Meet Kat Abughazaleh: The Anti-Authoritarian Candidate Shaking Up Politics

Taylor Darcy: 00:00:07

Today we're talking about what it means to fight authoritarianism from inside and outside the system.

My guest is Kat Abaghazeli, a 26 year old Palestinian American journalist, extremism researcher and digital creator who's now running for Congress in Illinois's 9th district. You may know her from years of watching and dissecting Fox News and far right media so the rest of us don't have to.

And from her blunt question to Democrats, what if we didn't suck? Kat is running a proudly anti authoritarian corporate free message in a deep blue district where the real contest is the Democratic primary.

Her campaign sits at the intersection of online politics, protest and party power struggles. And it's already sparked both excitement and controversy. One important note before we start.

Kat is currently under federal indictment for charges related to a protest outside a suburban Chicago ICE facility. She has pleaded not guilty and like anyone in our legal system, she is presumed innocent.

Because this is an active case, there are limits on what she can say. On advice of counsel, we're not here to re litigate the indictment or ask for legal strategy.

We are going to talk about what this moment says about protest, state power and what it means to run for Congress while the government is prosecuting you. Kat Abakazali, welcome to the show.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:01:30

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me.

Taylor Darcy: 00:01:32

You're very welcome.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:01:33

Really thrilled to be here.

Taylor Darcy: 00:01:34

I'm thrilled to have you.

You know there's such a disconnect between from you've spent years watching the right wing, I call them nut jobs because they're not based in most of reality. What prompted you to go from I'm observing and analyzing to I want to throw my hat in the ring.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:02:04

A lot of it was inaction on the part of Democratic leaders. My colleagues and I in the anti disinformation space have spent years warning Democrats about what is happening and where it would lead us to.

We warned them about January 6th before it happened about COVID misinformation where the deicrt anti trans panic would lead and they didn't listen to I actually did a three hour training with a senator staff on how to use Fox News as a weapon because what you would hear on Tucker Carlson's show on Friday night would be on the House floor by Tuesday morning. And they just didn't listen.

And I got sick of waiting for someone to listen especially as I and my colleagues have been used as a dry run for what is happening to the federal government and said it I'll do it myself.

Taylor Darcy: 00:02:55

And we need more of that where we're approaching things from the status quo isn't acceptable any longer. So I can appreciate that throwing your hat in the ring like that could be daunting. Tell me about what it's been like so far to run for Congress.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:03:17

I think a lot of people say they want to do politics differently, and that was a huge tenet. That is a huge tenet of my campaign. And we're actually doing politics differently.

Have a large platform that I've built myself with my work as a researcher and journalist. But it is still such a privilege to have, particularly because I am an outsider candidate.

I am a grassroots candidate, and I am not rich, nor do I know many rich people. So I.

Has given me the ability to kind of operate outside the normal bounds that this electoral system has forced especially poor candidates to work within. It's been really exciting. We've been using our resources to not just reach voters, but materially improve their lives.

So our campaign office in Rogers park doubles as a mutual aid hub. People come in every day to get baby formula, winter clothes, toiletries, Narcan, whatever they may need.

And we try to point them to other resources if they're ones that we can't fulfill. Our events are accessible to everyone, no matter their income. Even though there will be suggested ticket tiers.

We always say, you can donate $1, and if there is space for you at this event, we'll make sure you can come. Additionally, we. We are focused on a radically transparent, honest, open campaign and unapologetically progressive one as well.

We organize our volunteers through discord. We have thousands of volunteers that we work with every single day and can get feedback on a moment's notice.

This is a really exciting campaign, but it's also really scary because I think a lot of establishment figures underestimated me. First off, they thought I was a joke, and that's fine by me.

But now they're realizing, oh, she's tied for first and is not someone who's easily controlled. So we're seeing some of the tricks come out.

Taylor Darcy: 00:05:06

Yeah.

And I mean, I can imagine the establishment being scared because I think there's a tendency to believe people wanted to run for Congress to do things differently. Right. You see the status quo, it's not acceptable. You want to do things different, and then you get sucked into this.

Well, in order to get my position, I have to do things like other people have done because. Because it's worked before.

And there's fear that goes into that perception that I have to follow what other people want because that's how we get money, that's how we get supporters, because it's worked in the past. But what they're not understanding is where we're at in history is not what's worked in the past.

There may be moments where it's worked in the past, but we're not currently in that moment where that the same thing is working in the same way. Right. We have new technologies.

I mean, in fact, before we started, we were talking about that you've raised money by going online and doing live videos instead of doing your phone calls. And I think that that's such a new and inventive way of doing things.

Rather than doing the status quo, you can accomplish in an hour what would take you 5, 6, 7, 10 hours. I think that's such an important thing. And I think trendsetters always tend to scare the people that have been doing it the old fashioned way. Right.

Because it's new, it's different.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:06:35

I mean, their entire industries built on things like call time, which is what you were just referencing the idea of dialing for dollars. And with the livestream project we've been doing, it's been great in a bunch of different ways. First off, everyone hates doing call time.

And when you ask why we do it, the answer you always get is, well, it's what you have to do.

Taylor Darcy: 00:06:53

Right.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:06:54

And so now it's. We've shown that that's not necessarily true.

And I get to spend, you know, a couple hours every week doing things I like playing video games, talking with cool people in the chat, and discussing politics without a script. Additionally, it's prioritizing small grassroots donors. The majority of our donations on livestream are like $1 here, $5 there.

And when you're dialing for dollars, you are calling people with absurd amounts of money asking for absurd amounts of money.

Taylor Darcy: 00:07:26

Right. And how have you found that bridging the.

Because you've had a very popular online presence and now you're asking, if you ask the real people in your district who you were before you started this campaign, they probably couldn't have picked you out of a lineup in least bit. Right. And how have you merged those two things, the online and the real life?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:07:52

Something that I always tell people is don't listen to what I say, watch what I do. And I said that when I first started the campaign.

And I always encourage everyone to be skeptical of any person running for office, and that includes me. People should earn your vote. They don't deserve it.

And we have a lot of supporters who weren't sure about me at the start, maybe actively opposed to me at the start.

And they have watched the work that we've been doing in the community, how I've communicated differently, and how I've pushed my opponents to be more progressive, to stand more aggressively against this administration and see that leadership and the work that our team and our volunteers have been doing and they want to support.

I think that, you know, Illinois does so many things right, but it's why until very recently, state leaders weren't having to deal with people like Elon Musk, Tom Holman and Stephen Miller on a daily basis. I and my colleagues were doing that and oftentimes winning against them.

And that's why they're coming so hard against journalists and against people who used to be journalists.

Taylor Darcy: 00:08:54

Right. What is your take on JB Pritzker?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:09:03

I mean, he's been. He's an incredibly popular governor here. I think that it's a really difficult position to be in when you're actively targeted by this administration.

I liked what he's said against this administration so far, but I would like to see even more action. I think that he can really lead the way, especially when it comes to how we deal with ICE and how we remove ICE from our communities.

Illinois has led the way across the country when it comes to legislation and how we fight back against this administration. And while I get the.

There's so many factors at play, especially when the president is such a wild card, I think that Governor Pritzker has the opportunity and the wherewithal to be able to take those big steps and make. Make sure that we continue leading.

Taylor Darcy: 00:09:50

Yeah, I've been really impressed with how he's been handling things. And at least based on what we see, we don't always get the full picture because the media doesn't always report on it.

And that's why independent journalism and independent media is so important.

That's one of the reasons why I really wanted to have you on, is because while you're no longer in that sphere, speaking truth to power, not gilding the lilies, so to speak, for the sake of others. Have you met met with JB Pritzker?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:10:22

I've met him at different events, but mostly we're focused on, you know, the Illinois ninth Congressional District.

Taylor Darcy: 00:10:28

Sure.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:10:29

This is. I am very glad that he's my governor, especially because I've lived all over the country.

There is a reason I live in Illinois, and so many people are moving here as literal refugees in our own country, whether it's for reproductive rights, queer rights, Climate change, just the safety of being an immigrant. And even then, nothing's promised, but we're doing better than the vast majority of states in this country.

Taylor Darcy: 00:10:52

Yeah. And I mean, it's got to be scary being an immigrant living in the United States right now, citizen or not.

And I mean, even more so because they aren't discriminating based on citizenship anymore. They've been taking people that have been citizens and taking them and doing what they've been doing to non citizens.

And I think that that speaks a lot about, you know, the lawlessness of this administration when and when Trump first took office. I speak truth to my people on Facebook, and I spoke up and said what he was doing was not lawful.

And the number of people that would say, well, but he's doing it. And I'm like, that doesn't make it right. That doesn't make it constitutional.

And so there's this idea that we need to speak and say, this isn't right. And especially when you're in a position of power, that you can make that type of difference.

Tell me about how your case is going with your indictment.

And again, I understand if you can't talk about the details of it, but has that put any additional strain on your campaign being under indictment for that?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:12:13

Now, the biggest thing is we're paying for legal fees on top of a campaign which is already extraordinarily expensive. But people have been very supportive and very kind during all of this. I mean, it's just so.

It's such a blatantly political prosecution, and it's one of these things where you're saying this idea of, like, well, he's doing it. That's something that I, and people in my line of work have been saying for years.

If we don't want to underestimate, like, just because something is unconstitutional or unlawful doesn't mean they give a damn.

So while I was surprised in the way that I think anyone is surprised when they get a federal indictment, this is still something that my partner, Ben Collins, who used to be a disinformation reporter as well, this is something that we've talked about before. What will happen if we're federally prosecuted, which is maybe not the case for most American households, but is becoming more and more common.

So this is a blatant attempt to limit First Amendment speech. I pled not guilty, and I plan on winning, both in court and on election Day.

Taylor Darcy: 00:13:23

Well, and the good news is he's got a terrible track record on pretty much everything. He's won very few cases, and Most of which it was the Supreme Court putting the thumb on the proverbial scale for him.

If the case would have gone based on the merits and without the thumb of the Supreme Court, he would have lost. Just to give you a little confidence there, and to be honest with you, I think it gives you a little more street cred, to be fair. Fair.

I, I think anything that if Trump came at me, I would be happy as a clam because it tells me I'm doing something right. Because Absolutely.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:13:59

I mean, it's one of these things where everyone that I used to cover now runs the country like they know.

Taylor Darcy: 00:14:05

Right.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:14:05

Who I am. And this is clearly retribution.

And there's a reason that out of the 17 candidates in my primary, the administration sees me as a threat and why they are trying to prosecute me, a 26 year old with less than $10,000 in my bank account, significantly less. And also tell you, I'm five one. I'm not that scary.

Taylor Darcy: 00:14:26

Right.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:14:27

I'm five feet. I lied.

Taylor Darcy: 00:14:31

My wife was watching the video of you being tossed around from ice and she's like, what the heck happened there? And I was like, I don't. We hadn't talked at that point, but I knew who you were. And I told her, I said, that's Kat.

She's someone that's fighting against this administration.

And it was, she just was shocked by it because just this idea that they would manhandle you for the sake of getting you out of the way for no reason, really.

And especially when you're exercising your First Amendment rights, there are limitations, rightfully so, on manner and place in which you can exercise your First Amendment rights, but just knowing that you were doing it lawfully, you were doing it fairly. And I think that's one of the reasons why no kings are.

Is so important, is because there's so many more people, it's harder for them to touch us all, so to speak. Right. You're at the forefront of fighting against this regime who is using these as internment camps, essentially.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:15:36

Absolutely. And I mean, there's a reason that they're doing this. It's not for no reason.

It's because these are a bunch of weak men that want to trick you into thinking they're strong. So they shove you around, they throw you, they tear gas you, they pepper spray you, they hit you also.

Every time they've like grabbed me, they always do it by my chest, but they don't do it to my male friend. That's so weird.

But what's really important here, though, is like, that's what they're willing to do to us on camera and to someone who looks like me. For if someone's listening, I have a blonde eye job. I have blue eyes.

Yes, I have a Palestinian name because I'm Palestinian, but I look like the whitest person you've ever seen.

Taylor Darcy: 00:16:15

Right.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:16:15

And.

And I think the reason a lot of people were upset by the video, or so shocked by the video that went viral of ICE throwing me, that was the third time they've done it, but it was particularly egregious was, well, the state's not supposed to enact violence on people that look like her.

Taylor Darcy: 00:16:32

Right.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:16:32

And I really want to just reiterate that is what they are willing to do on camera. Let's go back to the reason that we were protesting in the first place.

And that's because the Broadview Processing center, where ICE headquarters its operations in the Chicago area is hell. It is a den of crimes against humanity.

The reports that we've heard from prisoners who have been able, who have been willing to speak up, risking them, their own and their family's safety, describes a place where you are not allowed more than one bathroom leave a day. And if you spoil yourself, you're beaten.

People going into cardiac arrest because there's no air ventilation, because they've boarded up the windows so no one can see inside. A place where you aren't given any hot meals, any accident access to hygienic facilities. And they sleep on the floor.

Well, not anymore, because there are so many people in a single cell that apparently people are sleeping standing up. So remember the things that aren't on camera.

And the reason this administration is prosecuting people for protesting is because we said that is unacceptable.

Taylor Darcy: 00:17:38

And I was watching a TikTok of a woman who was trying to get her husband's glasses to him in a facility.

And they wouldn't let anything, according to this person, she said, anything that we try to get to our loved ones, even medication, like diabetes medicine. I mean, imagine being 12 hours without your insulin and being diabetic and what that would do to you. These types of things are just horrific.

And the idea that this administration has no issue whatsoever with doing it. In fact, they welcome it. How many times?

I don't follow any of the crazy people on Twitter, but Elon Musk and his promotion of the right wing on Twitter means you see it whether you like it or not.

And the people that are glorifying and finding joy, I mean, gleeful joy in the misery and suffering of other people I could not imagine for the life of me how you sleep at night knowing that you're finding joy in harming other people. I'm not talking about the.

The Jeffrey Dahmers or the Charles Mansons of the world, where even that, to me, is not acceptable to find joy in the harming of other people, regardless of what they've done. But these are people that have come here for a better life, for a desire to be a part of the great experiment that is the United States.

And they're being put into jail, and they're being subject to that very inhumane treatment, and they're okay. Not just okay with it. They're finding joy. It angers me to a point. I don't have words that will satisfactorily express how much that angers me.

You know where. You know, you've been out protesting. Have you been protesting since you were indicted? I don't know. I haven't seen any recent video.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:19:38

We've attended some protests. None at that facility so far. We are trying to be. We're still navigating what it's like to be under federal indictment, for one.

I can't leave the continental United States. They banned me from going to Alaska. How dare they.

Taylor Darcy: 00:19:54

Interesting. Did you really want to go to Alaska?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:19:57

I mean, it'd be nice to have it as an option.

Taylor Darcy: 00:20:00

Okay, just checking, because I've lived in Canada briefly, and it's not much different than Alaska. And it's freaking cold, especially this time of year.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:20:08

I mean, to be fair, I'm in Chicago.

Taylor Darcy: 00:20:10

tah. I moved to California in: 1989

So I don't have much to complain about with my weather in San Diego here. But that's interesting. Do they have you on any type of ankle monitoring or anything like that, or is it just.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:20:34

No, but I'd look kind of sick. No, I'm following all my bond conditions. It's. I'm just running my campaign while knowing that I can't go to Alaska.

And it's hanging over my head like a. Like a guillotine. Man can't see those icebergs. I don't know why I've made this bit go on for so long, but it's just a very funny sentence.

Like, someone asked me, are you going to take a trip after the campaign? And I was like, well, it has to be within the continental United States, right?

Taylor Darcy: 00:21:05

That's funny. I wouldn't think they would care. Why couldn't you go to Alaska? That's weird. You're still in the United States. Whatever. So you're in a rare space.

I know there's a lot of fear about protesting, right? People are afraid of what happened to you happening to them. What do you tell people who want to protest but are afraid of that happening?

What would you tell people?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:21:34

Look, it's the. If you are out protesting ice they are. They have no accountability.

At the same time, the same thing is going to happen if they come into your home or into your neighborhood and you say, hey, who is this masked man? And then they might just pepper spray you. You know, be safe. But also remember that in this moment, you have to do what you can.

There is safety in numbers. And especially when elected officials and people with power, platform or privilege come out, it makes all of us safer. So do it.

When I was a kid, I would ask myself, I wonder what I would do if I lived in Nazi Germany. And I know a lot of people about ask themselves that question. And what you're doing now is what you would have done. You know the answer?

Taylor Darcy: 00:22:37

Yeah.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:22:37

And you can change the answer if you don't like what it is. I encourage people, bring a snack. Make sure that you have for, you know, Chicago, we always write the NLG National Lawyers Guild number on our arm.

Look up those resources and just be aware of the people around you. Be smart. Don't make things unsafe for the people around you. And bring a Clementine.

It's the best snack to bring because it's biodegradable and they taste good.

Taylor Darcy: 00:23:15

They are good.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:23:16

Oh, also, turn off your facial recognition on your phone or thumbprint recognition. Just do it for all times. Just. Just type in the passcode. It's not that much longer.

Taylor Darcy: 00:23:24

Very true. In fact, when.

When no Kings happened, number one, I put out a long blurb of from an attorney perspective, what you should and should not do during a protest to ensure that you got home safe. And the fact that. Do you know who Amanda Knox is?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:23:44

Yes.

Taylor Darcy: 00:23:44

Okay. So she went on.

It was a blue sky discussion of how our rights have been been whittled away from where Miranda used to mean something different, and so on and so forth. And so I took that and I went and I said, okay, so here are the things that you need to know. Like, for instance. Yeah.

Keep your face ID off your phone, thumbprint id, because that can be used against you in a court. There's not a Fifth Amendment right there. And when people are saying, you Know when, when. If the cops arrest you, you know, what do you say?

I'm invoking my Fifth Amendment right to an attorney. I'm not going to answer any questions and then remain silent. There were actual cases.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:24:35

Shut the fuck up.

Taylor Darcy: 00:24:37

Yes, exactly.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:24:38

And then listen to your lawyer, by the way.

Taylor Darcy: 00:24:41

Right.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:24:41

Taylor and I were talking about earlier, I was in an interview with someone who I had expressed very clear bounds. And like, as someone that used to report on stuff, like, they're the same is when you're in a legal case.

Taylor Darcy: 00:24:51

Right.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:24:52

There are some things that people just can't talk about. It's not because they're trying to be withholding or they're trying to be sketchy. It's just I'm going to listen to my lawyer before anyone else.

Right now. My lawyer is the only person in my life that can be like, no. And I'm like, you got it, boss. Absolutely. Like, no questions asked.

So listen to your fucking lawyer.

Taylor Darcy: 00:25:12

You know, I wish more clients would to take that approach because I get clients that are like, I want to do things my way. And I'm like, like, no, please don't. Until the case is over, keep your yapper shut.

Because they want to go public and they want to shame the other party. And I'm like, you do realize that even in a civil case, because I only do civil lit, that it can be used against you.

So it's not a, you know, anything you don't want read on the court record. You keep your yapper shut. Right? Like, you just have to. And so many people are like, but I want this resolution.

And I'm like, well, going to the press and doing this story isn't going to change what's going to happen in court. It can only work against you. It can't help you. That's not how it works, unfortunately.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:25:57

So I really do want to stress, though, if you are.

If you're going to go out and protest there, it's a very small chance, especially if it's like a large protest like no Kings, that you'll be detained. But, you know, every day the authoritarian crackdown gets a little bit louder, a little bit harder if you are detained.

And I just want to stress, invoke your Fifth Amendment, ask for a lawyer or ask to call your lawyer. And it doesn't matter how long it takes. Don't say anything else. Just shut the fuck up.

Taylor Darcy: 00:26:30

Yeah.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:26:30

And also in the meantime, when you're going to. I think these massive protests like no Kings and hands off have been incredible. And I've seen so many people go out and protest for the first time.

I also want to stress, what are you doing after? What are we doing after?

Because I think a lot of us, including myself, there's this assumption in America that, like, okay, I voted and maybe like I sent a donation or I amplify something online and that's enough. I think we're all realizing the extent to which that is not enough. And the extent is a lot, right?

So make your side, go out, bring your friends, show that, do this mass demonstration, but also think about what you're doing after and before. Check on your neighbors. Everyone has different capacities and interests and skills and weaknesses.

If you like animals, go volunteer at your local animal shelter. If you want to clean up your neighborhood, then go out and do it. You don't need permission to make the world better.

And I feel like we have been engineered in this country to feel like we're supposed to feel helpless because that's how fascists win and we don't have to.

Taylor Darcy: 00:27:42

Right? Well, and I think, you know, and I've talked with other people about this, and part of it is we got lulled into a sense of security, right?

We thought, and that's what the status quo was doing for us. You know, we were able to deal with, oh, that's just how it's been for so long.

And then we have someone that comes along and is actively trying to break the system.

And in security, cybersecurity, we talk about stress testing because you want to push the security measures that are in place to the point where you're breaking them to find out where the holes are.

And I talk about that because we can either approach it from this doomsday, Trump's going to win type perspective, or we can approach it as it's a stress test that we need to plug the holes in. We need to evaluate what's going right, what's going wrong, and not letting this happen again.

My fear, though, my fear is that we're going to overcorrect on the opposite side of things and it's going to end badly for that part. I don't know what overcorrecting would look like, but I can tell you that it would worry me that we're overcorrecting on that.

Not just the anti fascist side, because I don't think it can be too anti fascist, but I think we could overcorrect and not allow growth and movement and change for the fear of allowing something like someone like Trump to come in and do more. And I think that, you know, we need to find a balance is what.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:29:16

I'm saying, between progression and I necessarily agree with that.

What I want to see in: 2026

Get someone in that's ready with some FDR style governance and actually enact measures that help the American people and say fuck you to corporations and billionaires. Yeah, enough is enough. Half measures are what got us here.

You know, I think that Medicare for all is a necessary stopgap, but it doesn't go far enough. We need universal health care. We need to stop using our tax dollars to benefit so many predatory companies that run away our medical system.

We need to, you shouldn't have to pay, go into debt for dental care or therapy. You should be able to afford your food.

And we should be willing to have measures against price gouging and not be worried about being called filthy commies just because we want people to be able to exist.

It's one of these things where I think I very much worry that concern about overcorrecting when we have already gone so far to the right in terms of where America's center is, that will just go a little bit to the left.

Taylor Darcy: 00:30:57

Sure.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:30:58

And my center is somewhere where everyone can afford housing, groceries and healthcare with money left over to save and spend. And I think we should go all in on it.

Taylor Darcy: 00:31:06

I like that by overcorrecting. I didn't mean that. I didn't mean that we shouldn't go far. I meant that we shouldn't go to the point where I reference.

I teach business law also in addition to practicing. And one of the things I talk about is toxic capitalism.

I referenced the idea that you make as much money as you want to make, except for when that hurts other people, whether it be employees, stakeholders. Fill in the blank.

When it starts hurting people like Walmart has the most welfare recipients in the country because of how little they pay their wages. And that is toxic. Right. We are hurting people for the sake of you making your share price obscenely high or whatever.

You're getting your bonus checks at millions of dollars. And so when we're hurting others, that's when I draw the line. That's when I say, you know what? You don't deserve to have that kind of money.

Money where you're hurting other human Beings, human beings should be at the forefront along with universal healthcare, which it's interesting because the trends have been going in that direction. Thankfully.

It used to be people were anti health universal healthcare because they were propagandized into believing that the healthcare companies had their best interest. When what was it? Was it UnitedHealthcare that made like 16 wasn't trillion, it was like $16 billion.

And to cure cancer it have only have cost like six of it. And theoretically obviously because there's obvious limitations, but this idea that we shouldn't have basic universal income is an interesting idea.

In fact other places and countries that have attempted it have seen a significant increase improvement in the quality of life.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:33:06

Same here in Chicago we have a guaranteed income program. Also I do have to let you know I have to go in five.

Taylor Darcy: 00:33:11

Oh, okay, perfect. Thank you for letting me know. What would you tell people that are on the fence about whether to vote for you versus someone else at this point?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:33:26

Yeah, we have 17 candidates in this primary and so you have a lot of people to choose from. I am the only leading candidate that doesn't take any money from billionaires, from corporate PACs or from Republican funded PACs like AIPAC.

I'm the only leading candidate here who has a track record of fighting and winning against the right.

I have been leading the field in how we should handle authoritarianism, how we should communicate as candidates and how we should be using our resources, sources, pushing other candidates to be their best selves.

Because truly I think if every candidate in this race or every candidate in any race across the country used our approach of reaching voters and materially improving their lives, every election would be a net benefit, win or lose. And not just for democracy's sake.

And I, I think a lot of people, when I first started, I often heard, you know, I love what you're about, but look, you just don't have a shot and win happening, right? We're tied for first now. You can get a progressive populace who doesn't owe anyone anything right now.

Yeah, good things are possible and we don't have to settle. So if you want someone that this government hates that is willing to target because they see me as a threat.

If you want someone who is making a material impact even before election day, not dangling positive change like a carrot till after.

what it's like to be broke in: 2025

If you don't have that lived experience and that diversity of background in our legislature, then it's really hard to create effective legislation for it. So if you want someone like that, vote for me.

Taylor Darcy: 00:35:35

Okay, these are quick questions. Would you vote to impeach Donald Trump?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:35:41

Yes.

Taylor Darcy: 00:35:42

Okay, next question is what brings you hope?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:35:46

My cat heater and also all of our volunteers. They bring in the most incredible energy, the most varied skills I've ever seen.

I've learned so much from everyone on this campaign, and we built something really special with it.

Taylor Darcy: 00:36:03

Awesome. And last, but certainly, certainly not least, how can people learn more or support your campaign?

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:36:12

Oh, right. You can go to my website@katforillino.com that's Kat with a K. We also have a volunteer. Discord. Discord. GG CatForIllinois.

The 9th District of Illinois goes from uptown Chicago up to Evanston, then to Skokie and all the way out to Crystal Lake. So if you know anyone living over there, tell them to check us out, too.

Taylor Darcy: 00:36:31

Great. Thank you so much, Kat. I appreciate your time.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:36:34

Thanks so much. Taylor.

Taylor Darcy: 00:36:35

,: 2026

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:36:47

Thank you.

Taylor Darcy: 00:36:48

Thank.

Kat Abughazaleh: 00:37:06

You.