When Rashida Tlaib took a job under Michigan Majority Floor Leader Steve Tobocman, she didn’t do it with the intention of starting a political career.

But after working under him as a senior policy advisor, Tlaib realized that running for office would be the best way for her to continue to help people in Southwest Detroit, where she was raised, on a personal level.

The election for state representative of Michigan’s 12th District, among other races of course, will take place on August 5th. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, has mainly been focused during her career on working for non-profit organizations and helping families as well as her job as an attorney. She worked under Tobocman so she could learn from the inside how things are funded to better understand how to help non-profit organizations.

A couple months into her job under Tobocman, he approached Tlaib about running for his seat after his time was up. She said no right away, but eventually, she was talked into it by co-workers.

“It took about seven different people to convince me,” said Tlaib.

It took just one person to finally seal the deal, however: Shelly Weisberg, a social worker who Tlaib respected a great deal.

“People like us never consider running for office, and that’s why it’s so messed up in Lansing,” said Weisberg to Tlaib.

Tlaib’s resume includes stints on the board of directors for both ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services) and the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice as well as memberships with the ACLU, NAACP, and the League of Women Voters. She is now working hard to reach out to voters and to communicate her platform to residents of the 12th District.

“I’ve been able to really be an aggressive personal contact, my office is run almost like a non-profit,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of phone calls and met with a lot of people. People were getting a taste of how I would run my office.”

Because her parents were immigrants, Tlaib, a democrat, is sympathetic to the struggles they face in today’s United States.

“It costs about 800 dollars to become a citizen and it cost about 30 bucks for my mom,” she said. “I don’t want people to be intimidated by the immigration office.”

Tlaib has focused largely on the Hispanic community in the area, having provided social and advocacy services to thousands of Southwest Detroit families at Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development (LASED) in Detroit.

Now, she is focused on reaching out to the growing Arab community in the area.

“One of the things that I think is exciting is, I was doing some research on the huge concentration of Arab Americans in Lonyo and McGraw (both are streets in Southwest Detroit) area. They all have my lawn signs but I don’t know who they are,” she said.

Tlaib is trying to get them to come out and vote in the primaries instead of waiting until later.

“We always think of November as election season, so they tend not to vote in the primaries. But they’re really excited about having an Arab American legislator.”

Tobocman has also given Tlaib his endorsement after serving as a state representative for the past six years.

For more information on Tlaib, visit www.rashida4rep.com, and to find out where your polling site is, call 313.297.8800.