A far-left congressional candidate dropped out of her primary race in New York and blamed the state party’s redistricting, which she said discriminated against “black and brown people.”
Muslim activist Rana Abdelhamid from Brooklyn released a statement excoriating her own party’s leadership for splitting the district she had been wanting to win.
“Today, I am formally suspending my campaign for Congress. After nearly two years of putting together this effort, this was a very difficult decision to make,” Abdelhamid said in a statement on Tuesday. “But because my community and I were cut out of this district, we were left with no other choice.”
She went on to specifically accuse Democrats of racism.
“The new NY-12, which was drawn through an undemocratic process, no longer includes Queens or Brooklyn,” she explained. “That means that in my home and my community, which includes, working class, Black and brown, Muslim and Arab communities of interest in Queens, were all divided into two districts, NY-7 and NY-14, diluting our opportunity for representation and political power.”
As a result of the redistricting, Abdelhamid would have been forced to run against another progressive.
Her campaign was backed by Justice Democrats, a far-left progressive group that backed the campaign of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to unseat a longtime Democratic Party boss. Had she won, she would have been the first Egyptian-American member of Congress.
Abdelhamid said she would continue to fight for the goals of the progressive organization, including Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal.
“The relationships and infrastructure we’ve built through this campaign is powerful – and we’re not stopping here,” she concluded. “While the historic communities of interest in Queens become divided with these new maps, I still feel that our power comes from people coming together across our beautiful differences for a vision of justice and shared prosperity.”
Here’s more about Abdelhamid’s failed campaign:
Rana Abdelhamid for Congress NY-12 www.youtube.com