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