PART II:
“IS THIS INTENTIONAL?”

It’s now May 6, and I’m hopping on the Red Line up to Rogers Park, the northernmost neighborhood in Chicago.

Kat is opening her campaign offices here, one of the three Windy City neighborhoods in the Ninth District (the rest are in the suburbs). She posted a flyer the night before, inviting local residents to pop out and join her team as they painted the walls and decorated the office’s interior. Shua is tagging along to help film; we’re the only ones present as the campaign opens its office doors to the public for the first time, and we’re welcomed in shortly thereafter.

Even if this election’s Democratic primary is nearly a year away, the first big domino of the race has fallen. Yesterday, the current representative, Jan Schakowsky, announced that she would not seek reelection. Overnight, the Ninth District has become wide open for the taking, for just the second time since 1965.

Two more dominos would soon follow. State Senator Laura Fine acted quickly, announcing a bid for Schakowsky’s seat earlier this morning. And Evanston mayor Daniel Biss — who won reelection to his position in April — winds up entering the fray, just nine days later.

As Kat vacuums the floors and her team sets up shop, I ask for her thoughts on the race now that it’s flipped on its head. “It’s getting competitive now, huh?” she replies, smiling.

My first impression of her new homebase is that it emulates exactly what you think the run-and-gun operation of a Gen Z politician would look like. Someone turns on a Bluetooth speaker; “Electric Feel” by MGMT slowly seeps into the space. The couches in the front, we’re told, were picked up on Facebook marketplace over the weekend.

Sam, the campaign manager, runs out the door, saying he needs to pick something up at Costco. In the interim, new team member Ethan Henderson — a recent University of Georgia grad who volunteered as a campus organizer for the Kamala Harris campaign in 2024 — shows off the official Kat for Illinois Discord server, which features channels for everything from community events to sports debate.

When considered on face value, all of these things might add up to feel a tad amateurish. But something I’ve picked up on since following Kat is how she presents herself — and communicates her message. Her videos don’t feature overproduced thumbnails or fancy transitions. Guest appearances on cable networks such as CNN or MSNBC often play out from her apartment bedroom; earpieces and suits are traded for her podcasting mic setup and semi-formal attire. 

I ask Kat if that style of presentation is intentional. She says yes.

“I think that we put our politicians on a pedestal — both in a good and a bad way — and we don’t have to do that,” Kat adds on. “You shouldn’t want to represent people in a mask…I have pant suits, but I wear them when I want to wear them, not because that’s what you ‘have to do.’”

That culture of transparency plays out across her channels. On YouTube, she provides campaign updates to followers from her bedroom, the same way commentary creators might upload a four-hour video essay on your favorite childhood TV show. On Instagram, she shares behind-the-scenes looks at what it means to run for office, including marches she attends, food drives she co-organizes, and…feeding her cats.

Politicians pursuing “relatability” is nothing new — just ask every presidential hopeful who dons a Carhartt jacket the second they step foot in the Midwest. Yet Kat sees the impact of her communication strategy stretching beyond just this election.

At her campaign launch event back in March, “we had two high school students drive from Indiana to tell us that they want to run for office now,” she tells me. “I get very emotional even thinking about that.”

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