Nabeela Syed, 23-year-old Indian American woman, who grabbed the attention of people not only in the United States of America but across the world, as she became the youngest member of the Illinois General Assembly.
Nabeela Syed won the mid-term election seat of Illinois Lower House. She defeated the Republican Incumbent Chris Bos on Wednesday. In the race for the seat, she earned 52.3% of the votes while Chris Bos lost with 42.7% votes.
Chris Bos is a 44-year old Republican Member who was elected as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives for the 51st District in the 2020 general election, when he defeated Democratic incumbent Mary Edly-Allen.
Soon after winning the election, the newly graduated member tweeted, “My name is Nabeela Syed. I’m a 23-year-old Muslim, Indian-American woman. We just flipped a Republican-held suburban district.”
She added, “And in January, I’ll be the youngest member of the Illinois General Assembly.”
Several aspects make Nabeela’s victory important and worth noting- She is a first-generation Asian American, a Muslim who wears a Hijab, and a young candidate who recently graduated.
Nabeela Syed was raised in Palatine, a village in Illinois. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley where she pursued a double major in political science and business administration.
According to Ms Syed’s website, she has worked with a number of organisations, for instance the EMILY’s list, to raise money for the election of Democrats to Congress.
Currently, she is working in a non-profit organization where she assists numerous civic engagement initiatives through digital techniques- for example, promoting gender equality and prevention of sexual assault on college campuses.
She strongly advocates for interfaith exchange and discussion. She supports the empowerment of Muslim women so that they take up more leadership positions. She is also an active member of the Islamic Society of Northwest Suburbs and has participated in the progress of her religious community.
“When I announced I was running for State Representative, I made it a mission to genuinely engage in conversation with people – to give them a reason to get involved in our democracy and hope for better leadership that represents their values,” she wrote in her Instagram post.
Ms. Syed promised to address the issues around healthcare, education, equal rights and taxation in her election manifesto. Her website demonstrates that she is running “to build a better Illinois for residents today and tomorrow.” Ms. Syed also mentioned sustainable infrastructure and a strong economy for Illinois.
“We talked to seniors about the rising cost of prescription drugs. We talked to working families about the growing burden of property taxes. We talked to women, pledging that I would protect their right to reproductive healthcare. We spoke with parents about their desire to strengthen common sense gun safety laws,” she added.
Thanking the people for their support, Syed ended the post by saying, “I knocked every door in this district. Tomorrow, I start knocking them again to thank them for placing their trust in me. I’m ready to get to work.”
Nabeela Syed is one of the many important Indian American politicians to take part in the US House of Representatives Election. She will join Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal and Aruna Miller, all members of the Democratic Party, in the list of Indian Americans to be elected. While Krishnamoorti, Bera, Khanna and Jayapal were already elected and will continue with their position, Miller and Shri Thanedar are some of the newly elected Indians.
The “Samosa Caucus” or the group of Indian American lawmakers in the field of US politics seems to be significantly increasing.
