One morning in late April, I brunched with Kat Abughazaleh, the 26-year-old left-wing internet influencer who’s running for Jan Schakowsky’s seat in Congress. Kat ate dry toast with tea, but I ordered a bagel with lox and Abughazaleh’s campaign manager, Sam Weinberg, dug into a pile of potatoes and eggs.

“Look at y’all,” Abughazaleh said. “Getting real food.”

Abughazaleh’s not from these parts. She grew up in Dallas in a Republican family, attended George Washington University, and worked in D.C. for Media Matters for America, a progressive watchdog group that monitors right-wing outlets. In that role, she built a reputation as a conservative-bashing political commentator. She has appeared on CNN as a spokesperson for Gen Z attitudes, rejecting the notion that the Dems lost the presidential election because they leaned too far left on issues such as transgender rights. Her TikTok account has 233,000 followers.

Profiled in GQ and Rolling Stone, Abughazaleh has become the au courant representative of a restless digital-native generation that wants to challenge what it sees as crusty, compromising Democrats. Her message: They aren’t fighting hard enough to resist Trump. As she asked in a YouTube video announcing her candidacy: “What if we didn’t suck?”

But being a voice on national issues is merely half of what a House member does. The other part is representing constituents. Can Abughazaleh serve the needs of a district in which she has, so far, only been a tourist? She moved here just last summer, joining her partner, who had a business opportunity. She was excited to come to Chicago, she says, “because Fox News hates it.” For now, the couple live in Streeterville, outside the 9th District, which she is running to represent, but Abughazaleh says they’re planning to move to Edgewater or Andersonville soon. She is still getting to know the district by holding town halls.

As someone who resides there, I wanted to find out how well she’d represent us, which is why I asked to meet up with her.

“Before you got here, we were a little nervous because we got some really unhinged emails from one local journalist, and we were like, ‘Oh, wait, it’s not Chicago magazine, it’s the Chicago Reader,’ ” Abughazaleh said. “They were just saying stuff like ‘Go back to Texas.’ ”

“Almost nativist,” added Weinberg.

“I guess that brings me to my first question,” I said. “Why are you here, and why does the 9th District need a new representative?”

“Look, this isn’t a vendetta or anything against Schakowsky,” Abughazaleh said. “I do feel very strongly that we need more competitive primaries, right? My expertise is in fighting the far right and in communication, two things that the Democratic Party is lacking right now. And so I think that voters at least deserve another option, OK? I’m here to give that to them. I think there’s a different way that we can do politics. And so I’m trying to show that on a practical level.”

Only a day later, it would be reported that the 80-year-old Schakowsky, who is in her 14th term, would not seek reelection, though at presstime in early May, she had yet to confirm that. If true, the decision could actually hurt Abughazaleh’s chances in the 2026 race. Her strongest argument against Schakowsky — that the congresswoman is too old to serve effectively — would be less potent against Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss or state Senator Laura Fine, whose names have been floated as potential candidates. Abughazaleh would be a long shot against either.

One thing she has proved, though, is her ability to attract funding. She raised more in the first quarter than Schakowsky did: $379,000. “From all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico,” Weinberg noted proudly. But is that a worthy boast? WTTW reported that almost all of that money came from outside the district Abughazaleh would represent.

“What do you think are the most important issues for the people of the 9th District?” I asked Abughazaleh.

“From everyone I’ve talked to, it’s fighting authoritarianism,” she said. “They care about that and all the things that come with it. Trump has done a spectacular job of making nebulous federal issues hurt at the local level in a way that most presidents don’t manage. I mean, Northwestern, which is one of the biggest employers in the district, just had $790 million of federal funding cut because he’s trying to hold educational institutions hostage. We see the effects of these tariffs. People are hurting financially, and it’s going to get worse. You know, we were at a federal workers’ rally just two weeks ago. People are losing their jobs.”

Fair enough. But one issue on which Abughazaleh might rub 9th District voters wrong is her stance on military aid for Israel. Schakowsky voted for it. Abughazaleh, whose father is Palestinian, would have voted against it. This is a district that contains a large Jewish population and has been represented by a Jew for all but two years since 1949.

“Not voting for sending arms to Israel would not have been because of Judaism or Islam or Palestinians,” Abughazaleh explained to me. “War crimes are unacceptable no matter who commits them under any flag, under any group, and all of those people need to be held accountable.”

To see how much Abughazaleh really knows about her new town, I gave her a short quiz. She was a good sport about it.

“What landmark is at 1060 West Addison Street?” I asked.

“I don’t know addresses.”

“Wrigley Field. What hot dog stand is known for posting provocative messages on its sign?”

“Ooh, tell me.”

“The Wiener’s Circle.”

“My God, I love this.”

Next, I dug into her knowledge of the district. “Evanston was the first city in the U.S. to provide what to its Black community?”

“Reparations.”

“Right. What suburb’s name sounds a lot like the country in Black Panther?”

“It’s spelled W-A-U-C-O-N-D-A, right? They made a big deal about phone calls to their City Hall after the movie came out.”

“Correct. What Wilmette landmark looks like an orange juicer?”

“I don’t know, but I’d love to.”

“The Baha’i temple.”

“It does kind of look like that, you’re right,” said Weinberg.

Two out of five. Not bad for someone who’s lived in Chicago less than a year.

Then Abughazaleh turned the tables.

“Did you grow up here?” she asked me.

“No,” I said, “but I’ve lived here for 30 years.”

“Carpetbagger.”

UPDATE, May 5, 2025: Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky confirmed she would not seek a 15th term next year.