Kat Abughazaleh has a transparent purpose: Get into Congress, do some good, “get some fascists out,” after which return dwelling to hang around together with her cat.
And the street to subsequent 12 months’s Democratic main election for Illinois’ ninth District has been eventful for her, to say the least.
The 26-year-old candidate sat down nearly with Day by day Kos on Thursday. Abughazaleh spoke from a room plastered with marketing campaign posters and one Smokey Bear graphic that reads, “Remember, only you can prevent fascism.”
Shortly earlier than Day by day Kos’ interview, Abughazaleh stood with protesters on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois. Residents have clashed with brokers outdoors the power, with members of the press and peaceable protesters dodging pepper balls and being manhandled.
Kat Abughazaleh.
Regardless of being carried and thrown to the bottom by a masked ICE agent in September—an assault which, in response to Abughazaleh, occurred three separate occasions—she was nonetheless exhibiting as much as peacefully protest.
The disturbing video of Abughazaleh’s assault finally went viral, however she instructed Day by day Kos that accruing views was by no means the principle purpose.
“I am not going to these protests to go viral,” she stated.
“I’m going because what is happening at the Broadview ICE facility is atrocious. It is a processing facility. People are not supposed to be held there for more than 12 hours at a time, but they’re being held for days or weeks at a time, without beds, without hot meals, without access to hygienic facilities,” she continued.
Abughazaleh has amassed supporters through the years due to her fearless method to politics. Previous to her run for Congress, she labored for watchdog group Media Issues for America. And the journalist-turned-politician, like many younger individuals within the U.S., believes that each legacy media and older elected officers are utilizing an “old playbook.”
“It’s 2025, and if you aren’t willing to have courage, even when you’re scared, if you’re not willing to set an example through your actions, not just words, not just strongly worded letters, then you are not ready to represent the people in this moment,” she stated.
Day by day Kos caught up with the Gen-Zer to listen to what she’s been as much as since saying her run six months in the past, the failures of legacy media on reporting extremism, and far more.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
Day by day Kos: It has been six months because you introduced your marketing campaign. Let’s do some check-in right here. How are issues going?
Abughazaleh: Issues have been going extraordinarily nicely, far exceeding my expectations, and I actually believed in our mission. We’ve got proven a brand new mannequin for a grassroots marketing campaign. We’re polling second in a district the place I used to be thought-about the “long shot” after I launched. We’ve got over 7,000 volunteers. We have raised over $1.4 million, with a median donation of 32 bucks. And I believe the perfect a part of this marketing campaign is the entire revolutionary, inventive, and genuinely new concepts that we—my employees and our volunteers—have been capable of put ahead. We’ve got been utilizing our marketing campaign sources to profit individuals proper now, to succeed in out to voters however materially enhance their lives.
So, we have used our marketing campaign workplace as a mutual-aid hub. Folks can are available and get what they want, whether or not or not it’s garments or meals or drinks or toiletries or books or anything. We attempt to make our occasions multipurpose, the place you’ll be able to come for the marketing campaign, however you are additionally serving to the neighborhood.
Protesters display outdoors of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois, on Sept. 19.
For a kickoff occasion, we did not cost $500 a plate. We requested individuals to convey packing containers of pads and tampons. We’re doing a coat drive and automobile wash this weekend, to make it possible for individuals have the garments they want for winter.
We have been doing seashore cleanups and park cleanups, and likewise actually making an attempt to convey the apolitical and the political collectively. So we have carried out board recreation nights and taught embroidery lessons, carried out knitting circles. Now we’re fundraising by way of [livestreaming], as a result of the way in which a whole lot of candidates get their cash is they simply name wealthy individuals all day. And I do not assume that is a sustainable or wholesome option to base our total political system, particularly proper now as oligarchs consolidate energy. So we’ve got been enjoying video video games and doing crafts and speaking to enjoyable visitors, and we have raised over $30,000 in simply over two weeks.
DK: You actually encapsulated every little thing I used to be going to ask you about. You hosted a punk present, and you’ve got actually been connecting with the neighborhood in your space. That is one thing that I preserve listening to from youthful Democrats and people who find themselves working, that older generations who’re in workplace proper now aren’t actually in contact with the neighborhood. Would you agree with that?
Abughazaleh: Yeah, I believe that is one thing we see throughout the nation in our political system. As many individuals level out, I am a transplant. I am not initially from right here, however I’ve been making as a lot of an effort to construct neighborhood and ensure our marketing campaign is rooted locally in a method that most individuals have by no means seen from a marketing campaign.
We attempt to embrace everybody, even in a district that is gerrymandered like ours, which is important, with Republicans making an attempt to disenfranchise tens of tens of millions of individuals nationwide, however that implies that it’s important to signify each a part of your district.
So we go from in all places—from city to suburban to rural. We attempt to verify we’ve got occasions in all places, and we actually attempt to make it possible for politics is one thing that is a workforce sport.
So like with our punk present, for example, which we referred to as “Punks for Progress.” We had some native bands. We ended up packing the venue, and it was a whole lot of enjoyable. I might say at our occasions, about half the individuals there have by no means thought-about going to a political occasion, and half of these individuals have by no means voted earlier than. And I believe what I would love to see is everybody, together with my opponents, adopting related methods.
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I believe it could be unbelievable if my opponents outspent us locally, in the event that they hosted extra occasions than we do locally, in the event that they made the identical effort to succeed in out to as many people as doable, and never only for votes, however as a result of it is the best factor to do.
Just one candidate wins any race, and if each marketing campaign adopted an identical technique, each election can be a internet profit to a neighborhood, and never only for democracy’s sake.
DK: You’ve been viral on-line, and you’ve got a really sturdy on-line presence proper now. You are internet hosting these occasions that most likely draw a whole lot of a youthful crowd. It has been a problem with youthful individuals [not] voting normally. However have you ever been capable of join with older generations, who could also be like, “I voted for [incumbent Rep.] Jan Schakowsky and I voted for older people for this long. Why you?”
Abughazaleh: I’ve truthfully been stunned at simply how a lot of our base is older, and we try to make an effort to succeed in out to older of us as nicely, in quite a lot of methods. I believe what it comes right down to is everybody looks like their representatives do not give a rattling. And the factor is, a whole lot of older individuals need a greater future for youthful individuals. They need to see the world change, they usually need to have politics return to a spot that is in regards to the individuals.
We truly had older of us at our punk present. We’ve got 70-year-olds in our marketing campaign Discord server. And I believe with younger individuals, you realize, there’s this concept that they simply do not vote, they do not care. We noticed in New York, that is not true. We do not give younger individuals one thing to vote for.
Our emphasis isn’t on any particular demographic. It is on all demographics. It is “leave no voter behind.” It is “make sure that everyone is represented.”
And so some individuals have stated that we’ve got a disproportionate deal with younger individuals, and I genuinely do not assume that is true. We’re making an attempt to succeed in each demographic, each group of individuals, each particular person.
It is simply that politics has left younger individuals behind. It is left Black and brown individuals behind. It is left immigrants behind. And so while you make any effort for outreach, it is seen as disproportionate.
DK: Talking of immigrants, you may have been at these protests on the ICE facility in your city. And you’ve got gone actually viral over a video of an ICE officer pushing you down. What are you able to inform me about that?
Abughazaleh: From angles, you’ll be able to inform I am actually within the air. He threw me, and that was truly the third time an ICE officer has thrown me. I’m not going to those protests to go viral. I am going as a result of what is occurring on the Broadview ICE facility is atrocious. It’s a processing facility. Individuals are not imagined to be held there for greater than 12 hours at a time, however they’re being held for days or perhaps weeks at a time, with out beds, with out sizzling meals, with out entry to hygienic services.
One morning, I used to be there round 5 AM and noticed detainees being marched into vans in the identical garments they had been detained in. We’ve got heard reviews of moms and of pregnant ladies and grandmothers sleeping on concrete, of dozens of individuals in a single cell. And Broadview, the ICE facility, has put up plywood over the home windows. They’ve boarded up the home windows so we will not even see what’s inside. They deny any investigations or any inspections of this facility. And earlier than that video, which I really feel like everybody and their mom noticed, they’d been brutalizing protesters.
And what I actually attempt to stress to individuals is, something that we have been going by, from being thrown to the bottom, to being shoved, to being berated, to being shot with pepper balls, to being tear gassed, to having snipers on the roof to shoot us with rubber bullets—it is terrible. It is being handled like a battle zone that doesn’t acknowledge the Geneva Conventions, nevertheless it additionally does not maintain a candle to what the individuals in that facility are going by.
So we’re recording this on Thursday, Oct. 2. On Oct. 3, we’ll be holding a press convention at [the Broadview ICE] facility tomorrow. We’re holding a press convention and inspiring as many elected officers to indicate as much as demand that there’s extra transparency on this facility, that inspections are allowed, that there’s accountability for ICE officers who’ve damaged the legislation, and {that a} gate that ICE erected to maintain protesters off of a public avenue is taken down as a result of it endangers the lives of everybody round, from protesters to press to companies within the space.
It is a fireplace hazard. The fireplace division in Broadview has demanded that it come down, and it is nonetheless up.
I form of really feel like Upton Sinclair when he stated, “I aimed for the public’s heart and I hit them in the stomach,” referring to [his 1906 novel] “The Jungle,” when he wrote in regards to the mistreatment of staff, particularly immigrant staff, and other people had been horrified on the circumstances of the meatpacking trade.
And that is among the huge causes we’ve got the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] now, and I believe individuals noticed a person twice the scale of a younger blonde girl choosing her up and throwing her to the bottom, they usually had been horrified. That is a horrible factor to see.
So I’m completely happy that there is consideration on this facility, however I need to urge individuals to consider, if they’re keen to try this on digicam in entrance of the press, to a congressional candidate, what are they doing behind the boarded-up home windows?
DK: It’s a very huge matter proper now, and the extra consideration that is being placed on it’s essential. And such as you stated, this is not actually [about] what is going on on with the protesters. However the greater subject, what’s occurring with immigrants and immigrant households.
I am in Los Angeles, and one factor that I cowl typically is immigration. I converse with individuals within the neighborhood who’re born and raised within the U.S. however have immigrant members of the family, they usually’re scared, they don’t seem to be leaving their houses. Is that this a dialog that you just’re having as nicely with individuals?
Abughazaleh: Yeah, together with in my district. Broadview isn’t on this district, however it’s the place people who find themselves detained by ICE on this district go. It’s the place they’re disappeared to.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrest a protester on the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, on Sept. 19.
I had somebody attain out to me to ask me if I might present any assist in recovering a member of the family who had been delivered to Broadview. And I stated, “I’m not an elected official, but here are some resources that you can use. Here are some people you should talk to.” And this individual instructed me that their member of the family who had been at Broadview, they may not contact them till they had been in a facility in a completely completely different state. And after they lastly heard from this member of the family, they stated that they had been glad to be on this fully separate state as a result of it was the primary time they’d slept on a mattress since being kidnapped.
That’s what we’re seeing throughout the nation. And [President Donald] Trump has targeted on Chicago as a spot to terrorize as a result of that is the guts of the labor motion. It is a metropolis constructed by immigrants. That is the one city the place Trump needed to cancel a rally as a result of he acquired frightened of protesters. What we’d like is that this facility to be shut down. And we’d like accountability, and we’d like transparency.
DK: You have not at all times been a politician, however you may have been adjoining. You had been a journalist at Media Issues. How did you get from there to right here?
I and my colleagues have spent years making an attempt to get Democrats to take the far proper significantly. We instructed them about Jan. 6 earlier than it occurred. We instructed them about election denial and COVID misinformation and the place the DEI/CRT panic would lead, they usually ignored us. And I acquired sick of ready round for somebody to do one thing. I constructed a big platform with my very own work, however it’s nonetheless a privilege to have, and I need to use it nonetheless I can to make a distinction and present that that is the way you stand as much as the best.
Supporters of President Donald Trump attempt to break by a police barrier on Jan. 6, 2021, throughout a riot on the Capitol.
Illinois does so many issues appropriately, or they fight to take action many issues appropriately, even once we fall brief—as a result of we’re human—and that’s the reason Illinois is main the way in which, on this nation, of resisting the Trump administration.
Additionally it is why, till very not too long ago, Illinois leaders did not must take care of individuals like Elon Musk and [White House Deputy Chief of Staff] Stephen Miller each day.
I’ve. I perceive the best. I’ve a observe document of not solely preventing however profitable in opposition to the best. And I need to see individuals in Congress that may try this.
I do not need to be in Congress endlessly. I need to get in, do some good, get some fascists out, after which return dwelling to hang around with my cat.
If we do not have literacy in new media, that is an issue. If we do not have literacy in far-right narratives, conspiracy theories, and misinformation in our management, that’s simply as huge of a problem.
DK: Do you are feeling like journalists, media shops, and bigger legacy media shops are doing justice to cowl what is going on on proper now?
Abughazaleh: Completely not. Legacy media is bowing right down to Trump. We’ve got seen this throughout shops.
We’ve got seen impartial journalists take over, take the helm, make an effort to truly report on what’s occurring and accomplish that with out worry—or with worry, and do it anyway.
It is humorous that you just say that. At these protests, it has been very tough for me to stability being a candidate—and making an attempt to set an instance of each protesting but in addition security—and my urge to doc and ensure issues are documented. And that’s extraordinarily vital.
I heard somebody say, “I wish that more people were standing up for people like you”—as in me—“that get pushed down by ICE, instead of just filming.” And I am like, nicely, filming proper now’s unbelievably vital and places you at a threat.
ICE, at this Broadview facility, has arrested members of the press merely for doing their job.
When our leaders and our media refuse to face as much as fascism, it units an instance for People as an entire that this ought to be normalized and it should not. Which is why it’s so vital—even when we do not have the Home, the Senate, the Supreme Courtroom, or the White Home—to face up, as a result of in any other case your constituents, the individuals which can be watching your materials, they’re like, “Is this normal? I thought it wasn’t, but I guess it is.”
And it is not. It is not regular, and capitulation won’t ever be sufficient for this administration. They solely need complete submission.
DK: I do not typically get to speak to individuals who have carried out each in entrance of the digicam and behind the digicam. There is a matter of those impartial journalists who’ve taken cash from bigger sources. And it has influenced their reporting. These are individuals who have tons of of hundreds of followers and listeners. Is that one thing that you concentrate on as nicely?
Abughazaleh: 100%. Look, grift cash is so actual, and that is why a whole lot of actually good journalists have stopped doing the work they used to.
I’ve had individuals ask, “How do you find your information?” And I at all times inform them, “Find a journalist you trust, and if something sounds too good or too bad to be true, triple-check it. Then find who they trust. Where do they get their information, and build that network?”
And at all times keep in mind that human beings aren’t good. If somebody will get one thing fallacious. They need to be capable of admit it. If they can not, they aren’t a dependable supply. After I speak in regards to the impartial journalists doing the vital work on the bottom, that is what they’re doing. They’re on the bottom, and they’re those which can be reporting issues that this administration will not.
Folks which can be taking cash from sources are compromised—their reporting will replicate what we’re already seeing from compromised establishments. Each fascist motion thrives when there may be little to no resistance, and it thrives much more when there are no impartial journalists which can be on the market doing the work.
DK: Bringing it again to your marketing campaign, you might be one among a handful of youthful Democrats who’re saying the lifetime politicians aren’t doing sufficient. Are you speaking with candidates like Saikat Chakrabarti or different of those younger challengers developing?
Abughazaleh: I have been in contact with some challengers throughout the nation. I believe it is this concept of solidarity. It is a very bizarre time to be in politics, particularly as a younger challenger. And there are only a few individuals that actually perceive the bizarre circumstances that include that—the institutional strain you get, the way in which small errors can be utilized in opposition to you, or that full lies might be made up as a result of you’re a challenger.
And so I’ve been in contact with another challengers throughout the nation, simply form of venting to one another, truthfully. However general, I lean most on my neighborhood right here and folks that need to see a distinction. And it is actually humorous, I’ve, at occasions, some individuals which were within the Democratic Celebration for a really very long time which can be like, “Don’t tell anyone that I was here.”
However they’re supportive. Folks notice that it is a time for change and precise motion.
DK: Thanks a lot for taking the time to talk with me. However is there something we have not talked about that you just perhaps need to discuss?
Abughazaleh: The factor I at all times attempt to stress over and over and over is that the previous playbook is gone. It has been gone for a very long time.
There are such a lot of individuals in races throughout the nation that I take a look at, and I am like, you’d have been an amazing Congress individual in 2012 or 2014. However it’s not 2012, it is not 2014, it is not 2008, it isn’t 1994—it is 2025, and should you aren’t keen to have braveness, even while you’re scared, should you’re not keen to set an instance by your actions, not simply phrases, not simply strongly worded letters, then you aren’t able to signify the individuals on this second.
