Julia Piotrowska

Julia Piotrowska (born November 11, 1990) is an American politician and retired teacher currently serving as the U.S. Representative from Illinois' 5th Congressional district.

Early life and career
Julia Piotrowska was born on November 11, 1990 in Chicago, Illinois to a family of working class, second-generation Polish-Americans, Jan and Mika Malinowski (Michalkiewicz). Her mother passed away due to breast cancer in 2009.

Born and raised in Chicago Julia attended the local schools, winning a couple high school-level history competitions, before going to the University of Chicago which she graduated with degrees in history and pedagogy.

For a while she worked as a teacher at her old high school. When asked about her past career she replied: "When you look at the schools today there is so much to do. So many things left unadressed, things I felt obligated to adress. [...] History is so incredibly important, especially when talking about the US. There are so many lessons to take away from it, but they need to be given properly."

Piotrowska during her time as teacher was also an active community organizer who worked to provide lower-class children with school lunches. In her free time she engaged in activism.

U.S. House of Representatives
In 2017 she joined forces with Brand New Congress to challenge the incumbent Blue Dog Democrat for their party's nomination. After more than a year of door-to-door campaigning, canvassing, turning down corporate money and organizing she defeated the entrenched establishment candidate with just over 51% of the vote.

Over the course of the midterm cycle, especially after her primary victory, she established herself as the progressive firebrand garnering a large social media following. Her campaign was known for, among other things, Julia's progressive (sometimes reffered to as "radical") ideas. One of her biggest, most notable policy proposals is the "Green New Deal", a radical plan to transform the energy system in the United States and drastically lower carbon emissions nation wide, among other things.

In the general she easily defeated the Republican challenger in a district with a Cook PVI of D+20

Piotrowska is a progressive Democrat, a soon-to-be freshman Congresswoman she doesn't have a legislative record to speak of yet, but her various views have been made clear over the course of the campaign. A "Democratic Socialist" she is in favor of single-payer healthcare plan known as "Medicare for All" as well as strong pro-union legislation. She is in favor of campaign finance reform and a $15 minimum wage. Socially progressive she is a staunch ally of the LGBTQ+ community. A dove, she opposes intervention in Syria, but is a supporter of Palestine. Proponent of tuition-free college she cited herself as an example of for-profit universities being a "disastrous idea"; "I, like many Americans, have tens of thousands in student debt." She said in one of her interviews. "How are we supposed to succeed?"