The last election made it clear that the line between creators and political figures has become increasingly blurred. It makes sense then to see creators run for office. Kat Abughazaleh, a populist, left-leaning creator, has announced that she is running for Congress. Abughazaleh will be contesting the 9th District Illinois seat, which has been held by 80-year-old Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky since 1999.
In her announcement video, she didn’t hold back, as she began by saying that the House Democrats need to “grow a f***ing spine.”
Abughazaleh goes on to argue that the country needs a “bigger” vision for the future, saying: “There is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t be able to afford housing, groceries, and healthcare with some money leftover.”
“Families should have free childcare. Social security should be expanded, and our inalienable rights shouldn’t be dependent on who’s in power. That means standing up to authoritarians, not shrinking away when the fight gets tough.”
Who is Kat Abughazaleh?
HuffPost reports that the creator grew up in Dallas with a conservative family, with Abughazaleh telling the outlet that she started to become more politically aware after moving to Arizona as a teenager. “At least half my high school was low-income or undocumented,” she said. “The bootstrap myth just shattered before my eyes.”
As TechCrunch points out, she previously worked for left-leaning organization Media Matters, before being laid off in 2024. Since then, the 26-year-old has bolstered her online persona, and has 63,500 YouTube subscribers and 224,600 TikTok followers.
Rolling Stone reports that she’s lived in Illinois for less than a year, and that she doesn’t live in the relevant district. However, this isn’t stopping her from pursuing her political dream.
“I have ideas that I want to push, and I have a big platform,” she told TechCrunch. “I felt I didn’t want to wait around for someone to do something when I could do something right now.”
While some might expect Abughazaleh to be at loggerheads with Schakowsky, the latter has clarified that they very much welcome the competition. “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,” she said in a statement cited by Axios.
“Right now, that’s what I’m focused on: fighting back against this extreme MAGA regime […] I will never stop fighting against these shameful policies and will continue working to make life better for every single American.”
