USA: The 26 -year -old Palestinian ready for Congress
Kat Abughazaleh, a 26 -year -old Palestinian, wants to make campaigns differently.
Thus, the online candidate for a seat in Congress Illinois, It channels its energy to personal events.
The cost of participating in the inaugural event of her campaign was a box of tampon or sanitary napkins donated to The Period Collective, a non -profit organization based in Chicago that distributes free menstrual products to low -income communities in the area.
The premiere had such a huge success in donations.
She wants to conduct a campaign that promotes mutual help and community organization, not a « vanity project » focusing on the candidate, which is based on expensive television ads and « cheap » texts to raise money, as she says.
« This is the effort of a new type of campaign, » Abughazaleh said In an interview with the Guardian Shortly after the start of her campaign, with a video asking: « What if we were not a mess? »
« I am bored of waiting for someone to do something, » the 27 -year -old says
Abughazaleh’s campaign comes at a time when the Democrats are outraged by their party leadership and demand a change in a political status quo dominated by seventies and eighties.
Polls show that the party is discouraged: their popularity is at a historic low and, according to a survey, the vast majority of democratic voters say elderly leaders should give the next generation of leaders. The party is also desperately trying to expand its presence – and its influence – on social media, where its carefully elaborated messages often fall into the void.
Her message seems to have found a response. In the week after the launch of Abughazaleh’s campaign, he said he raised more than $ 300,000 and received more than 1,000 volunteers.
« I’m tired of waiting for someone to do something, » she said, speaking via a conference conference from her apartment in Chicago, where she has installed an installation for recordings and interviews. « There is no mythical, perfect candidate who will get out of the forest to save us. »
What is to blame for the fall of democrats
After the devastating defeat of the Democrats in 2024, Abughazaleh criticized what he describes as a lack of vision of the party.
Abughazaleh, who can boast of more than 200,000 fans in Tiktok, categorically rejects the view that democratic losses are the result that the party has become « very woke » or very supportive of trans and the transnational demonstrations.
Born in Texas and daughter of Palestinian immigrant, Abughazaleh displays her keffiyeh – the black and white plaid scarf that has long symbolized Palestinian rights – in a prominent position in the video of her campaign. Last year, it was one of more than 200 content creators certified to cover the Democratic Conference in Chicago, where the calls were rejected to include a Palestinian American speaker.
« The Democratic Party ignored us during 2024, » she said. « I was constantly saying, to talk to an Arab to show, simply, a little empathy about the Gaza theme, which we now know has influenced many voters who stayed at home. »
Having worked as an extremist researcher in the Liberal Media Matters monitoring team, he warns that authoritarian regimes often begin to seize their power by suppressing LGBTQ+ rights and begged the Democrats not to be complicit in the attacks by the Trump government.
« Democrats decide that trans people are the reason they lost the elections in 2024 – it is ridiculous. It is offensive, and honestly, contribute to Trump’s authoritarianism, « she said in a recent interview with CNN. « A much bigger issue is that we do not give people something to vote. »
Against an 80 -year -old candidate
The ninth district of Illinois, based on the north side of Chicago and extends west, is one of the most reliable blue regions of Congress in the state and is represented by Jan Schakowsky since 1999 – the year when Abughazaleh was born.
In the interview, Abughazaleh said her candidacy was not intended to be a « referendum » for the 80 -year -old Democratic, who has not yet stated if she intends to claim her re -election. Nor is it a left -wing challenge, he said, recognizing Schakowsky’s progressive history.
« This is: we must try something different, » Abughazaleh said, arguing that the party has lost contact with many of its constituents, especially young people.
Jan Schakowsky since 1999 represents her region in Congress
« Many of these people in Congress never had to have a shooting exercises at school. I did it. Many of them never needed in their lives to worry about insurance. I have no security. I am using Goodrx as security. These are things that are very common for young people and just not for most people in Congress, ”he said.
In a statement, Schakowsky said she intends to make a decision on her re -election, but welcomed « new people involved as we resist the Trump government ».
What the Right says about the 26 -year -old candidate
Abughazaleh’s candidacy has also aroused the right of the right.
« Now, even the long -lasting liberals are facing the wrath of their own movement, » said Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Campaign for Congress, in a statement in which he argued that the Democrats had been so devoted to them.
Asked by a journalist whether Abughazaleh’s entry into the race is a worrying sign for the Democrats who hold power, Hakeem Jeffries, the head of the minority of the House of Representatives, said then that she did not know about her campaign and greeted Schakysky.
But he also acknowledged that the Democrats were facing « a lot of energy, a lot of anxiety, a lot of concern » in response to Trump’s return to power.
Musk celebrated her dismissal
Before entering politics, Abughazaleh was working on the Media Matters news site. It was fired last year, after legal disputes with Musk exhausted the resources of the progressive group, in a move that the Freedom Foundation warned then that it was a worrying example of « billionaires and politicians who abuse their legal system ».
Musk celebrated the loss of her job in X: « Karma is real. »
Karma is real
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2024
In this sense, Abughazaleh can sympathize with the tens of thousands of government officials who lost their jobs as part of Musk’s approach with the chainsaw to reduce the federal workforce.
« People are pissed off for good reason. They lose their jobs, lose their health care, lose the people of their community who are deported without any proper procedure. Of course, they are angry, and we have to pay back this with anger, « he said.
