Where Tarik Samman Stands

Congressional candidate Tarik Samman spoke with The Gator about money in politics, youth representation, labor rights, immigration, foreign policy and the Democratic Party’s status quo.

Editor’s note: Quotes have been lightly edited for context and concision.

Money in Politics

“Money in politics is why we have the status quo. Money in politics is why we can’t change the status quo. And my top priority if I win and enter Congress is fighting money in politics. And that means limiting the influence of corporate PACs and foreign PACs, overturning Citizens United, and fixing the way we run our own elections.”

Youth Representation

“I always tell the people around me that the main reason why I wanted to run was to represent the youth and bring their voices to the table, especially at the congressional level. Because I believe if you’re not at the table making the decision, you’re probably on the menu, which we are.”

AI and the Future

“Given how fast technological advancement has been, and AI, and the fact that our congressional representatives are not taking the right precautions to prepare us for the future, to save jobs for us in the future, is also a big reason why I decided to get into politics.”

Labor and Workers’ Rights

“I witnessed the fear that international students, international workers have being at Harvard, which was kind of shocking to me. This is, by the way, before the Trump administration, before the war in Gaza. Because during the time, fear is not something that we were talking about. However, the fact that I’ve seen a lot of international workers afraid of signing a union card, afraid of saying something against their professors, made me aware of the importance of unions and labor workers and defending these kind of workers who are very vulnerable.”

Unions

“Unions in general are the ones who create the middle class in America. They’re the ones who set up a 9 to 5 job. They’re the ones who brought us a lot of holidays. They’re the ones that brought us a lot of benefits that we take for granted.”

Political Labels and Conservative Workers

“I think one thing that I would say that also differentiates me from other candidates is that I’m not a big fan of labeling, especially when it comes to progressive, Democrats, Republican, conservative. I think labeling helped create more division, and unfortunately that’s being exploited by politicians, people in positions of power, to stay in power.”

Cross-Party Appeal

“I’m also fighting for issues that all people on both political spectrums agree with, which is money in politics, which is fighting corruption in Congress, fighting corruption, executive policy, corruption in the educational system. And I think by fighting the money in politics, by fighting corruption, I can bring some kind of hope for both sides.”

Foreign Policy

“I grew up in Syria during the Syrian civil war. And I was on the receiving end of the failed American foreign policy. American intervention in the Middle East created more conflict and destabilized the region more than we talk about.”

U.S. Intervention

“Living through it made me realize how important it is for American foreign policy to be more educated, to be more considerate of the region’s history, the region’s culture. We can’t go anywhere and just enforce our own agendas and democracy and so on and so forth. It’s up to the people of that region to decide for themselves.”

Immigration and Minority Communities

“So District 5, around 25% of the people who live in this district are foreign born. We have a lot of different minorities. We have the Bosnian community, we have the Haitian community, we have the Arab community, we have the Muslim community, we have the Hispanic community. You have a lot of different small minorities.”

Muslim and Arab Communities

“Unfortunately they have been very underrepresented for so long, and that’s why it’s easy for these people in positions of power to put out a tweet attacking these Muslims and face no resistance whatsoever.”

The Status Quo

“I think those who are okay with the current status quo, my assumption is they’re okay with it either because they lack the awareness of how rotten the status quo has been or because they’re benefiting from it.”

Message to Voters

“Just ask yourself, if you’re happy with the status quo, then answer me this question: Why do we have Trump in power? Because of the lack of leadership of the status quo.”

Local Representation

“Locally, I’ll be an organizer and a listener, and at the federal level, I’ll be a fighter against money in politics.”

“It’s time for fresh blood. I am going to represent that fresh blood that we need in Congress.”