How Showing Up Changed Everything

It all started from a local Democratic meeting to a runoff election decided by 155 votes.

I didn’t plan to help make history.

Honestly, all I did was to show up to a local Democratic meeting on a cold January afternoon. No big expectations. No long-term plan. I figured I’d sit, listen, maybe say hi to a few people, and head home.

Instead, months later, that meeting would unexpectedly pull me into door knocking, develop new friendships, while helping elect the youngest state legislator in Georgia history.

It was January 4, 2025, at the Snellville Democrats Subcommittee General Meeting. A handful of local elected officials were there, and Steen Kirby was walking us through Gwinnett County’s 2024 election data. It was interesting, but nothing about it felt momentous at the time.

After the meeting, I found myself talking with Akbar Ali. He mentioned the Gwinnett Democrats General Monthly meeting happening the following weekend and sent me a Facebook invite on the spot. I went to that meeting. Then I went again the next month. As I continued attending these meetings over time I kept running into Akbar at these meetings and slowly got to know him.

In May, Akbar told me he was thinking about running for the State House seat that Representative Shelly Hutchinson was retiring from.

To be honest, I didn’t think much of it but wished him luck.

The seat was safely blue, and I assumed that when the time came, he’d win without much trouble. When he officially launched his campaign in July, I noticed he quickly picked up endorsements from a long list of current and former local officials, and my thought processes was Akbar would handily win with all the support he had.

It wasn’t until October that things really clicked for me.

That’s when Akbar asked if I wanted to help with the campaign’s get-out-the-vote effort. I said yes immediately, not fully realizing what I was signing up for, or how much I’d end up loving it.

The general election featured Akbar, another Democrat, and one Republican. Once again, I assumed November would be straightforward. Akbar had strong support, including backing from David Hogg of Leaders We Deserve. There were big campaign launches, packed rooms, elected officials showing up, and even David Hogg himself making an appearance.

So I started knocking doors.

Photo by Landis Brown on Unsplash

I talked to my neighbors. I talked to people I’d never met. I talked to folks who were excited, skeptical, rushed, curious, and sometimes not thrilled to see me. And to my own surprise, this became my favorite part of the entire campaign.

I learned how to listen. I learned how to explain why a local race mattered. I learned how much politics actually shows up in people’s everyday lives.

At some point, I started to feel like I was genuinely a part of and proud to be part of.

With the team he put together, Akbar didn’t just build a campaign, he built a community. The field team wasn’t just a group chat or a list of names. We were invested. We cared. We showed up for each other.

Watching Akbar build a community and his ability to bring people together demonstrated to me he would do the same as a representative in our State House.

On November 4, 2025, we gathered expecting to celebrate a win.

Instead, the race ended in a runoff against the other Democratic candidate.

At first, I wasn’t devastated. The Republican had been knocked out. The seat would stay blue. Everything would be fine… right?

Then I started to understand what had actually happened.

Fighting Racism and Bigotry

Akbar’s name, and his religion, had played a much bigger role than I ever expected. What followed was a wave of prejudice and misinformation that had nothing to do with policy and everything to do with identity.

I was angry. So much so I posted a statement about it on my BlueSky

That anger turned into fuel.

If this was going to take more work, I was ready to do more work. I knocked doors like it mattered, because it did. Every conversation felt heavier. Every interaction felt like it could be the one that tipped the scale.

155 Votes

On December 2, 2025, just 1,700 people cast ballots in the runoff.

Akbar won with 54% of the vote.

He beat the other Democrat by 155 votes.

I don’t doubt for a second that those 155 votes came from the doors we knocked and the conversations we had.

Watching Akbar get sworn in as my State House Representative is something I’ll never forget. It wasn’t just pride, it was the realization that showing up, even when it feels small, can actually change things.

At 21 years old, Akbar Ali was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. He became the youngest person ever elected to the Georgia state legislature and the youngest Democratic state representative in the country.

Even though we just got Akbar elected, he’s going to have to go through this process all over again in 2026 and unfortunately will have to fight the racism, bigotry and Islamophobia. And while his next race won’t be a cake walk, Akbar will have a team ready to do the heavy lifting to get him across the finish line.

I for one will be ready to do my part to help get him elected again.

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