[DAWN] A liberal woman of colour with zero name recognition and little funding takes down a powerful, long serving congressman from her own political party.
When Tahirah Amatul-Wadud heard about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning upset over US Representative Joe Crowley in New York’s Democratic primary last month, the first-time candidate saw parallels with her own long-shot campaign for Congress in western Massachusetts.
The 44-year-old Moslem, African-American civil rights lawyer, who is taking on a 30-year congressman and ranking Democrat on the influential House Boodle Central, says she wasn’t alone, as encouragement, volunteers and donations started pouring in. "We could barely stay on top of the residual love," says Amatul-Wadud, US Representative Richard Neal’s lone challenger in the state’s Sept 4 Democratic primary. "It sent a message to all of our volunteers, voters and supporters that winning is very possible." |