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Rashida Tlaib announces candidacy for Congress

Former Michigan Legislator Rashida Tlaib announced this week that she is running for Congress in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. Michigan’s Democratic Primary election is on August 7, 2018.

Rashida Tlaib is a longtime resident of Detroit and the child of Palestinian immigrants. Rashida is a former Michigan State Representative where she served three terms and was appointed as the democratic vice chairwoman of the Appropriation Committee. Rashida made history by becoming the first female Muslim elected to the Michigan Legislature, and only second in the country.

While in the Michigan House, she has worked on more than 30 bills combatting poverty, increasing access to human services, protecting our public health and environment, and promoting public safety and consumer protection. She is an attorney and practiced immigration law before she began her policy advocacy career.

Rashida received her bachelor’s from Wayne State University in 1998 and juris doctorate from Thomas Cooley Law School. Rashida worked at a number of nonprofit organizations, including the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) and the International Institute of Metro Detroit, where she advocated for better access to human services, education, immigrant and civil rights.

Although all her advocacy work is significant, Rashida’s most important accomplishment has been establishing a neighborhood service center, which has more than twelve different programs offered to low-income families and those who need help the most. The Mary Turner Center for Advocacy continues to serve thousands of the families she represented.

Most recently, Rashida joined the Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice, a national advocacy organization fighting for human rights on behalf of working families. With the belief that everyone, not just the wealthy and privileged, deserves access to opportunity and a better quality of life, Rashida Tlaib has dedicated her life to amplifying the concerns of the marginalized in Detroit, and across the state and country.

Rashida has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Role Model Award from Alternatives for Girls, After School Champion national award, CAIR Michigan’s Empowering Muslims Award, Clean Water Action’s Clean Water Hero award, recognized as one of Crain’s Detroit Business Women to Watch and featured in PBS’ Makers Documentary on Women in Politics. I am included in Family Circle magazine’s 20 Most Influential Moms of 2016, and was included in New York Magazine’s list of Democratic leaders as the “next Obama.”

Here is her candidacy announcement:

Serving in the U.S. Congress is about much more than voting on bills. It’s about taking on corporate bullies and bigoted politicians and having the courage to speak out, even when it’s unpopular. It’s about you.

That’s why I’m running for U.S. Congress to serve you, your family, and your neighbors like only I know how, guided by unwavering principles of justice and fairness. Being the eldest of 14 children, growing up in Detroit during tough times, and working as a public interest lawyer have made me the strong, hard-working woman I am today. I don’t back down when someone is harmed or needs the government to work for them. Whether it was standing up to Trump’s hate at the Detroit Economic Club or winning fights with the Koch Brothers over storing toxic waste on our riverfront, I put myself on the line to put people first.

The difference is simple: you get a lot more with me in Congress. You will never wonder where I stand on an issue or if I am going to show up when needed. I will be there, side by side with you, as we fight back against Trump and his thugs and their un-American agenda that puts the interests of the rich over the interests of the people who make up the backbone of this country.

So, let’s do this… together. In the coming weeks we will implement the most aggressive grassroots campaign plan Michigan has ever seen, and we need your financial support now.

Please make a donation today and help send a progressive warrior to Washington. Your donations have fueled me to victory before, and it’s time to do it again.

I hope you will join me on this new journey to the U.S. Congress so that we can roll up our sleeves together and make government work for all of us. I’ll bring the bullhorn.

Click here for her Facebook Page.

Click here for her website.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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