taxing the rich.

"I represent the working class of the ninth congressional district, and yes, there are going to be billionaires and multi-millionaires in this district who are going to be angry," Sawant said. "I don't represent them."

Before leaving the Seattle City Council at the end of 2023 to launch Workers Strike Back, a national labor movement, Sawant represented District 3 for nearly a decade; District 3 stretches across central Seattle.

During that time, Sawant led a successful effort to raise Seattle's minimum wage to $15, a feat she cited multiple times Monday as an example of her political prowess.

"It was after our victory here that the fight for $15 spread throughout the country," Sawant said.

But the former council member's tenure at Seattle City Hall wasn't without bumps. Sawant faced a 2021 recall election and survived by 310 votes.

Not afraid to brush up against her former colleagues, Sawant has also distanced herself from progressive Democrats currently working on Capitol Hill, like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. During Monday's event, Sawant said Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have both "capitulated to the corporate and war-mongering agenda of their party."

When asked if she would be willing to caucus with a major political party if elected, Sawant replied it's a question she's not "preoccupied" by.

"The way we win victories for working people, let alone ending the genocide and ending U.S. military funding for the Israeli state, " Sawant said, "is not by going and caucusing by the parties of genocide and war mongering."