00:01I get attacked because of my faith.
00:03I'm Muslim American.
00:05My name is Nabila Islam, and they're like,
00:07oh, well, we don't need Muslims in government,
00:10or you need to get out of our country.
00:13Some person told me if I don't keep my tone down,
00:15they'll put me in a camp.
00:16Donald Trump says something insane,
00:17and then, like, my email, my social media
00:20just spikes with hate.
00:25Hopefully this isn't breaking news to you,
00:27but 2020 is a major election year,
00:29and we here at State of Grace thought it would be a great time
00:32to look at how a candidate's religious background
00:34is packaged and leveraged during a campaign season.
00:37It's no secret that Christianity
00:39is the majority religion of our representatives.
00:42While Donald Trump has embraced a base
00:43of white evangelical support,
00:45his administration has perpetuated
00:47a hostile environment for non-Christians.
00:53In spite of this divisive rhetoric and policy,
00:56we're seeing an exciting wave of change
00:58in elections at every level.
00:59Candidates of minority faiths
01:01are running in unprecedented numbers.
01:03Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib
01:05made history in 2018
01:06when they became the first Muslim women
01:09elected to Congress.
01:10They're part of a new era of representation
01:12that is younger, more progressive,
01:15and led by women.
01:16These change-makers are forging
01:18an unprecedented path to office,
01:20literally writing the book on how to run
01:22as a non-Christian candidate in America.
01:24But while this movement is gaining traction,
01:27candidates striving for change
01:28and conservative strongholds
01:30still face an uphill battle.
01:34Meet Nabila Islam.
01:36Make sure you bundle up
01:37and we're going to be knocking on doors.
01:39Nabila is a working-class progressive
01:41through and through,
01:42advocating for Medicare for All,
01:44a Green New Deal,
01:45and reproductive justice.
01:46She quit her job to run
01:48a completely grassroots campaign full-time.
01:50A Muslim woman
01:51and a daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants,
01:54Nabila is seeking to flip Georgia's
01:56seventh congressional district
01:57and give her home the authentic representation
02:00she never saw growing up.
02:01Gwinnett is where I grew up.
02:03We have so much diversity.
02:05We're actually the fourth most diverse county
02:07in the entire country.
02:08But what does a Muslim candidacy look like
02:10in a post-Trump election cycle,
02:12especially in a county that has been red since 1995?
02:15For so long, we've never had, like,
02:18reflective representation of our diversity
02:20or our values.
02:21That's been just very evident
02:23by the fact that our community
02:25has been left behind.
02:27Is there a position that you hold
02:29that is the most, like, controversial
02:31when you talk to voters?
02:32I think when I say that
02:34ICE has no place in our communities,
02:36people are just like,
02:37whoa, that's like a strong stance.
02:39Right.
02:39ICE has really been such a terror
02:44in this community.
02:48I am running for office
02:50because I really want to give this community a voice.
02:52Like, a voice it's never had before.
02:54No one like me has ever run for office before
02:57in Georgia,
02:58or there's been very few in the country.
03:01This is the office,
03:03our field office,
03:05where we strategize
03:06and figure out what doors we're going to knock.
03:07Nice.
03:07And then in here is my office,
03:10where I call voters and...
03:11How many hours would you say
03:13that you spend on the phone?
03:14At least 40 hours, so...
03:16Of just the phone.
03:16I've called probably,
03:17up to this point,
03:18probably over, like, 65, 70,000,
03:21made 70,000 phone calls.
03:22When I was in the seventh grade,
03:24I had a drama teacher
03:25that couldn't for the life of him
03:27pronounce my name.
03:27He was writing out,
03:29Nabila,
03:29and he went N-A-B-I-L-L-Y.
03:32Yeah.
03:33He's like,
03:33you're going to be Billy from now on.
03:35When I, you know,
03:36announced I was going to run for office,
03:38there were a lot of people that were like,
03:39oh, you should go by Billy.
03:40It's easier to say it's Southern.
03:42People would be like,
03:43oh, your name sounds foreign.
03:45I'm like, what does that mean, though?
03:46This country is a land of immigrants.
03:48Like, we all have unique names,
03:50and we're all American.
03:51I think Nabila Islam is an American name.
03:54Before a busy day of campaigning,
03:56we headed to a local diner
03:57to fuel up with Nabila and her parents.
04:00Did you grow up in this area right?
04:02Yes.
04:03Okay.
04:03My mom, the first five years of my life,
04:05she worked at a Hardee's,
04:06flipping burgers not too far from here.
04:08Right there in the corner.
04:09Right there in the corner.
04:10Okay.
04:10So when you were in high school,
04:11were you already thinking about
04:13maybe going into politics?
04:15I actually, so when I got to college,
04:17I was a political science major.
04:18Okay.
04:19And I was like,
04:20all right, I'm going to get this
04:20political science major
04:21and like get into politics somehow.
04:24Yeah.
04:24And then I was given an assignment
04:26to interview a person in politics.
04:29So I was like, all right,
04:30I'm going to go interview my government teacher.
04:32He was basically like,
04:34well, politics is reserved for people
04:36whose parents are wealthy,
04:38and so they have all those connections,
04:40and it's really hard for women.
04:42Your politics teacher just came in hot being like,
04:45I'm going to burst your bubble real quick.
04:48Yeah.
04:48That conversation was so pivotal in my life,
04:50more so than he will ever know,
04:53and I like changed my degree to marketing.
04:56Wow.
04:57So like that week, I was like,
04:58and I remember thinking to myself like,
05:00well, I'm 18 years old,
05:01like who am I to break this glass ceiling?
05:04Were you immediately supportive
05:06when Nabila was like,
05:06I'm going to run for Congress?
05:08Yeah.
05:09Yeah, I'm proud of you.
05:10Yeah.
05:11Okay, let's rewind.
05:12When I got...
05:14She's like, wait a second.
05:15When I got involved in politics,
05:17my mom was like, what are you doing?
05:18I came to this country and broke my back
05:20to give you an education.
05:22You're getting involved in campaigns?
05:24My friends actually were like,
05:26I'm not surprised.
05:27I saw this coming.
05:28Yeah, I guess the writing was probably on the wall.
05:32The race for the 7th District is tight,
05:34but Nabila has been building momentum,
05:36largely due to her rigorous ground strategy.
05:39We're going to go canvas,
05:40knock on thousands of doors,
05:42get the word out about this campaign.
05:44My name is Nabila Islam.
05:46Nabila Islam.
05:47Nabila Islam.
05:48As a grassroots campaign,
05:50Nabila doesn't accept any PAC or corporate money.
05:52I'm running for Congress in this district.
05:54She campaigns full-time.
05:55I wanted to see if you plan on voting
05:57on May 19th.
05:58Pounding the pavement,
05:59meeting voters,
06:00shaking hands,
06:01and phone banking
06:02with a committed team of volunteers.
06:05Hi, Gilda.
06:06My name is Nabila Islam.
06:07I'm running for U.S. Congress.
06:08Wanted to see what are some issues
06:09that you both care about?
06:11Education.
06:11Education.
06:12Good teachers.
06:13While in Congress,
06:14we'll be able to use our budgeting powers
06:16to make sure that all schools
06:18receive equal funding.
06:19We'll be supporting you.
06:20Thank you so much.
06:22Good luck with the election.
06:25Nabila constantly engages
06:26in one-on-one conversations with constituents
06:29and has to be prepared to address
06:31any and all questions
06:32as they relate to her policies
06:34or her personal life,
06:36including questions about her faith.
06:38Has it been an issue that people
06:40want to discuss your faith?
06:42My name is a statement in and of itself.
06:45So it comes up.
06:46You'll have some people be like,
06:47that's great.
06:48We need more Muslims in office.
06:49Or you might have someone that is just like,
06:52I'm a Christian first.
06:53And so they're not open to the idea of
06:56a person of Muslim faith being in office.
06:58I'm struck by the extreme double standard
07:01Nabila is up against just by virtue of belonging
07:03to a religion that is not Christianity.
07:06We don't see that same level of scrutiny
07:07applied to candidates who advertise
07:09their Christian affiliation.
07:11I went to speak with Dr. Andra Gillespie,
07:13a political analyst and election expert,
07:15to get a better understanding of the origins
07:17of white evangelical influence within politics.
07:21Has it always been the way that white evangelicals
07:24have been so tightly affiliated with the Republican Party?
07:27By the end of the 1970s,
07:29we start to see the rise of Christian political groups
07:32that are mobilizing around social issues.
07:35So they're mobilizing around abortion.
07:37They're mobilizing around gay rights.
07:38Faith is a branding thing for a candidate.
07:42We're just seeing how that is totally different
07:44between like a Mike Pence Donald Trump
07:46versus any candidate on the Democratic side.
07:48While President Trump has more tenuous ties
07:51to evangelical Christianity,
07:52he recognized that white evangelicals
07:56were the base of the Republican Party.
07:58It was an important base vote.
07:59And in order to keep them happy,
08:01he needs to be able to provide things for them.
08:04What Trump is doing is saying,
08:06despite all the noise,
08:07despite all the allegations of corruption,
08:09despite the immoral behavior,
08:11I'm giving you everything that you want,
08:13so therefore you have no choice but to vote for me.
08:16Andra's right.
08:17Trump's success in securing the evangelical vote
08:19seems both calculated and confusing.
08:22To better understand the nuance of his supporters,
08:25we spoke with Lisa Babbage,
08:27an evangelical whose values are strongly guided by her faith.
08:30And as such, she avidly supports Donald Trump.
08:33Lisa is also running for Congress on the Republican ticket.
08:37What role do you think faith plays in a voter choosing who they'll vote for?
08:43I really think it should be, you know, the most influence possible.
08:47Wow, okay.
08:47I do. Now, I'm not an authority on every religion.
08:51If you are a Christ follower and you call yourself a Christian,
08:54then your vote should include those things that Christ prescribed
08:58as how a government should run.
09:00Do you feel as though your Christian values are reflected
09:04in what you see in the Trump administration right now?
09:06There's a way Christians are classified, biblically speaking.
09:09You have your infancy stage, you have your toddler stage,
09:12your adolescence, and so on.
09:14I would say that, yes, we see infancy Christian behavior
09:18coming from the White House.
09:19And so that's where I see a lot of room for growth.
09:23I mean, President Trump has not been a Christian his entire life.
09:25He's the first one to say that, and so I miss the vote on a regular basis.
09:30I expect him to miss it as well.
09:31Lisa and I talked for a long time about her belief in social justice
09:35and equality and areas for growth within the Republican Party.
09:39But her support for the Trump administration was unwavering,
09:42and it seemed to me heavily influenced by a common faith.
09:45This attitude is reflected in so many right-leaning voters
09:48who are willing to overlook Trump's most troubling behaviors
09:51because of a perceived foundation in Christianity.
09:54But where does that leave us in our political process?
09:57I mean, I think in particular for Muslims after 9-11,
10:01there is the specter of Islamophobia.
10:03Will voters, you know, because of the package of a Muslim woman,
10:07will some voters be dissuaded to vote for,
10:09even if they agree with all the messages?
10:11There's certainly a privilege here that privileges Christian candidates.
10:14For somebody who is not Christian, I mean,
10:17they are in the socially more disadvantaged position.
10:20We're seeing more people run for office.
10:22We're seeing more people put themselves out there,
10:24and these folks are on the vanguard of writing the book
10:27for how one presents themselves as a candidate of faith
10:31in a predominantly Christian environment.
10:37Many of us are struggling.
10:38Many of us are from the working class.
10:40It doesn't matter if you're white, if you're black, you're brown,
10:42you're gay, you're queer, you're straight, you're trans, you're cis,
10:45you're gender non-conforming white.
10:47It doesn't matter what economic background you come from.
10:50She went and she fought for those migrant families at the border.
10:52She fought for trans people's rights here in this state,
10:55in this conservative state.
10:59That's what we need to hold progressive leadership that we need.
11:03Back at Nabila's campaign headquarters, the energy was electric.
11:06People of all faiths, races and backgrounds showed up to support
11:10and canvas for Nabila in their neighborhoods.
11:12Democratic Socialism seeks to do what the Bible said,
11:16to redistribute the wealth that is laid up for the wicked to the just.
11:21Democratic Socialism seeks to feed the hungry,
11:24to clothe the naked, and to care for the sick.
11:26The politics of law is what Jesus preached
11:29when he said that healthcare was a human right,
11:33that whosoever was seeking healing should be healed.
11:37That's the politics of law.
11:40I want to introduce you to Nabila Islam!
11:49Growing up here, I never saw anyone that looked like us at the table,
11:53anyone that reflected our values or our diversity.
11:57And because of conservative ideologies, our community has been left behind.
12:02We are tired of the same old, same old politics
12:05that tell us to just wait.
12:07Wait a little bit longer.
12:08Not yet.
12:09We are tired of incrementalism.
12:11We want change now.
12:15Today, let's take all of our love and all of our heart.
12:20Everyone into our love movement.
12:24In many ways, Nabila's campaign kicked into a new gear
12:27just as our time together came to a close.
12:31As she continues to earn endorsements, public support and recognition,
12:35I'm honestly on pins and needles as we approach election day this spring.
12:39It's not hard to feel invested in someone so committed to giving their district
12:42not only the representation it deserves, but representation they've never had before.
12:47She was the youngest person ever in Virginia?
12:51In Virginia, to ever get elected.
12:53During this tumultuous time in American politics,
12:56Nabila is on the front lines of challenging a broken system.
13:00I've always wanted to be a public servant, ever since I was a little girl.
13:03I just never thought I was electable.
13:04Because my name is Nabila Islam, and I just thought people would be not ready for that.
13:09I think people around the country want to see themselves in their elected officials.
13:13The country is ready for representation.
13:17Thank you for watching Refinery29.
13:20For more videos, click here.
13:22And to subscribe, click here.
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