Kat Abughazaleh is a journalist who worked for Media Matters for America. She's running to represent the weirdly gerrymandered Illinois 9th congressional district, which meanders quite close to you. She's young, sharp, progressive and pretty. One to watch and maybe support.
Kat Abughazaleh is a journalist who worked for Media Matters for America. She's running to represent the weirdly gerrymandered Illinois 9th congressional district, which meanders quite close to you. She's young, sharp, progressive and pretty. One to watch and maybe support.
Watch, yep.
Support, we'll see.
She's got a militant streak as well as an uphill climb.
In early May, Schakowsky announced that she would forgo seeking re-election and retire at the conclusion of her current term in 2026.[74][75] Abughazaleh released a statement which thanked Schakowsky for her tenure in Congress, and praised Schakowsky as having been supportive of Palestinian rights.[76] After Schakowsky announced that she would retire, State Senator Laura Fine[77] and Evanston Mayor Dan Biss (a former state senator and the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary runner-up) each announced candidacies for the district. Abrevaya also remains a candidate.[78]
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000000101010202020303010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
Laura Fine, state senator from the 9th district (2019–present)
Kat Abughazaleh, journalist and social media influencer
Bushra Amiwala, member of the Skokie School District 73½ Board of Education (2019–present)
Daniel Biss, mayor of Evanston (2021–present) and candidate for governor in 2018
Justin Ford, environmental health and safety professional
Publicly expressed interest
Mike Simmons, state senator from the 7th district (2021–present)
Potential
Danny Goldberg, attorney
Hoan Huynh, state representative from the 13th district (2023–present)
Withdrawn
David Abrevaya, mathematics teacher
If the established pols split the vote and Kat Abu can mobilize the "militant" niche she might do well. Remember Bozobert? Does plurality take it in IL or do you have runoffs?
If elected, I would be the poorest member of Congress—and the world’s richest man just attacked me in a 3 a.m. tweet for supporting universal health care.
You might have seen a clip of me on CNN last week, debating with Scott Jennings on whether health care is a basic human right. In that clip, Jennings—a longtime Republican strategist and pro-Trump contributor at CNN—asks, “Even illegals?” To which I respond, “Every single person in the world deserves health care.… How is this controversial?”
... One of the main reasons I’m running for Congress is because our leaders have conditioned us into thinking we don’t deserve good things, especially if we aren’t rich. But we do. You do.
Every American deserves to afford housing, groceries, and health care with money left over to save and spend. We deserve to thrive, not just survive. And every single human being in every single country deserves to know that they can find the help they need on the worst day of their lives, when they are at their weakest and most vulnerable.
For most Americans, this concept isn’t hard to grasp, but when it comes to Elon Musk and right-wing pundits, they simply can’t fathom having even an ounce of basic humanity.
Fuck off, Elon.
I support universal health care, of course, but at least Medicaid for the undocumented. It's not just compassion but also for public health reasons:
* Sick or injured workers cost the economy with lost time;
* Sick or injured workers seek care in our expensive ERs;
* Diseases don't check immigration status. It is in the interest of citizens to have the undocumented treated rapidly and adequately.