I decided to contest the elections. Here's what happened next
My first time in Washington DC didn’t feel like my first.
It seemed like I had seen it all in House of Cards; where Claire went for her runs, the big black cars, the White House from within, all of it. My sister and I started discussing how House of Cards was surprisingly so similar to our politics back home. That sure we were sitting in the most powerful city in the world, but that behind closed doors, politics is, I suppose, equally dirty everywhere.
Except that in the US there are people like Alexandria Ocasio -- who went from bartender to educationist to the candidate that just caused the biggest upset victory in the 2018 midterm-election in the USA. This 28-year-old won the election against one of the most senior Democrats in Congress. An outsider to politics, having spent 1/10th of her competitor’s budget on her campaign, this victory says so much. And Alexandria isn’t alone, there is Cori Bush, Jess King - people relying more on enthusiasm than money to win political campaigns.
Obviously not all of them will win but it points to a shift. People want people like themselves to represent them. My sister and I discussed how that might be the hour of the need in Pakistan too? With many PTI supporters feeling rather jaded, and PML-N and PPP not standing for much anymore, maybe we need a Ms Ocasio too?