Rep. Yassamin Ansari has spent her freshman year in Congress making national headlines.
Ansari, one of two new Arizonans to join the House of Representatives, just finished her first year on Capitol Hill representing Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District. The progressive, who is the daughter of Iranian refugees, found herself trying to rein in the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation maneuvers, sometimes netting American citizens and legal residents.
She traveled to El Salvador, where she unsuccessfully tried to meet with Kilmar Ábrego García, a man who was deported as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts. Closer to home, Ansari tried twice to visit prisoners at a detention center in Eloy, but ICE officials canceled her visit.
At the same time, she’s thinking about the future of her political party, from who will run for president in 2028 to who is signing up new voters. She was elected as the Democratic Freshman Class president and recently hosted the Won’t Back Down rally in Phoenix as Democrats strive to find a message that will resonate with voters amid flagging confidence in the party.
Among new projects in Washington, she has continued her advocacy on climate change awareness, a subject that dates back to her job as a climate advisor to former California Gov. Jerry Brown. She introduced multiple bills to the Congress floor regarding federal help for extreme heat relief.
This week on The Gaggle, a politics podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Rep. Ansari to break down her first year in Congress and her attempts to work across the aisle.
Watch the interview on AZ Central.
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