We're fighting for LGBT rights and for women's rights and for Muslims and for refugees. Well, we shouldn't be fighting for those groups, we should be fighting for freedom and the liberties that are enshrined in our founding documents and that covers everybody: the woman's right to choose, the ability to be able to pursue happiness.

It's been harder for me for sure being Muslim American, it's been harder for me for sure being the first Muslim ever elected anything here in Virginia, but it's actually made me into a much better person. So, the neat thing is while it's more difficult for people like me maybe to get elected in certain parts of our country, we prove that it's possible. And, that's something to be commended here in our country, that people from all walks of life can be involved and that's not the case even in some developed countries.

When you're running, when you're in elected office, you're surrounded with power. And, so every single day, you have to remind yourself why you're here, and that people put you here for a reason.

What happens with identity politics sometimes is there's a competition among the oppressed: You're more oppressed than me and if not, then unfortunately you may not receive as much attention. What we need to do is make sure we're focusing on what our core American values are, and ensure that everyone feels as though we are in this together.

I think the Democratic Party is firmly in the wilderness right now and doesn't know exactly what to do. We talk about trust. Fundamentally, the American people have lost a lot of trust in both parties, but in particular, my party. Growing trust is a very simple calculation: People want to know what your values are, and they watch your behaviors. If your behaviors align with your values, then they trust you. If you say I'm for the people, but we're just as bought off as the other party, or we say we're for fairness, but we gerrymander just like the other side, people see.

As liberals are puppets in Donald Trump's show right now, all he needs to do is create any distraction and all of a sudden, the whole country is completely distracted, including the American left. We need to be laser focused on figuring out what are our values, what do we really want to be defending on the left, and how are we going to do that, coming up with the plan and moving forward.

You'd be surprised how quickly our identities evaporate when we were able to connect with people on a very personal level because we're all really trying to chase the same dream, we are looking for the same thing, we're raising our kids, we're just trying to get along. And, right now we are able to show people, hey, I'm just a human being like you are, I've got to take care of my kids and my family just like you, how can I help you?