q = "INSERT IGNORE INTO network_tbl (nid, name) VALUES " q2 = "INSERT IGNORE INTO user_network_tbl (nid, fbid) VALUES " first = True numUserNetworks = 0 q += ', '.join(['(%s,%s)' for nid in networks]) q_binds = zip([nid for nid in networks], [networks[nid]['n'] for nid in networks]) Session.execute(q, q_binds) : (ProgrammingError) (1064, "You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '%s,%s), (%s,%s), (%s,%s)' at line 6") 'INSERT IGNORE INTO network_tbl (nid, name) VALUES (%s,%s), (%s,%s), (%s,%s), (%s,%s)' [(16777265, u'Carnegie Mellon'), (16777219, u'Stanford'), (67108869, u'Washington, DC'), (67108919, u'Memphis, TN')]