I just turned 29
10 years in politics, here’s what I learned.
I was never meant to be in politics. I know that’s one of the most cliché lines to ever exist, but folks often think I was the type of kid who was on the citywide student council or ran for class president. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Frankly, I didn’t really know much about politics until it hit me right in the face. Let’s go through some of the years together.
2016: I was a 19-year old baby faced naive teenager who was pursuing a double major in biology and economics and had no understanding of how politics ACTUALLY worked. The thing that strikes me the most about myself at this age is simply my sense of justice. It has remained a moral compass for me throughout my time in politics, and I hope it will remain my guiding principle. I ran partially because there had never been anyone of my generation that I had ever seen in American politics, partially because I was so inspired by Bernie’s 2016 era run, and partially because of Donald Trump’s infamous quote about Jersey City… “thousands of muslims celebrating”. Needless to say election day was pretty tough for me, I saw the direct impact of Super PACs (which spent over $600,000 in a school board election) https://hudsoncountyview.com/2016-feuds-of-the-year-number-1-jersey-city-united-vs-education-matters/ and not only did I lose the election, I woke up to the reality that Donald Trump had won.
2017: No longer a teenager, I watched how Trump’s first year in office ripped apart everything we thought was normal about our politics. I still remember watching the Muslim Ban executive order pass and realizing that Trump wasn’t just campaigning on divisive rhetoric, he actually planned to execute it in our laws. I decided to run again for the school board for a 1 year term because there was a vacancy (which I applied for but was rebuffed because it was used as part of a political deal). I had no business winning that election, I was in a one on one election as a 20 year old college kid with a win loss record of 0-1. My opponent was a veteran, a VP at his corporate job and on the board of some local nonprofits. We won that election 9388 to 9320. 68 votes - I’ll never forget how that small margin completely changed my life. As a 20 year old I was the youngest person elected in Jersey City history, the first muslim ever elected and the youngest muslim elected official in the country.
2018: My first year on the BOE was tumultuous with several key votes going 5-4. I was able to pass a bill (my first) to get a student to serve on the Board of Education, a tradition that has since become a statewide initiative. That summer while I was interning in DC some of my friends began talking about this congressional seat in NY-14th district. On one of my trips back to NYC, I attended a fundraiser for Abdul El-Sayed for Governor and he announced his special guest had just won an election the previous night that had shook up the country. I don’t think any of us in the room at the time understood just how powerful that woman would become, that was the first time I met AOC. Inspired by her victory - I ran for re-election and our slate broke a state record for votes in a school board race on the back of massive turnout for the midterm elections in Jersey City. I could feel momentum starting to turn in our nation.
2019: I graduated from college and started thinking really hard about what I wanted to do next. I knew that I had 3 years on the school board but my original plan was to go to medical school. To help me think through what I was going to do, I took a chance and was lucky enough to be selected as a Schwarzman Scholar. For the last few months in 2019 I flew back and forth (on my own dime) from China to Jersey City as I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from people from around the world about global issues and leadership. I was grateful to have the board of education colleagues unanimously support the idea of me juggling our volunteer position with my academic pursuits. On one of my flights back I realized I needed to understand how the law worked and applied to law school. That year also let me watch how US legitimacy was slowly being erased from around the world because of the person we had elected as our president. At the end of that year, I watched the start of a pandemic that would engulf the world for years to come.
2020: While I continued my education remotely, I watched as the virus continued to spread across the globe, eventually shutting down our education system in Jersey City in March. A month later, I accepted my offer to attend Harvard Law School. While the early days of COVID were a bit of a blur to me, I still remember the way Trump categorized it as a “China” virus and continued to spread xenophobia and anti-immigrant rhetoric. That election cycle, I watched as several interesting democrats clashed to earn our votes, but eventually coalesced around Biden and doomed our last chance at a Bernie presidency. Meanwhile, I started going through my 1L year of law school and started to grow more and more impatient with our board not reopening our public school system.
2021: January of 2021 I was elected as the president of the Jersey City Board of Education. It was my 4th year in office and I was up for re-election. I still remember the headline, Ali makes history again. 2 weeks later I would be diagnosed with Stage 4 Blood cancer. That year my first round of chemotherapy started the day before my birthday. While I had enough sanity to make it through cancer, board politics, and 1L, I certainly did not have the wherewithal to keep up with American politics. But, I recall being impressed with how Biden helped lead us out of the pandemic and provided a sense of normalcy back to the White House.
Life on the school board that year was nothing short of warfare. We fought to increase the minimum wage for educators. Fought with the city about the payroll tax. Fought to reopen our schools. Fought to pass a fully funded budget. Fought for my life and won.
At the end of my term, I decided to help elect another young person to serve on the board of education and was successful in getting a 22-year old in office to carry on fighting for the forgotten stakeholders of education.
2022: Back at law school in-person, I was urged by some of my friends to run for student body president. While I personally didn’t have much interest in the position from a governance standpoint, I wondered how much I could leverage my real world skills into student government and had a ton of fun building out some legacy initiatives that still exist like the H-Y law basketball game and one of students vs faculty. In the midterm elections, I watched as my generation had historic turnout that helped to ensure the “red wave” was limited. But I also watched as the legal principle of stare decisis all but disappeared as the Dobbs decision came down.
2023: As I prepared to graduate from law school I knew I couldn’t join a corporate law firm because of that same moral compass that had guided me all those years ago and I found myself working in voting rights work and studying gentrification. The biggest story of this year was October 7th. Here’s my quote from October of 2023: As Muslims we are always somehow responsible for the actions of any brown person around the world. As a proud Muslim myself I had several friends ask me about the attacks by Hamas and I unequivocally denounce the killing of innocent civilians.Yet today as Israel marches towards an ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians, as the government murders innocent children in the name of Judaism, I wonder where are my Jewish friends condemning this murder taking place in your name.
At the start of the conflict, many called me crazy for saying there was the potential for a genocide taking place. By now, the majority of democrats agree that a genocide was being committed.
2024: I really struggled to find my political home in 2024. As someone who was vocal on the issue of Palestine, I felt like there were few politicians I could look up to who had the moral clarity that I was seeking on the issue. I felt gaslight by my own party that denied what I watched being livestreamed on my phone. Over and over again I heard about how Joe Biden was doing everything in his power to get us to a ceasefire, and yet there seemed to be no progress. In April of 2024, we quietly announced our campaign for mayor of Jersey City. As Trump promised a strongman to combat inflation, Biden seemed to wither with his age, clearly showing as we approached the election. Kamala, instead of distancing herself from the president, ran on the same talking points and never caught real momentum. In the end, another Trump presidency seemed inevitable.
2025: I spent most of 2025 trying both to grapple with the fact that somehow Donald Trump was back in office and run in a really competitive mayoral race where there were several progressive candidates. What inspired me the most was another young, muslim, progressive in New York City who had a funny name. Watching the Zohran campaign reminded me that we, as the democratic party, could actually help people dream bigger. In our own much smaller way, we helped to shift the electorate in Jersey City and got thousands of voters to come out for the first time. While we didn’t win the mayor’s race, I learned a lot about my city and helped push candidates left in the election cycle. The total amount of money spent on the mayoral election exceeded $10 million, a bad sign for things to come. In some ways, this year reminded me a lot of 2017 as the country rebelled against a Trump presidency.
2026: As I reflect on 10 years of politics, I am grateful that I continue to be guided in the same way as I was when I was 19 years old, towards a sense of justice. This year, I decided to primary an incumbent who, in my eyes, has shown a deep disdain for justice. Instead of being a leader on issues, I see him as someone who waits until things are politically correct or popular. If we are ever going to get our country back to a position where it belongs to the people, I think we must elect those who don’t make decisions based on the whims of their donors like AIPAC, but rather because they believe it is what is right.