Consultant Jan Schakowsky is “one of the progressive members of Congress,” Kat Abughazaleh, who jumped into the congressional race on Monday to vie for the incumbent Democrat’s seat, tells Vainness Truthful. “She’s been good. I’ll be higher. It’s time.”
The 26-year-old progressive political commentator introduced her campaign for Illinois’s Ninth District this week, calling for a “makeover” of the Democratic Social gathering and mounting a problem to Schakowsky in a possible main. Schakowsky, 80, has been serving in Congress since 1999, the year that Abughazaleh was born.
Abughazaleh, who moved to Illinois together with her accomplice a couple of 12 months in the past, is kicking off a congressional marketing campaign amid rising grassroots frustration with social gathering leaders over their failure to aggressively fight Donald Trump’s agenda. She argues that any capitulation to Trump received’t end in “a neater sentence or much less aggression by the Trump administration,” including, “That’s not how these individuals work.”
“The precise-wing media ecosystem is what moved Republicans. I’ve stated this earlier than, however Roger Ailes created Fox to prop up the GOP,” Abughazaleh tells me. “However over time, it’s made it so the GOP exists to prop up Fox.”
She is properly acquainted with the MAGA-media machine via her previous work at Media Issues for America, the place she produced movies geared toward debunking narratives offered by Fox Information and former anchor Tucker Carlson, and her newer work on TikTok, the place, as of this writing, she’s amassed greater than 225,000 followers. She’s presently acquired one other 210,000 on X, the place she posted a video of herself Monday, urging Democrats “to drop the justifications and develop a fucking backbone.”
When requested about Abughazaleh’s run for Schakowsky’s seat, Home Democratic chief Hakeem Jeffries stated he was not acquainted with it. Nonetheless, he described the incumbent lawmaker as a “long-standing, stalwart progressive member,” whereas additionally acknowledging that “there’s a variety of angst, a variety of anxiousness…throughout the nation.” Abughazaleh, whose marketing campaign supervisor posted Monday that the brand new candidate was already nearing $200,000 in donations, additionally shot back at Jeffries: “Good to satisfy you, Hakeem! It’s time to get acquainted.”
This dialog has been edited for size and readability.
Vainness Truthful: For individuals who possibly aren’t acquainted with your earlier media work, are you able to clarify what you tackled for Media Issues, Mom Jones, and so forth.?
Kat Abughazaleh: For Media Issues, I watched Fox Information’ prime-time lineup. I used to be on their night time shift staff and my specialty was Tucker Carlson particularly. I used to be monitoring his present each night time, analyzing narratives, what was occurring, after which explaining it as properly, in personal videos on my TikTok throughout the week. I used to do Fox recaps each week. Once I acquired laid off due to Elon Musk’s lawsuit, I began working with Zeteo Information and Mom Jones. [Musk’s company X sued Media Matters in November 2023, claiming the advocacy group’s work had misrepresented the site’s user experience, leading advertisers to leave the social media platform; Media Matters then laid off more than a dozen staffers last year, including Abughazaleh, with president Angelo Carusone citing “a legal assault on multiple fronts” as the reason for the cutbacks.]
Since you could have such a particular understanding of the right-wing media ecosystem, do you see that as a bonus in launching a political marketing campaign?
The precise-wing media ecosystem is what moved Republicans. I’ve stated this earlier than, however Roger Ailes created Fox to prop up the GOP. However over time, it’s made it so the GOP exists to prop up Fox. If you wish to know what Republicans are going to be speaking about on the Home flooring every week prematurely, simply watch what’s occurring at Fox’s 8 p.m. hour. Additionally, understanding what their lies are and what the goals are, I feel, is admittedly necessary. There are a variety of establishments, together with Democrats, which are capitulating as a result of they suppose that it’s going to end in a neater sentence or much less aggression by the Trump administration. That’s not how these individuals work. We are able to’t fall for these items, and I feel having a real understanding of that helps.
