Born in Illinois to Indian Muslim immigrant parents, Sameena Mustafa has dedicated her life to advocating for women and people of color. After graduating from college, she became a Planned Parenthood clinic manager. Since then, she has taken numerous leadership positions in local organizations including the Chicago Women's Health Center and League of Women Voters Chicago. She also founded the Symposium to Elect Women & People of Color and Hand Her the Mic, an organization dedicated to empowering women of color through comedy workshops, forums, and performance opportunities.

And now, she's ready to serve the people of Illinois' 5th in the House of Representatives. She's challenging incumbent Mike Quigley, a foreign policy hawk, for the Democratic nomination. The district has an ugly history, having previously been represented by Bill Lipinski, father of conservative Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski, Rod Blagojevich, who went on to serve as Governor of Illinois before being impeached and sentenced to 14 years in prison, and Rahm Emanuel, the current Chicago Mayor who shielded the Chicago police department from investigation after the shooting of Laquan McDonald. If elected, Sameena would offer the 5th a new start. Not only would she be their first representative to reject corporate money; she would be the first woman and person of color to represent the district in the House.

Sameena joined us on the podcast to discuss Mike Quigley's hawkishness, her work empowering women and people of color, why we need to abolish ICE, and more.