Young, Muslim and progressive: is another AOC-style upset brewing in New York?

Rana Abdelhamid, the daughter of Egyptian immigrants, is seeking to oust a veteran congresswoman in a Democratic primary

Steinway is a bustling and noisy street in the Queens neighborhood of Astoria. The area locally referred to as Little Egypt" is brimming with people grocery shopping and bicyclists rushing in and out of shawarma shops to deliver their next order. It's a north African, south-west Asian neighborhood made up of small businesses like halal butcher shops, hookah lounges and Middle Eastern restaurants.

For Rana Abdelhamid, this neighborhood is home. On 14 April, Abdelhamid announced her run against the incumbent Democratic congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to represent New York's 12th congressional district, a region made up of a significant portion of Manhattan's East Side, Astoria and north Brooklyn. It ranges from the fantastically wealthy penthouse apartments that line Manhattan's Central Park to the struggling working-class areas where Abdelhamid grew up.