Political Newcomer Kat Abughazaleh Begins IL-09 Congressional Challenge

Kat Abughazaleh announced her candidacy for the House of Representatives seat from Illinois 9th Congressional District currently held by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky March 24. She raised over $100,000 in contributions within seven hours of announcing her campaign, with an average donation of $45, according to her website.

Illinois’ 9th includes the far North Side of Chicago, Skokie, Evanston and reaches west to Crystal Lake. The district is heavily democratic and has been represented by 80-year-old Schakowsky since 1998 — before 26-year-old Abughazaleh was born. Schakowsky hasn’t yet announced if she’ll seek reelection in 2026. 

Abughazaleh was volunteering in the employees-only section of The Wasteshed — a non-profit that collects used art and school materials — in Evanston April 6 before meeting with The Phoenix, where she was helping sort beads.

She continued to organize beads and chat with the other volunteers during her interview — the person at the desk outside the room said he didn’t know a congressional candidate was volunteering that day.

Abughazaleh believes the Democratic Party hasn’t done enough to stop the Trump administration’s agenda, but said she has the skills and intention to fight back. 

“What if we didn’t suck,” her website says in reference to the Democratic Party. 

“I think part of the reason that we’re in this mess with Trump is that the Democratic Party has prioritized decorum and its own structure over actually representing democracy,” Abughazaleh said. 

Abughazaleh said her campaign isn’t a referendum on Schakowsky and acknowledged they have some policy goals in common.

“What the Democratic Party has been doing isn’t working and you have people like Schakowsky who have done a lot more than other people in Congress — but it’s still not working, we’re still in this mess,” Abughazaleh said.

Schakowsky was a leader in passing the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and has won major legislative victories to protect seniors, increase the transparency of military contracts and ensure high safety standards for toddler and infant products, according to her website.

Schakowsky defeated her Republican challenger in 2024 with 68.4% of the vote, The Phoenix reported. She’s only been primaried three times in her congressional career. She defeated current Governor of Illinois J.B. Pritzer 1998, Simon Ribeiro in 2012 and Andrew Heldut in 2020, according to Ballotpedia.

Abughazaleh said she is running a campaign focused on direct action and mutual aid rather than traditional television advertising. 

Abughazaleh said the Democratic Party hasn’t done enough in response to Trump, and her website criticizes Democrats for putting up a “performative” resistance during his address to Congress. She said she was disappointed multiple Democrats voted to censure Rep. Al Green (TX-05) after he protested against Trump.

“People want someone to stand up and fight,” Abughazaleh said. 

Media outlets, including Rolling Stone and The Washington Post, have characterized Abughazaleh as an “influencer” and “TikTok star” because she’s 26 years old and has a large online following. She said this characterization is reductive. 

The Associated Press referred to her as a “liberal journalist with a big social media following.”

Abughazaleh started her career as a journalist at non-profit organization Media Matters for America, which aims to highlight conservative misinformation on platforms like Fox News. She covered former Fox political talk show host Tucker Carlson before she was laid off after Elon Musk sued the organization and then “sicked all his followers” on her and her co-workers.

She said her background in monitoring far-right discourse has prepared her to combat it in government. 

Abughazaleh’s youth and online savvy has helped her quickly raise money and gain name recognition. She also said the Democratic Party has been looking at social media the wrong way. She said they have a transactional view of its usage and think it’s only effective with young voters — Abughazaleh disagrees. 

“I think one of the issues with the Democratic Party’s communication is that they’ve been looking at social media as just this young game or even this formula where you plug in this meme and this amount of approval comes out,” Abughazaleh said. 

Abughazaleh said she moved to Illinois in July 2024. She still doesn’t live in the district, according to The Evanston Round Table. She said she’s been called a “carpetbagger” — someone who seeks office somewhere they have no local connection — many times. 

A sizable portion of the district is foreign-born and many people are moving to Chicago because of climate change, abortion access and laws impacting LQBTQ+ people in other states, according to Abughazaleh.

“There is a Chicago renaissance on the horizon and you’re going to have a lot more people like me that have to move here on short notice,” Abughazaleh said. “I totally get skepticism of me and I think we should be earning votes and not just counting on them.”

Abughazaleh’s father is Palestinian and she featured a keffiyeh in the background of her campaign announcement video. She said her grandparents survived the 1948 Nakba and had to flee to Kuwait from Palestine.

“I think war crimes are bad no matter who is committing them — that means Israel, that means Hamas,” Abughazaleh said. “Even if I wasn’t Palestinian I would feel this way.”

In 2025, 59% of Democrats were more sympathetic to Palestine than Israel, according to Gallup.

Schakowsky has yet to announce her election plans.

“I’ll be deciding on my plans soon, but if I do indeed decide to retire, there are dozens of talented leaders, advocates, and organizers in the ninth Congressional District who know our community and who are ready to lead the charge as we fight back against the extreme MAGA regime and Trump’s shameful policies,” Schakowsky wrote in an email to the Phoenix.

The Illinois Democratic primary will be held in March 2026. Schakowsky’s intentions will become more evident as the Cook County Democratic Party holds pre-slating for their 2026 candidates April 16-17.