A progressive media star is betting that the chaos and upheaval of President Donald Trump’s second term will be enough to rewrite one of the most enduring truths of Chicago politics: voters
don’t want nobody who nobody sent . Kat Abughazaleh, 26, who rose to prominence by making lively TikTok videos critiquing Fox News and Republicans, told WTTW News she plans to leverage her social media fame into real political power by ousting U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, 80, who has represented Illinois’ 9th Congressional District since 1999. Schakowsky has yet to announce whether she plans to run for a 15th term in office. “We need a different vibe in this country and this party, and I want to bring it,” Abughazaleh said in her first interview with a Chicago-based news organization after breaking the news of her run in
Rolling Stone . “Obviously, the current strategy of the establishment isn’t working.”
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Abughazaleh said her campaign will rely on mutual aid, community support and direct action efforts, rather than television ads, to win voter support. Abughazaleh said her announcement triggered a tsunami of contributions, reaching $250,000 in just two days. Abughazaleh faces an April 15 deadline to file her first report with the Federal Election Commission documenting those contributions and identifying their source. Schakowsky’s campaign committee has nearly $848,000 in cash on hand, according reports from the Federal Election Commission. “I have always encouraged more participation in the democratic process, and I’m glad to see new faces getting involved as we stand up against the Trump administration,” Schakowsky said in a statement. “Right now, that’s what I’m focused on: fighting back against this extreme MAGA regime.” Home to Northwestern University and Loyola University, the 9th District is the “perfect place” to test whether a new version of the Democratic Party can win elections, especially since Schakowsky has not faced a competitive primary since 1998, when she defeated future Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Abughazaleh said. “I feel very strongly that is a huge reason Trump is in office now,” Abughazaleh said. “That’s just so against my values.” But Abughazaleh’s bid to take down the gerontocracy and push back the moderate wing of the Democratic Party faces major head winds — including the fact that she has been a Chicagoan for less than a year and does not live in the congressional district that stretches from Chicago’s North Side through northwest Cook County to southwest Lake County and southeast McHenry County. “It makes sense for people to ask that,” said Abughazaleh, who lives with her partner in Streeterville, one of Chicago’s wealthiest neighborhoods, which is split between the 7th Congressional District, represented by Rep. Danny Davis, and 5th Congressional District, which is represented by Rep. Mike Quigley. “This isn’t a referendum on (Schakowsky),” Abughazaleh said. “I’m trying this different kind of campaign, and I think that it really reflects the values of the district, and I think it will be well received.” Abughazaleh’s implicit argument that Schakowsky is too old to serve in Congress got a boost this week when
she appeared to get confused during an hearing of the Energy Committee while reading a prepared statement, and looked to an aide for help. The notes Schakowsky was reading from should have been printed in a larger font size to help Schakowsky read them, without having to put on her glasses, according to a source familiar with the congresswoman’s campaign. Abughazaleh did not share that clip with her massive following on social media. The only time Abughazaleh has directly confronted Schakowsky’s record came in a text sent by her campaign, which accused the congresswoman of taking money from organizations that excuse “Israeli aggression” and vowed to vote against military aid to Israel while the war in Gaza continues. After criticism on social media, Abughazaleh stopped sending texts as part of her fundraising efforts. “It feels scammy,” said Abughazaleh of campaign texts, who is of Palestinian heritage and records her videos with a keffiyeh, the black and white scarf that has long been a symbol of Palestinian resistance, hanging prominently nearby. “It feels not great. That’s why we are winding that down.” Schakowsky, who is Jewish, has repeatedly condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and called for Hamas to release the Israeli hostages they continue to hold. But Schakowsky has also criticized Israeli leaders for delaying efforts to end the violence. If Schakowsky does not run for reelection, a number of veteran candidates with deep ties to the city’s North Side and Evanston are expected to join the contest that Abughazaleh has vowed to see through to the end. Davis, the oldest member of Illinois’ congressional delegation at 84, beat back bids by a more progressive challenger in 2022 and 2024, while Quigley, 67, has never faced a well-funded opponent in a primary race. The youngest member of Illinois’ congressional delegation is 39-year-old Rep. Lauren Underwood, who represents the Naperville area. Abughazaleh acknowledged that her age could be a double-edged sword for some voters, who might harbor doubt about her ability to run a congressional office and navigate the halls of Congress at a deeply fraught moment in U.S. history. “I totally get that,” said Abughazaleh, adding that’s why she is prioritizing meeting as many voters in person as possible. “All I’m asking is that you keep an open mind.” Abughazaleh said she’s also confident that voters won’t rule out voting for her because she hasn’t been in Chicago very long, noting many people move to Chicago to start their adult lives. “I have been greeted with nothing but kindness and welcoming in the Chicago area,” Abughazaleh said. “I don’t expect that to change.” In a video posted to her social media accounts, Abughazaleh downplayed the distance between her home and the 9th Congressional District by saying it is just “one bus stop” away because of Illinois’ “insane” gerrymandering. That is a reference to the CTA’s 147 Express bus, which travels the length of the north stretch of DuSable Lake Shore Drive without stopping. But given the reality of Chicago traffic, the trip from Streeterville to Edgewater can take the better part of an hour. As soon as she and her partner can break their lease, they plan to move to Andersonville, Edgewater or Rogers Park in the 9th District, Abughazaleh said. The Constitution requires members of the House of Representatives to be a resident of the state that they are running to represent in Congress, but not the specific district, and at least 25 years old. Abughazaleh, who kicked off her campaign Saturday in Evanston, said she will soon join a protest in Algonquin, which is more than 40 miles from Edgewater, the northern boundary of the 9th district. Abughazaleh, who considered herself a Republican conservative while growing up in Texas before attending college in Washington, D.C., said she is eager to campaign in “redder” parts of the district that voted overwhelmingly for former Vice President Kamala Harris rather than Trump. “I have a unique point of view,” Abughazaleh said, promising not to “cosplay in a flannel, as a lot of Democrats seem to be doing.” The issues page on Abughazaleh’s
website focuses on Trump and a variety of hot-button national issues, including rights for gay and transgender Americans and protections for abortion and reproductive health care. It does not specify how those issues have affected residents of the 9th District in particular, or what she would do differently than Schakowsky if elected to Congress. An expanded list of issues focused on the district is on her to-do list, Abughazaleh said. Abughazaleh also takes aim at Elon Musk, accusing him of working with the president in “dismantling our country piece by piece.” Abughazaleh moved to Chicago after being laid off by Media Matters for America, a progressive nonprofit news outlet, after it was sued by Musk. The most urgent issue facing the 9th District is Trump’s decision to target colleges and universities, Abughazaleh said. “It is just a matter of time” before the Trump administration targets Northwestern or Loyola, Abughazaleh said. “Students and professors and faculty are going to be left in the dust,” Abughazaleh said. “I’m terrified of that.”
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