Inspired by a wave of Progressive women candidates making their way to the US Congress, a Bangladeshi-American woman has launched a campaign to run for the Congressional seat from the state of Georgia.
Nabilah Islam, a Democrat and a community organiser, is a first-generation American and the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants.
“I was raised by a mother who supported us by flipping burgers at Hardees and lifting boxes as an order puller,” Islam said in a statement.
The Georgia seat is currently held by a Republican, who defeated his Democrat rival by just 433 votes in the last election. The narrow margin has energised many democrats as they see it as an opportunity to flip the seat that has been under Republican control for more than two decades.
Islam is running on a highly progressive agenda and has a strong personal story to back it up.
Advocating “Medicare for All”, a demand first pushed by in 2016 by Bernie Sanders and now embraced by many leading contenders in the US Presidential race for 2020, she says: “My mom injured her back lifting at work and lost her job. Medical bills almost bankrupted my family. Georgians deserve a Congresswoman ready to fight for them.”
Demanding a minimum wage of 15 dollars per hour for workers in America, she says: “I’m running because too many people are working too hard for not enough. Georgians are living paycheck to paycheck, while Republicans and Donald Trump pass out tax breaks to big corporations.”
Georgia made history last year when it elected a Bangladeshi-American Muslim, Sheikh Rahman, for the first time for its state senate. If Islam gets elected, she will be the first Bangladeshi-American in the US Congress.
Her immediate goal would be to secure the Democratic nomination where she faces the toughest challenge from last year’s Democrat candidate Carolyn Bourdeaux who lost by just 433 votes to her Republican rival. She is running again and so is at least one other Democrat.
Islam graduated from the Georgia State University and has been actively involved with Democratic campaigns. She served as campaign manager for Atlanta City Councilman Andre Dickens, president of the Gwinnett County Young Democrats and southern states coordinator deputy finance director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign
Georgia has been a strongly Republican state but with changing demographics, Democrats are making rapid inroads into local legislative and administrative bodies. What could also help Islam’s candidacy is the rise of the Progressives and ultra-left within the Democratic party who have challenged the status quo and the party’s establishment.
