Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old whose progressive videos have garnered millions of views on social media, announced her bid to run for Congress Monday, setting up a potential showdown with longtime Rep. Jan Schakowsky for the 9th Congressional district.
In a video announcing her run, Abughazaleh slammed President Donald Trump and Elon Musk for “dismantling our country piece by piece” and criticized Democrats for not fighting harder against them. Her campaign raised more than $100,000 in less than seven hours, according to a post on her Instagram.
“So many Democrats seem content to just sit back and let them,” Abughazaleh said. “So I say it’s time to drop the excuses and grow a f—ing spine.”
Abughazaleh is pushing for reform in the Democratic party and identified a “representation problem” in Congress, saying young people who face the same financial and social issues as many voters should be their representatives.
Schakowsky, 80, was first elected to the district in 1999, before Abughazaleh was born. She won her 14th consecutive term last year, but hasn’t yet said whether she is seeking reelection in 2026.
“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. Right now, that’s what I’m focused on: fighting back against this extreme MAGA regime,” Schakowsky said in a statement.
The 9th district covers some northern parts of Chicago, Evanston, Skokie and many northern suburbs.
Abughazaleh doesn’t live in the 9th district, according to a profile in Rolling Stone, but she says in her announcement video that she lives in Chicago. The constitution requires Congresspeople to live in the same state they represent, though not necessarily the specific district. She has lived in Illinois for less than a year, according to the profile. Raised in Texas as a Republican, her views shifted after she went to college at George Washington University.
After being laid off last year from Media Matters for America, a progressive non-profit news outlet, Abughazaleh said she faced the same pressures many Americans do. She’s a renter without health insurance, and has struggled to build wealth, saying on her website that her net worth is “pretty much just the laptop I bought with my entire severance when I got laid off.” She also worries about prescription costs and what the world will look like in 50 years.
“There is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t be able to afford housing, groceries and healthcare with some money leftover,” Abughazaleh said in her launch video. “Families should have free childcare, Social Security should be expanded and our inalienable rights shouldn’t be dependent on who’s in power.”