Interview with Candidate Kat Abughazaleh

Democracy is ultimately defined by who funds it. Is it funded by the people it is supposed to represent, or by powerful special interests seeking to purchase influence?

That question is now front and center in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, where U.S. Congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh is running one of the most unique campaigns in the country: a campaign funded 100% by people, not corporate PACs.

Her primary opponent, meanwhile, is benefiting from a flood of outside money—including millions from AIPAC and its affiliated super PACs.

The contrast could not be clearer. Let’s Address This.

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In their latest attack ad, AIPAC’s political operation is targeting Kat over a paper she wrote about Marco Rubio when she was just sixteen years old—an extraordinary level of desperation considering the same organization has spent millions of dollars funding Rubio’s own campaigns.

That contradiction tells you everything you need to know. AIPAC’s spending machine has no moral compass; it is simply another instrument of billionaire influence attempting to drown out grassroots democracy.

But Kat Abughazaleh is fighting back—and her campaign is becoming a test case for what kind of democracy we want in this country.

In the conversation below, I sat down with Kat to discuss her campaign, the flood of dark money in this race, and why she believes voters—not super PACs—should decide who represents Illinois’ 9th District in Congress.

Thank you Ayesha Noor, Dixiane Hallaj, Skutt Hope, Steve Glicken, MD, Jack, and many others for tuning into my live video with Katherine Abughazaleh! Join me for my next live video in the app. And be sure to subscribe so we can continue to protect your human rights, and our democracy.

Let's Address This with Qasim Rashid is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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