CHICAGO — A progressive social media influencer announced a run for Congress on Monday in the Chicago-area district held by Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky, citing frustration with Democratic Party leadership.

“I don't think the Democratic Party right now is doing enough. [Sen.] Chuck Schumer backing down on the funding bill was just disgusting, frankly, and we can't keep going that way,” Kat Abughazaleh, who announced her run on the Bluesky social network, said in an interview.

Schakowsky, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has represented the area for decades. The Illinois Democrat, who is 80, has yet to announce whether she’ll seek reelection.

Abughazaleh covered the Democratic National Convention as a social media influencer and before that worked at the liberal watchdog group Media Matters For America.

She gained fame on TikTok for her biting political humor, and her videos were published by the liberal magazine Mother Jones, where she critiqued Fox News for how it covered then-Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential run.

Abughazaleh's move into Illinois politics comes amid widespread frustration with the party among progressive Democrats. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has recently encouraged progressives to run as independent candidates and ditch the unpopular Democratic label.

Abughazaleh moved to the Chicago area in July but voted in the 2024 election in Washington, D.C., because her lease wasn’t yet up, she told POLITICO. She said she registered to vote in Illinois last month and currently lives outside the district but plans to move into the district “soon.”

“The district itself is really, really, really cool, and I think that it deserves more options for representation,” Abughazaleh told POLITICO. “Since 1998, there hasn't been a competitive primary. I was born in 1999. So I think a huge problem with why we're in this mess — with rising fascism, with ineffective Democrats — is just because we aren't giving voters more options. There's not enough diversity of thoughts or how we can change the establishment.”

Schakowsky recently said that she’s mulling her next move, saying she’s still “ready to fight” but acknowledges age is a factor in her deliberations.

"Take out the word progressive, and let’s talk about what we mean,” Schakowsky said. “We talk about it as if you have to be a progressive to be for these kinds of things that help people. We have to be better at talking about them.”

Schakowsky was first elected to the 9th Congressional District in 1998, after serving eight years in the Illinois General Assembly. In her primary that year, she defeated then-businessperson JB Pritzker, who went on to become the state’s governor in 2019.

Should Schakowsky not seek reelection, a number of notable Illinois Democrats would likely be interested in the seat, including state Sen. Laura Fine and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, who both represent constituents in the district.

Former U.S. Rep. Mia Love of Utah, a daughter of Haitian immigrants who became the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, died Sunday.

She was 49.

Love’s family posted news of her death on Love’s X account.

She had undergone recent treatment for brain cancer and received immunotherapy as part of a clinical trial at Duke University’s brain tumor center. Her daughter said earlier this month that the former lawmaker was no longer responding to treatment.

Love died at her home in Saratoga Springs, Utah, according to a statement posted by the family.

“With grateful hearts filled to overflowing for the profound influence of Mia on our lives, we want you to know that she passed away peacefully,” her family said. “We are thankful for the many good wishes, prayers and condolences.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox referred to Love as a “true friend” and said her legacy of service inspired all who knew her.

Love entered politics in 2003 after winning a seat on the city council in Saratoga Springs, a growing community about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City. She later became the city’s mayor.

In 2012, Love narrowly lost a bid for the House against the Democratic incumbent, former Rep. Jim Matheson, in a district that covers a string of Salt Lake City suburbs. She ran again two years later and defeated first-time candidate Doug Owens by about 7,500 votes.

Love didn’t emphasize her race during her campaigns, but she acknowledged the significance of her election after her 2014 victory. She said her win defied naysayers who had suggested that a Black, Republican, Mormon woman couldn’t win a congressional seat in overwhelmingly white Utah.

She was briefly considered a rising star within the GOP and she kept her distance from Donald Trump, who was unpopular with many Utah voters, while he was running for president ahead of the 2016 election.

In an op-ed published earlier this month in the Deseret News, Love described the version of America she grew up loving and shared her enduring wish for the nation to become less divisive. She thanked her medical team and every person who had prayed for her.

Love said her parents immigrated to the U.S. with $10 in their pocket and a belief that hard work would lead to success. She said she was raised to believe passionately in the American dream and “to love this country, warts and all.” America at its roots is respectful, resilient, giving and grounded in gritty determination, she said.

Her career in politics exposed Love to America’s ugly side, but she said it also gave her a front row seat to be inspired by people’s hope and courage. She shared her wish for neighbors to come together and focus on their similarities rather than their differences.

“Some have forgotten the math of America — whenever you divide you diminish,” Love wrote.

She urged elected officials to lead with compassion and communicate honestly with their constituents.

“In the end, I hope that my life will have mattered and made a difference for the nation I love and the family and friends I adore,” Love wrote. “I hope you will see the America I know in the years ahead, that you will hear my words in the whisper of the wind of freedom and feel my presence in the flame of the enduring principles of liberty. My living wish and fervent prayer for you and for this nation is that the America I have known is the America you fight to preserve.”

In 2016, facing reelection and following the release of a 2005 recording in which Trump made lewd comments about groping women, Love skipped the Republican National Convention and released a statement saying definitively that she would not vote for Trump. She instead endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the GOP race, but he dropped out months later.

While seeking a third term in 2018, Love tried to separate herself from Trump on trade and immigration while still backing her party’s positions on tax cuts. Despite Republican voters outnumbering Democrats by a nearly three-to-one margin in her district, though, she lost by fewer than 700 votes to Democrat Ben McAdams, a former mayor of Salt Lake City.

Trump called out Love by name in a news conference the morning after she lost, where he also bashed other Republicans who didn’t fully embrace him.

“Mia Love gave me no love, and she lost,” Trump said. “Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.”

After her loss, Love served as a political commentator on CNN and as a fellow at the University of Sydney.

Following Trump’s election in November, Love said she was “OK with the outcome.”

“Yes, Trump says a lot of inconsiderate things that are unfortunate and impossible to defend,” Love wrote in a social media post. “However, his policies have a high probability of benefiting all Americans.”