Catching Up With Kat Abughazaleh 🎤

ICE protests, raising $100k via YouTube livestreams, and more

Neighbors,

When we last spoke with twenty-six-year-old journalist, researcher, and TikTok creator Kat Abughazaleh, she was a political newcomer opening her campaign office’s doors for the first time.

Now, the congressional candidate is just three months away from her primary—and she’s currently tied for first place in the polls.

We sat down with Kat at her office (again) to talk about how the Broadview ICE protests became a flashpoint in the race, her reaction to being indicted by the Trump Administration, and how she thinks livestreaming will change campaign finance forever.

You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here. Three standout quotes and observations:

1.

“One thing I hear a lot is, ‘I wasn’t sure about you in the beginning, but either now I support you or I think that you actually believe what you say.’” —Kat Abughazaleh

When we visited Kat’s office in May, we brought questions from potential voters—and there was a significant trust gap. Chicagoans were unsure about someone who not only filed her tax returns as a creator, but also had moved to the city as recently as 2024.

To her credit, Kat embraced the skepticism. “I get seeing me as an outsider…all I ask is watch me,” she said in the spring.

Six months later, the Democratic congressional candidate has become a leading figure at protests outside the Broadview ICE facility—a facility one judge described as “unnecessarily cruel” due to overflowing toilets, crowded cells, and water that “tasted like sewer.” In October, the Trump Administration indicted Kat and five other protestors on one count of conspiracy, along with allegations that she “forcibly impeded, intimidated, and interfered” with an officer (Kat pleaded not guilty, labeling the charges as “political” in nature).

While the indictment grabbed national headlines, Kat thinks her mutual aid work in the community is what's turning more heads locally. Her staff directs resources towards backpack drives, income-accessible events, and a local food bank, setting what she believes can be an example for how campaigns spend the funds they raise.

And with three months to go until the primaries, Kat is tied with Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss for first place in the polls—a marked improvement from her seven-point deficit in June.

2.

“I’d be lying if I said that I wasn't scared of anything that's happened in the last several months. Every time I've been hit in the face with a baton or thrown, tear gassed or pepper balled, I always look at my hands. Because I'm very calm under pressure, but my hands will be shaking.” —Kat Abughazaleh

In May, Kat stated that those without platforms are the first targets of authoritarian regimes, as they're often the ones who go unheard. By this line of thinking, she believed in her responsibility to run for office—and speak up for those who couldn't. “I’m good at getting attention,” she joked back then.

The Independent

Still, even Kat is “shocked” with how aggressively ICE has ramped up its operations in Chicago and beyond. Agents physically clashed with Kat and other political candidates only one month into “Operation Midway Blitz.” And the courts have been struggling to keep up—though one federal judge in Chicago recently ruled that ICE’s practice of arresting people without first obtaining a warrant is illegal.

Facing mounting legal fees, Kat told us she doesn't plan to change her campaign approach. “Everyone has a responsibility if you have any platform or privilege or power,” she says. “You can't just stop using it when it gets inconvenient or scary.”

3.

“You're going to be seeing Hakeem Jeffries playing NBA2K on Twitch soon.” —Kat Abughazaleh

In recent months, Kat has turned to fundraising via YouTube livestreams—and it's working, with her campaign bringing in over $100,000 directly from viewers.

In our interview, she shared her belief that more political candidates will turn to creator tools in the near future, replacing traditional fundraising tactics like “call time” (i.e. calling potential donors for several hours daily). From Kat’s perspective, call time favors candidates with the wealthiest networks; there's only so much time in the day to spend on the phone, and rich donors can (more often than not) swing a race with outsized infusions of cash.

The Abughazaleh campaign, streaming live / YouTube

Enter: streaming. “We had this idea of, ‘What if I did things that I enjoy?’” she told us. “Like playing video games, and talking to friends, and knitting.”

For several hours a week, Kat goes live, setting a four- or five-figure donation goal and streaming until she hits it. While video games and knitting take the foreground, campaign updates naturally bubble up; she's invited on guest creators like Brennan Lee Mulligan and Anthony Fantano to talk politics, too. Kat says chat members haven't just turned into small donors—some even volunteer for the campaign now.

She thinks she found an innovative approach to grassroots politics, reaching voters in spaces they already frequent while simultaneously communicating in a digestible manner. And the House Minority Leader turning up on Twitch? It might not be as far away as you think.

Previously print-exclusive, you can now read our Issue Six profile of Kat online! / Design by Moy Zhong

If you haven't heard, we're releasing the eighth (and final) print edition of Creator Mag on January 31. It's a two hundred-page collector's edition, featuring all seven previous issues rolled into one coffee table book.

Over the next month, we're catching up with three previous featured creators…starting with Kat. You can watch my full conversation with her on YouTube. And subscribe for more—we'll be dropping the next two (re)interviews in January.

On top of that, you can now read my Issue Six profile of Kat on our website! Once you’ve finished it, spend some time poking around, too.¹ Feature stories from our last two magazines (which were previously exclusive to the print) are now available to read online.

We’ll be rolling out even more between now and the next Block Party on January 31, so keep checking back. You never know what you might find.

Thanks for reading! Shoot us a reply, comment, or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—we respond to them all.

1. Don’t mind the intimidating countdown clock.