 Hi, folks. I'm here with Nabila Islam. She is a politician running in the state of Georgia, and she is here to talk about her campaign. Nabila, where are you running in particular? I know you were formerly running for Congress. Where are you running now? Sure. So I ran for the 7th congressional district, which is in Gwinnett County. So it's Metro Atlanta. See suburbs north of Atlanta. And now I'm running for Georgia's state Senate District 7, which is the same number. And it is within the district as well. So it's actually part of, it's the most diverse state Senate district in the state. So it's about, you know, 22% Asian, 21% Black. It's about 18%, 19% Hispanic. And so, yeah, it's a pretty great diverse community. And I've been running for the seats since January 4th. Oh, wow. So basically, same location, just different office, which is what you're running for now. So talk to your campaign. You formerly ran for Congress. Now you're running for a state Senate. Tell us about your decision to kind of change office and why you're still committed to running because I know that running for any elected office is no easy task. It's got to be draining. So what kind of kept you going when a lot of people feel as if they're drained myself included from politics? What kind of keeps you motivated overall? It is draining, but rewarding, right? And it needs to be done, right? And if you don't do it, then some other people that don't have the best interest at heart will, right? And those are the people that will end up representing you. You know, I've been working in politics for the last 10 years now in the trenches trying to help Democrats in Georgia get elected. We've been underneath the thumb of Republican leadership for the majority of my life. And so I've been just been fighting this whole time. So as a Southern Democrat, I know what it's like to lose. And I get back up every single time because you have to, your community is counting on you. And, you know, I did run for Congress in the last cycle, and I was very proud of the campaign that we had put together. You know, I often told people, my campaign isn't unique. It's just, you know, our stories are just, they're never usually told at that level. And I'm still running for those same reasons now for a state Senate seat that opened up where I live. So after redistricting, Republicans just moved everything around. And you have to live in your district for at least a year before you can run. And so what they strategically did was they dropped the maps right after the year deadline. So you can't move into a new district. You have to live in the district that the maps said you were in in order to run. And so I happened to live in this open state Senate seat, which is newly created. It's never had any representation. There's no incumbent. And it's my home. And I wanted to represent this community in the state legislature. As you can see, state legislatures are dominating the national conversation when it comes to abortion rights, when it comes to voting rights, we are, you know, we are, we're the ones that are leading the conversation. And we're on the, we're on the ground right now, affecting people's lives locally. And so that's why I'm really passionate about this race and excited for this state Senate campaign, because I'll be able to be more on the ground that I was before. But it's still, I still care about federal issues. They go, they go, they all go hand in hand. Yeah, I'm really glad that you said that because a lot of people kind of just look towards Congress as like the ideal vehicle for the left to kind of pursue change. But as you said, these state legislatures being dominated by Republicans, you know, they kind of just get ignored by the broader or the national left. So I think it's important that we have people who are organizing and running for their state Senate's and state houses and legislatures in general, because this is incredibly important. And your state in particular, you know, it seems as if things were starting to change. Biden won that state. You had two state senators that are Democrats get elected. But then we saw what was being called Jim Crow 2.0, just absolutely brutal voter suppression. Can you talk through voter suppression in Georgia and how that's affected your race in particular? Because I know that this is something that a lot of people are like George is basically where everyone is focused with regard to voter suppression. But explain really how this affects your campaign. Absolutely. So Georgia has been ground zero when it comes to voter suppression. Republicans did not appreciate Georgia flipping blue during the 2020 election. And, you know, Donald Trump tried to multiple times tell us the votes weren't real. And the recount was was correct. And this is a blue school. It turned blue in 2020. And, and they were very upset when they lost both of those US Senate seats, you know, they've been in power for so long. So what they did was they, like I said, at state legislatures, they went in, they changed the rules of the game. And they're making it harder for people to register to vote for people to vote via absentee for people to vote during early voting. And what's happening is they're shortening the time. Okay, it was already like, you know, to vote in the first place can be a hassle. There aren't there are enough early voting locations, the absentee ballots don't get mailed to you on time. Now it's that much harder. They're shortening the time they're making you have certain like making sure that you have ID in order to mail your absentee ballot. And you have your license number on there. They're also taking over election boards. So they they're passing laws where they can unilaterally come in and, you know, change, for example, in Spalding County, Georgia, it was a predominantly black Democratic election board. After they passed one law in Atlanta at the Capitol, they were able to restructure that board where it's predominantly white and Republican. And they were able to cancel Sunday voting. And that is a day that predominantly African American people go to vote after, you know, social polls. So there are many nefarious things afoot that that's happening right now. And I'm actually curious to see what the primary election is going to look like, because last time around, on the first day of early voting, there was a nine hour line was a nine hour line of people trying to go vote. And that that's because we didn't have enough early voting locations, we didn't have enough machines. And that was by design. And they were in in, you know, predominantly black and brown areas in the county. And it's, it's, it's really, it's really difficult and sad to see this happen. And we just had to double down our efforts and fight back. And if anything, I will say, it has deepened our commitment to making sure that we can exercise our right to vote. Because the more that you tell us no, the harder we're going to punch back. Yeah, that's encouraging, because you could see how somebody would feel so discouraged because it just seems like a battle that, you know, you lose again and again, and it gets worse and worse. But to see it kind of ignite the fire, that really is, that's encouraging to see it's astonishing to think of waiting in line for nine hours. I live in Oregon. So we get our ballots mailed to us. It's very easy. I take my time filling it out. So this idea of waiting in line just in general to me is just unacceptable just because, you know, this is all that I've known. But to wait in line for nine hours, it's just that that is by design. As you said, they don't want black and brown people to vote. This is voter suppression. So I'm curious, you know, the state issues are going to be very unique. And you mentioned the primary, you're currently running in the Democratic Party primary. What specific issues are really galvanizing voters? What state issues in particular, what are you running on? What's kind of like your focus if you are elected? Because odds are, or I shouldn't say that, but it's likely that, you know, you would be in minority control as a Democrat in the state legislature. But what would you really focus on? Healthcare expansion. So Medicaid expansion. We are one of 14 states that have yet to expand Medicaid, even though there are Republican states that have expanded Medicaid, that means about over half a million people are in that app where the most vulnerable aren't able to get healthcare that they need. And so we are, you know, our governor right now is trying to pass his own, you know, Medicaid program in Georgia where he's included a work requirement that has been struck down by the federal government. And he's fighting back to include that. It's more expensive. It covers less people. And he's including a work and work requirement. So he's basically saying that if you don't work at a certain number of hours, you don't deserve healthcare. I believe that healthcare isn't human rights. I believe that every person should be able to have, you know, healthcare in this country with the only industrialized country, developed country in the entire world that doesn't have some basic form of healthcare. And it's absolutely ridiculous that we aren't able to do that correctly in America and in Georgia. So that's one of my focuses, Medicaid expansion, also public schools. We spend about half of our budget, the state legislature budget, on our public education. That being said, the way that we've gone about funding our public schools have been atrocious. There's a portion of our funding that relies on property taxes. And because of that, your zip code should never affect the quality of our education, not in America, not in the richest country in the world. I keep saying richest country in the world because some of these problems are just, they shouldn't be the way that they are, but it's just great why they are that way. And so making sure our schools are actually fully funded, making sure our classroom sizes are small, that we have, our teachers are being paid competitive salaries. You know, every election year, you know, Governor Kemp actually, when he ran, said that he was going to increase teacher salaries. And he didn't do that. Well, he did half of that. And now he's saying, well, I'm going to do another pay raise. Now that's an election year. Teachers are being underpaid. And we're losing our work force for teachers. So that's something that I'm passionate about. And want to make sure that the public education that I got going to Gwinnett County Public Schools is something that the generations now and after me will be able to have as well. So and then there's a lot of issues that I care about it. But another, I'll give you my top three. The third one is affordable housing. So I live in the second largest county in the entire state. And for the longest time, it has been a red county. It has been predominantly where the most diverse county in the southeast, the fourth most diverse county in America, that might have changed. It might be like fifth or sixth now, but top five. And with that being said, our leadership was never looked like the community and they never wanted to talk about affordable housing, right? Because that would mean we would have to figure out how to house our diverse workforce, our teachers, our librarians, our firefighters, people that were our county employees, just folks that are making under $50,000. And they can't live here, which is ridiculous. This is the suburbs. This is where people came to live because you could buy a house here. And now everyone is being priced out. About a third of our population can't afford a starter home. And that also has to do with, you know, wages being stagnant, student debt. And so the average age of a person in Gwinnett is 34. So I'm 32. It's the millennial generation. And it is getting harder to buy a house. We can't find like an average house here in Gwinnett is like, I don't know what it's like in Oregon, but it's like 350. So when my parents moved here, about 25 years ago, the last house we lived in, they bought it for like $140,000. And, but you can't find any houses under $200,000. And, you know, so people are, they might be able to work here, but they can't live here. And so these are some things that I would like to help solve at the state level. And I know we can do that. We just need to actually be committed to solving issues instead of playing politics with people's lives. Yeah, yeah, exactly. The Medicaid expansion is really just the perfect, I think, example of playing politics with people's lives. It's an easy win for the governor. But because it's, you know, part of the Affordable Care Act, you can't give Obamacare a win. Therefore, you just deny healthcare. It's truly insane to me and cruel. So I want to talk a big picture, because you are one of the people who are doing the Lord's work in the South in these deep red states, or formerly deep red state, right? And so talk about the dynamic because Georgia, it feels as if it's becoming a blue state. I mean, it was blue in 2020. So what do you think really was the catalyst for that change? Was it simply demographic changes? Do you think that it was really get out the vote campaigns? What is driving change in Georgia? I'd like to think that, you know, it's dissatisfaction with the Republican state leadership, because they've been a catastrophe, but in your opinion, why does it seem like there's been this political awakening in Georgia? I would say for so long, we have never been invited to the table, right? And so that's one of the reasons I got involved in politics was, like I mentioned, despite growing up in one of the most diverse counties, I never saw anyone that looked like me in a position of power. And what the, the Republicans actually had a missed opportunity where they could have brought us brought minorities, people that are usually at the table to the table, but they didn't, they saw our diversity as a challenge, rather than an opportunity. And with my generation, you know, millennials growing up with the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, you know, I've established voting habits, you receive within the Asian community, you're seeing that within the Hispanic community, we are getting more and more involved. And so I think it's a generational thing. I think it's also, yes, demographics shifting. We're now, we're now technically, I think 49% minority majority, but I don't believe that the census was done correctly, because that was, you know, done under the Trump administration, they were trying to do it in such a way that it was not accurate. So I actually think we are majority minority state. So yeah, we are, for the first time, they're starting to see ourselves, right, and our elected officials. And now we want to have a voice and be a part of the system that dictates our lives. Yeah, yeah, that's beautifully put. So Nabila, let us know what we can do to help you. First of all, let me give a shout out to good politic guy who is working for your campaign and, you know, set up this interview. Really appreciate that. But if you are in your area, or even if you're across the country, how can we make sure that you get elected? Yes, so you can go to my website and there's two things you can do. You can make a small date donation, $10, $15, whatever you can do. It's NabilaIslam.com, my personal last name. And then you can also sign up to volunteer. So people can phone bank virtually. If you're physically in Georgia, you can help us Canvas. We're going to have an aggressive canvassing program. Make sure we knock on all the doors in this district. And then you can also follow me on Twitter. I'm very active there. It's at Nabila for GA07. It's still my old handle from 7th congressional district, because it's the same number for the state senate seat. So, but yeah. Talk through real quick before we go. When is the primary date and when are the registration deadlines? Sure. Ooh, registration deadlines. I don't know. It's sometime in April. I should know that specifically. I'll put it up on the screen right now. Yes. And then the primary election date is May 24. May 24. Okay. It's right around the corner. So we have a short runway, but we're confident that we can win this race. We have the support. I have a lot of people supporting me from last time. We've got a lot of strong endorsements in the community. And we're going to start knocking on a bunch of doors and make sure that everyone learns about our progressive campaign and why, you know, we need to elect more leaders that are going to fight for a community and not just be a Democrat that goes along to get along. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's not, it's not like if anyone can do this, I feel like you can do it. You already ran a campaign before. And I feel like based on all of the interviews that I've had with congressional candidates, they say once you run once, you have so much more knowledge and insight that was so, you know, crucial that first time. And so I feel like if anyone can pull this off, it's you. So we will be rooting for you and following your campaign. Nabila, thank you so much for coming on the program. Absolutely. Thank you for having me.