Congressional Catch-up: Bushra Amiwala

Bushra Amiwala, the daughter of Pakistani immigrants, has spent her whole life in Illinois’ ninth congressional district. She was elected to the Board of Education in Skokie School District 73.5 at the age of 19, becoming the first Gen-Z elected official and youngest Muslim official in the country. She worked as a consultant at Google and graduated from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. 

Economy

Amiwala said one of the greatest economic concerns in The United States is how the top one percent of Americans own about 31% of the nation’s wealth while the bottom 50% of Americans own only 2.5%. Amiwala said this must be addressed by taxing the rich and investing in people through healthcare for all, tuition-free college and better public education. 

Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement must be abolished in its current form because it’s terrorizing immigrants, according to Amiwala. She said there should be a more streamlined immigration system to allow for more legal immigrants while protecting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, who are individuals protected from deportation because they were brought to the country as children, and H-1B recipients, who are individuals who are skilled workers with temporary protections. 

Young Voters

Democrats did poorly among Gen-Z men in 2024, according to The Hill. Bushra, who is only 27 herself, said this is because the Democratic establishment didn’t provide good economic policy, but also because they weren’t honest with their voters. She said there needs to be more politicians who are truthful and genuine in their pursuit of support and who focus on policies which can best serve their constituents

Protecting Democracy

Amiwala said she would use her voice to build momentum against President Donald Trump and Republicans if elected to Congress. She said Democrats are partly complicit in the rise of the far-right because they didn’t stand up to Republicans. She said she would protest and build support among other democrats and voters to fight back against the Trump agenda. 

Gaza, Israel and the Age Divide

Amiwala said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. She said it’s important to bring an end to the conflict and would do so by leveraging the power of the United States in the United Nations and by stopping all weapon embargoes, both offensive and defensive, to Israel. 

Amiwala said there’s no longer an age divide on opinions regarding Israel and Gaza. She said opinions have shifted in America to a place where most people opposed support for Israel. She attributed the age divide to young people’s consumption of non-mainstream media. 

Abortion

Amiwala said abortion is healthcare and should be available and accessible to all people.

Climate Change

To address climate change Amiwala said the government needs to hold polluters accountable for their actions while investing in clean energy solutions. She’s an advocate for building public infrastructure both environmentally friendly and beneficial to the people who will use it. She’s a supporter of the Green New Deal. 

Most Important Issue

Education is very important to Amiwala. She said she would introduce the Books Not Bombs Act, which would transfer 1% of the defense budget to public schools. Amiwala said the act would increase the public school budget by 10% and reduce the burden on local taxpayers who pay into the public school system through property taxes.