{"id":65332,"date":"2018-01-16T15:40:21","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T21:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=65332"},"modified":"2018-01-23T16:18:23","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T22:18:23","slug":"first-time-female-congressional-candidate-hoping-to-challenge-the-status-quo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/first-time-female-congressional-candidate-hoping-to-challenge-the-status-quo\/","title":{"rendered":"First-time female Congressional candidate hoping to challenge the status quo"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Caroline Tanner<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

CHICAGO \u2013 \u201cEven now, I talk to women my age and they\u2019re still looking for permission,\u201d said Democratic political hopeful Sameena Mustafa. \u201cI think that we\u2019re in a moment where it\u2019s clear that we\u2019re not going to get permission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than waiting to be told, Mustafa, a former real estate broker, is using Donald Trump’s election as the inspiration she needed to quit her job in favor of political pursuits — to run as a Democrat for Illinois\u2019 5th congressional district.<\/p>\n

As an Indian-American woman, she represents a new face vying for a seat that has long been held by powerful white men, including former Governor Rod Blagojevich, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and now incumbent Mike Quigley<\/a>, who has held the seat since 2009.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It’s a long shot to say the least, for a first-time candidate trying for a high-profile seat that has long been held by an incumbent and that has never been held by a woman. <\/p>\n

Democrats typically win the district on Chicago’s Northwest Side and surrounding suburbs, so the March primary is the big test for Mustafa and other Democratic candidates. Without support from the Democratic Party of Illinois and Chicago’s Democratic Machine, it would be considered nearly impossible for Mustafa to beat incumbent Quigley in the primary. <\/p>\n

But she decided to run anyway, putting her real estate career on hold, hoping to push the Democratic Party to be more inclusive of marginalized communities, particularly women of color.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually see something really powerful happening with women who are a little bit younger than me, they look at what happened with the 2016 election and they want to be a part of the change and not just accept it and be upset about it,\u201d said Mustafa.<\/p>\n

Since she says she was told that she couldn\u2019t succeed professionally as a woman, she wants to inspire fellow women to push through similar resistance they may face.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to have agency to act in such a way that we can create our own forums, create our own power and really create a coalition that can\u2019t be ignored,\u201d said Mustafa.<\/p>\n

Mustafa grew up in the Chicago neighborhood of Edgebrook and has lived in the North Center neighborhood for 30 years. Her parents, both former City of Chicago employees, have lived in Edgebrook, what she calls an \u201cidyllic\u201d neighborhood, since immigrating to the U.S. from India in the 1970s. Her mother, a retired pediatrician, worked for the Chicago Department of Public Health, spending most of her career at a clinic in Uptown. As an employee in the Public Works department, her father worked on modernization projects for both O\u2019Hare and Midway airports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey actually wanted me to be a doctor as most parents do, that is what they really would\u2019ve liked,\u201d joked Mustafa. \u201cThey wanted me to play it safe and have a stable career.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Mustafa considered medical school, she ultimately chose to study philosophy at Northwestern University after graduating from Regina Dominican College Preparatory High School<\/a>, an all-girls, Catholic high school in Wilmette.<\/p>\n

As a student at Northwestern, Mustafa was politically active, participating in the women’s coalition and her collegiate Amnesty International chapter. In those days, she notes, the organizations were relatively small.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 1990s, people did not protest anything,\u201d recalled Mustafa. \u201cThey were just not as engaged in the political realm, it was a different time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mustafa is glad to see that now, things have changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually see something really powerful happening with women, they see the injustice and they want to fight it,\u201d said Mustafa. \u201cThey look at what happened with the 2016 election and they want to be a part of the change and not just accept it and be upset about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of campaigning, Mustafa loves to travel and cook with her husband, Tahla F. Basit, who works at a software technology startup. The two were introduced through a mutual friend.<\/p>\n

When asked what Basit thinks makes his wife most qualified as a candidate, he pointed to her \u201cinexhaustible energy and ability to connect with multiple kinds of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s something that\u2019s really needed right now,\u201d said Basit. \u201cPeople who can understand what the issues are and connect with disparaged constituencies and rally for those folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mustafa\u2019s campaign for the 5th district represents the candidate\u2019s first attempt to enter politics, after a career spent in marketing and real estate, most recently as a broker at Bradford Allen. She left that position in September, after seven years, to officially declare her candidacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had always been thinking that someone else was going to take up the mantle and lead the party in the right direction,\u201d said Mustafa. \u201cThat hasn\u2019t happened in my lifetime, so I can\u2019t wait for someone else to do it, it\u2019s up to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mustafa considers her first job after college at a West Side Planned Parenthood clinic to be the most relevant to her campaign. She\u2019s also served on various boards, including the Chicago Women\u2019s Health Center, Chicago Public Media and The Chicago Community Trust. Beyond professional pursuits, Mustafa has a thing for comedy — she founded Hand Her the Mic, designed to empower women of color through comedy; and co-founded Simmer Brown, a diverse comedy troupe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw there were very few women of color on stage and I thought, how do I empower them so they can get on stage and be heard,\u201d said Mustafa. \u201cHow do I make them feel confident that they can be on stage?\u201d<\/p>\n

As a comedian Mustafa focused her sketches on addressing social justice issues, including discrimination, politics, gender and race.
\nSimilarly, Mustafa is using her candidate platform to focus on economic justice, human rights and political reform.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s advocating for increased access to health care, specifically Medicaid for all, and wants to \u201cthink big and bigger than\u201d Obamacare.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of people who are obviously concerned about health care because it is now hanging in the balance,\u201d said Mustafa.<\/p>\n

As for political reform, she\u2019s focusing on voter suppression and campaign finance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole concept of voter suppression is something that people think only happens in red states,\u201d said Mustafa. \u201cBut it happens here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mustafa thinks the electoral system has been particularly corrupted by Citizens United v. FEC<\/a>, the landmark 2010 Supreme Court case that ruled limits on campaign donations unconstitutional, by defining it as a free speech issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we have a system where money can come into campaigns unfettered and unchecked,\u201d said Mustafa. \u201cIt begs the question when you look at candidates on both sides where their money comes from, and then you ask the candidates who they represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mustafa credits Trump’s victory as her inspiration to quit her job and run for political office. Photo courtesy of Sameena Mustafa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since officially declaring as a candidate for Congress in mid-August, the Committee to Elect Sameena Mustafa has grown to approximately 60 people, mostly volunteers. Their main focus right now is continuing to get her name out and fundraising.<\/p>\n

To help with fundraising, her team asked the Illinois Democratic Party for a database of constituents, an important tool that allows candidates to contact potential supporters. According to Mustafa, the Illinois Democratic Party denied their initial request. They appealed and received a less detailed version of registered voter information.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe policy is that we don\u2019t provide the database to people who are running against active incumbents,\u201d said Illinois Democratic Party spokesman Steve Brown. \u201cWe do give them the contact info for the vendor, but not all the different political data or helpful hints that you could find in databases.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey make it very difficult for normal people like Sameena to even run for political office,\u201d said Monique Rooker, Mustafa\u2019s communications director. \u201cYou\u2019re not anointed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown also noted that such policy is not uncommon for national political parties.<\/p>\n

To get on the ballot, Mustafa needed to collect signatures on petitions equal to 5 percent of the total number of 5th district voters who voted in the last general election. Opponents can challenge the validity of signatures to get some thrown out. At the December 4 deadline<\/a>, the last day to file nomination papers for established political party candidates, Mustafa turned in 3,456 signatures, more than triple the 1,150 signatures required.<\/p>\n

Rooker, who previously worked as a field director for the 2008 Obama campaign, said the team expects the signatures on Mustafa’s petitions to be challenged, so they collected more signatures than necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole process of throwing signatures out, this happens a lot to first-time candidates,\u201d said Mustafa. \u201cEven though we should have choices on the ballot, that\u2019s not how the system works behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 7, 2009, Quigley won the 5th congressional seat via a special election<\/a> after now-Mayor Rahm Emanuel resigned from the House of Representatives to serve as the White House Chief of Staff under then-President-elect, Barack Obama. Quigley defeated Republican nominee Rosanna Pulido. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been out talking to voters and there\u2019s a lot of people that are open to having a choice since they haven\u2019t had one since 2009,\u201d said Mustafa. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a lot of momentum from first-time candidates challenging establishment politicians, so I think there\u2019s actually a real opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mustafa hopes to encourage fellow women and first-time candidates who have considered running in the past, but hesitated out of fear that it was something they couldn\u2019t do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people think about someone running, they\u2019re always like, oh someone else is gonna do it,\u201d said Mustafa.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to have women and minorities in office, but their policies and politics matter as much or more than their identity, according to Nathan Ryan of Grassroots Illinois Action, an independent electoral group in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen and people of color do bring unique experiences that add a lot of value to our democracy, that makes it more vibrant,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cWe should have those people in office and then they should be responsive to the values of the communities. But it\u2019s not just that it\u2019s a woman in office — it\u2019s a woman that\u2019s going to stand up on women\u2019s issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: First-time candidate Sameena Mustafa is running as a Democrat for Illinois\u2019 5th congressional district, hoping to oust incumbent Mike Quigley. (Photo courtesy of Sameena Mustafa.)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Caroline Tanner Medill Reports CHICAGO \u2013 \u201cEven now, I talk to women my age and they\u2019re still looking for permission,\u201d said Democratic political hopeful Sameena Mustafa. \u201cI think that we\u2019re in a moment where it\u2019s clear that we\u2019re not going to get permission.\u201d Rather than waiting to be told, Mustafa, a former real estate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":416,"featured_media":65338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2952,3987],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-65332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-winter-2018","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst-time female Congressional candidate hoping to challenge the status quo - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/first-time-female-congressional-candidate-hoping-to-challenge-the-status-quo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First-time female Congressional candidate hoping to challenge the status quo - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Caroline Tanner Medill Reports CHICAGO \u2013 \u201cEven now, I talk to women my age and they\u2019re still looking for permission,\u201d said Democratic political hopeful Sameena Mustafa. \u201cI think that we\u2019re in a moment where it\u2019s clear that we\u2019re not going to get permission.\u201d Rather than waiting to be told, Mustafa, a former real estate […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/first-time-female-congressional-candidate-hoping-to-challenge-the-status-quo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-16T21:40:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-23T22:18:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/01\/Headshot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"carolinetanner2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"carolinetanner2018\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/first-time-female-congressional-candidate-hoping-to-challenge-the-status-quo\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/first-time-female-congressional-candidate-hoping-to-challenge-the-status-quo\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"carolinetanner2018\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3451e07541fc3c1441b56ba3b489f3b8\"},\"headline\":\"First-time female Congressional candidate hoping to challenge the status quo\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-16T21:40:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-23T22:18:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/first-time-female-congressional-candidate-hoping-to-challenge-the-status-quo\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1758,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/first-time-female-congressional-candidate-hoping-to-challenge-the-status-quo\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/s3.amazonaws.com\\\/medill.wordpress.offload\\\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/Headshot.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"promo\"],\"articleSection\":[\"politics\",\"Winter 2018\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/first-time-female-congressional-candidate-hoping-to-challenge-the-status-quo\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/first-time-female-congressional-candidate-hoping-to-challenge-the-status-quo\\\/\",\"name\":\"First-time female Congressional candidate hoping to challenge the status quo - 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