The race for first Muslim woman in US Congress
SPRINGFIELD, United States: It’s an incongruous sight, a woman in a salmon pink hijab standing on a
- ing at oncoming cars and asking perfect strangers to vote her into Congress.
“Hey how are you? Good to see you!” hollers Tahirah AmatulWadud at a male pedestrian. A few cars beep their horns, the odd driver zaps down his window to say hello. Quite a few drive past, seemingly oblivious.
Amatul- Wadud is a mother of seven, a lawyer, a community activist and a Muslim, who rises
Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, who is running in the Democratic primary for US Congress in Massachusetts’ First District, goes on a door-knocking and voter registration drive in Chicopee, Massachusetts, July 21, 2018. Amatul-Wadud, a mother of seven, a lawyer, a community activist and a Muslim and now aged 44, faces the biggest hurdle of her life: asking a majority white constituency, where Catholics are the biggest religious group, to make her the first Muslim woman elected into Congress. a groundswell of women and high-speed internet, and eschewing progressive Democrats running donations from corporate and for office this year, motivated special interests. at least in part by opposition to Her team claims to have nearly President Donald Trump. 300 volunteers as they build a grassroots She’s one of five candidates campaign, knocking door to door to hear people’s problems.
If she beats Neal, she will repeat the triumph of 28-year-old political novice, Alexandria OcasioCortez, who trounced a Democrat grandee in a New York primary by running a similarly progressive and insurgent ticket. woman in Congress in November mid- term elections — 12 years after Minnesota’s Keith Ellison
House of Representatives.
If she’s successful, she would also become her district’s first in Congress.
Except it’s a long shot. Her opponent in the September 4 Democratic primary is Richard Neal, who has served in Congress since 1989. She has raised a total of $72,000 compared to his reported $3 million.
aged nine, he was the city mayor.
Now she wants his job, championing progressive causes such as Medicare for all, affordable education and wider access to