Nabilah Islam, a Democratic Candidate for Georgia Congressional District 7, is affected directly by both coronavirus (COVID-19) and the lack of medical healthcare. She must suspend her grassroots door to door canvassing. It is a headwind that puts poor and middle-class America as potential candidates for political offices and much more.
Nabilah Islam speaks
The coronavirus is just another headwind that puts poor and middle-class America as potential candidates for political offices and much more at a major disadvantage.
Nabila Islam works on a small budget mostly from small contributors. She has been dependent on grassroots action, door to door canvassing and other flesh to flesh communication with her constituents. Reaching many will be more difficult. Wealthy candidates can always saturate their messages by mail, email, TV advertising, and online advertising.
Nabilah is proactive. She wrote an op-ed pointing out the issue and filed with the FEC for regulatory relief.
I love campaigning, but in the back of my mind there’s always the fear that I’ll catch the flu and need antibiotics. Getting sick is always a pain — but I’m also running for Congress, and I have no health insurance.
Here’s why: the federal government doesn’t let candidates spend our campaign funds on health insurance. Since many candidates quit their jobs to campaign full-time (myself included), the Federal Election Commission assumes we can pay for health care out of pocket — using savings or trust funds to pay thousands in insurance premiums.
But I was raised by working-class Bangladeshi immigrants who lived paycheck to paycheck. I’m 30 years old, have nearly $30,000 in student loans, and my savings are dwindling down to zero. So for the first time in history, I’m asking the federal government to let me spend campaign funds on health care — because working women need health care to run for office.
This the type of forward-looking thinking we want in our candidates. Support Nabilah at nabilahforcongress.com.