Illinois 9th District has only been represented by two people since 1965,
and there hasn’t been a competitive primary since the race Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, the district’s current representative, won in November 1998.
“I wouldn’t be born for another four months,” deadpans
#Kat #Abughazaleh,
the TikTok-famous political commentator now running to represent the district.
Abughazaleh is transparent about the fact that she is not what anyone thinks of as shoe-in for Congress:
a 26-year-old narcoleptic freelance social media creator who doesn’t live in the district and has only lived in the state for less than a year
-- challenging a Democratic Party leader who has represented this part of Illinois for more than a quarter of a century.
That’s kind of the point:
She is a normal person — with a rental lease she can’t break before it’s up,
financial pressure bearing down on her,
and prescription medication that she needs to function properly
and that has been challenging to obtain since Elon Musk went after her employer, and she and many of her colleagues were laid off.
And when she looks to Congress, not only does she not see enough people who are concerned with the practical day-to-day challenges she and so many of the people she knows are struggling with
— the costs of housing, health care, groceries, transportation
— she also doesn’t see anyone confronting with any level of seriousness the peril of our current moment,
two months into Donald Trump’s second term
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/kat-abughazaleh-congress-1235301996/