Nashville activist Maryam Abolfazli has been active at the Tennessee statehouse, advocating for change to the state’s gun safety laws in the aftermath of the Covenant School shooting.
Now, Abolfazli is hoping to make change at the federal level. After winning the Democratic primary election this month, she will face incumbent Andy Ogles on the ballot for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.
Abolfazli sat down with WPLN’s Marianna Bacallao to talk about the race.
Marianna Bacallao: If elected, what’s the most important thing that you would want to accomplish?
Maryam Abolfazli: Safety for our kids. There’s nothing, I think, more profoundly impacting of me and my family, of all Tennessee families and certainly all District 5 families. I have worked with high school students that just look at me and say, ‘How come I went there every day? How come I talked to all those leaders? How come I’ve called all of them? How come?’ The amount that we have disillusioned them about our system and about our democracy is awful.
MB: What would you see as the path to ensuring that safety?
MA: Tennessee is known and made up of generations of responsible gun owners. Responsible gun ownership is something that a lot of people take a lot of pride in, in this state that has nothing to do with the need and the changes that we have to make now. We actually just have to make sure that irresponsible gun owners do not get them. So, I think background checks is a great start.
MB: In this role, you wouldn’t just be representing Davidson County. There’s also — let me check my list here — Lewis, Maury —
MA: Yeah.
MB: Marshall, Wilson and Williamson counties. They’re also a part of the 5th Congressional District. How do you plan on representing such a diverse group?
MA: Getting to know people from all walks of life that aren’t necessarily like me. It’s just who I am, I’m predisposed for it. I was raised in Nashville, Tennessee. My parents come from Iran. I wasn’t like everybody else necessarily, and I had to learn how to bridge those gaps and how to understand others and how to explain myself to others. I actually love that stuff. So how would I represent them? I would figure out what they’re thinking right now. This week I was talking to a few Republican voters just trying to understand: ‘What are the issues that are most important to you? What makes you vote the way that you do? What makes you think the way that you do?’ And I enjoy those conversations. And sometimes they would say, ‘Well, I don’t want you to think I’m voting for you, or I don’t want you to think I’m donating to you.’ And I said, ‘With all due respect, if I plan to represent this district, I want to know what you think regardless. I’m sure there’s a group of people that think like you are come from your walk of life.’ So, and I think that that’s new for people. It’s novel to have this concept of representation because we’ve had a supermajority for so long that just doesn’t care. It almost doesn’t care about what its own constituents think. So how I would do it? I’d go down to Marshall County. I’d go down to Lewis County. I go to Hohenwald, I go to Columbia. I love this stuff. So that’s what I’ll do. And I will listen to anyone, even when it gets uncomfortable, even if we disagree.
MB: How has your outlook on this campaign changed since Ogles was officially made the Republican nominee?
MA: Well, I think what was interesting is to look at what that primary showed. Courtney Johnson managed to bring in 24,000 votes, which is impressive. So, what that left me with is: if we unite, he will no longer bring this stain to our district. I think voters should know that they deserve someone who’s qualified, and they deserve someone who is curious about policy. Someone who’s committed to that. Right now, in our current representative, we have someone that clearly has a disdain for the very job that he has. He’s brought 100 bills, not one of which have seen the light of day. They have, like, these dramatic, kind of outlandish titles that are meant for the media. And then at the end of the day, he’ll do a media spot. He’ll sort of wash his hands and think he did the job of a congressperson. And then you look two years later, and you wonder, ‘Well, where’s the policy or the bill that was supposed to make District 5 better?’ And there’s nothing there. And then on top of that, there’s federal money, our federal money that no one’s fighting to bring down here. That is one of the most immoral aspects of this. We need someone up there not only in appropriations for the things that we need, but also the existing federal money. Money for businesses. Money for our environment. For our rivers. Money for jobs. Money for potholes. You know, no one’s fighting for us. I don’t think anyone’s ever told him that the job he has is to go and get our problems solved.
A spokesperson for Andy Ogles did not respond to WPLN’s request for comments or an interview.
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