CHICAGO — Katherine Abughazaleh, a Palestinian American influencer and content creator, who has reported on the far right for both Media Matters and Mother Jones, and posts on YouTube as Kat Abu, has announced that she’s running for Congress as a Democrat in Illinois’ Ninth District.

“We need a vision bigger than we’ve been told is possible,” Abughazaleh, 26, said in a two-minute YouTube video announcing her candidacy. “There is absolutely no reason you shouldn’t be able to afford housing, groceries and healthcare, with some money left over. Families should have free childcare. Social Security should be expanded. And our inalienable rights shouldn’t be dependent on who’s in power.”

Abughazaleh, a 2020 graduate of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, with a concentration in security policy,  said that means standing up to authoritarians and that unlike current Democratic leadership, she is not “fine cowering to Trump.”

“I’ve spent my entire career reporting on the far right and being attacked by them as a result,” she said, adding that Elon Musk’s lawyers deposed her in Chicago a few months ago to “ask about my mean tweets.”

While at Media Matters, she posted “explainer” videos about Fox News and right-wing propaganda.

She said she’s focused on meeting constituents’ needs, with one simple rule: “What if we didn’t suck?”

She also said her campaign would rather spend money on book drives, clothing exchanges and public events than fancy fundraisers for rich donors.

According to her YouTube announcement, she’ll be posting regular videos about the costs and steps of running for office to help make her campaign as transparent as possible.

According to her campaign website, her top issues are anti authoritarianism, basic existence, climate change, Democratic reform, education, kids and families, gun violence, healthcare, humane foreign policy, immigration, LGBTQ+ protections, Social Security, reproductive rights and veterans.

Abughazaleh, whom the New Republic named one of the 25 political influencers to watch, covered the Democratic National Convention last summer as a credentialed creator and also posted a brief YouTube video at the time arguing that Palestinians should be allowed to speak at the convention.

If elected, Abughazaleh would be both the second Palestinian American woman and the youngest woman elected to Congress in American history.

For more information, visit https://www.katforillinois.com.