Hi John,

This year changed me.

I started 2025 with a good tech job. My work on the Skokie school board was the most fulfilling thing I’d ever done. Helping students. Supporting families. Showing up for my neighbors.

Then Trump was sworn in. Agencies eliminated. Education is gutted. Tariffs that drove prices up overnight and pushed families to the brink. ICE kidnapping my neighbors.

I was volunteering. Organizing. Doing what I could to resist. But I couldn’t shake the thought: I can do more. No, I have to do more.

When Rep.Jan Schakowsky announced her retirement, I didn’t see a “career move.” I saw a responsibility. Washington has been shaped for too long by politicians who answer to corporations and special interests instead of the people who have to live with the consequences of their actions.

So I took the leap.



In June, I started crisscrossing Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, listening to the concerns of my neighbors at kitchen tables, in community centers, heck even garages. As the campaign went on, I was genuinely overwhelmed by what began to happen.

Word spread. People showed up. Our campaign quickly became one of the top-funded in the race because of thousands of small dollar donors. Hundreds of volunteers signed up. Events filled. I quit my job to focus on this campaign full-time. And before long, the momentum started to snowball in a way that reminded me: this isn’t about me. It’s about a community deciding to stand up together.

As I look ahead to 2026, I am deeply concerned about outside groups like AIPAC who are trying to buy this seat. Our community deserves their next representative to be one that represents their interests, not billionaire donors or corporations.

But I am carrying that reminder of what a community can achieve when it stands together forward into the new year. That’s why I am asking if you can chip in $25, $10, or whatever you can spare before the FEC deadline tonight at midnight to help take our movement to Congress?

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If you can, make a donation of any amount. It truly makes a difference.

Thank you for believing in this work, and for standing with me.

With gratitude,

Bushra Amiwala

Democrat for IL-9

Mail checks to:

Bushra for Congress

PO Box 911

Skokie, IL 60076