Aisha Farooqi, an attorney and congressional candidate running for Congress in Michigan’s 11th District, doesn’t just advocate on behalf of the realities that form a working-class life, but lives them.
Michigan’s 11th District seat, formerly held by Rep. Haley Stevens, is now open as Stevens, along with Michigan Doctor Abdul El-Sayed and Michigan Senator Mallory McMorrow, eye the senatorial seat occupied by Senator Gary Peters. Peters, last year, announced that he would not seek reelection in 2026.
Whiile growing up in Detroit and Farmington Hills, Farooqi experienced socioeconomic disparity firsthand, but remains driven by the grit of family and the communities she has represented throughout her legal career.
Her family’s chapter in the United States might have begun like that of countless other immigrant families, but was paved by another driving force entirely.
Her mother’s pursuit of a scholarship from the University of Detroit Mercy was what ultimately moved them from Lahore, Pakistan, to Detroit in 1993. While she worked towards completing her degree, Farooqi’s father was employed by a small auto-supplier business, owned by the Leonelli family. At a young age, she was inspired by the integrity of her parents, who, despite financial stressors, always looked for opportunities to give back.
However, at times, she found that the American Dream did not live up to its expectations due to a stark wealth gap.
“During one semester, we [Farooqi and her sister] didn’t have textbooks and my teacher, Mr. White, made copies of the lesson plan…and that’s something that stayed with me because we came here for a better life, for the freedoms and the opportunities that America once stood for,” Farooqi said of attending an underserved school.
To this day, some schools in the Detroit Public School Community District (DPSCD) are slated for eventual closure, as state and federal funds become incompatible with the cost-per-student.
Farooqi’s early experiences, in conjunction with the high cost of living and inequities faced by her constituents, set a tone for her campaign, which she defines as one built around affordability, government accountability and protecting civil liberties.
Farooqi saw legal advocacy as a way to honor her parents, who had sacrificed to lay a foundation of opportunity for their daughters.
After graduating with a law degree from her mother’s alma mater, Farooqi worked at the Wayne County Circuit Court before opening her own law firm, often providing pro-bono legal services to clients with low incomes.
She counts her time at Lakeshore Legal Aid, a clinic that provides free or low-cost representation and resources to clients with limited income, as one of the most formative experiences of her career. The needs she encountered throughout her work ultimately motivated Farooqi’s campaign for elected office— a decision she sees as furthering a mission of service
Farooqi said that, in working across the domains of private and public law, clients’ struggles become evident.
“I’m having conversations with individuals and they’re talking about their premiums going up. They’re worried that their utility bills are too high. They’re worried about gas prices. They’re worried about not being able to afford groceries,” she said.
When Detroit lifted its moratorium on evictions in 2022, returning the rate to pre-pandemic levels, Farooqi represented a woman who was on the verge of losing her home. She notes that the crisis continues to be a nightmare for many families. It especially impacts single parents, whose children are at higher risk of being placed into foster care after an eviction.
Family and immigration law comprise two other backbones of her legal background. For Farooqi, who worked in the juvenile division, it is about giving the potential of youth—limited by institutionally-created conditions— a second chance to flourish.
An accolade of her specialization in this division came on May 22, 2025, when she was appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board. Created in 1982 by the state legislature, it reflects Farooqi’s career-long endeavor to promote health, stability and welfare among Michigan families.
As a naturalized citizen, Farooqi understands the barriers to becoming a U.S. citizen. If elected, she says she will prioritize reforms to the immigration system that streamlines the process and creates a pathway to citizenship for the now adult DREAMers—a generation of children raised in the U.S. whose parents arrived undocumented.
She referred to America’s unique identity as a nation settled by historic waves of immigration. The constitutional principles that protect intellectual, religious and ethnic diversity are part of an American experiment of co-creation. Farooqi described the Trump Administration’s mass deportations as incompatible with this founding vision.
“I think that our nation is for the people, by the people… and what’s happening right now is—this is not who we are,” she said.
Farooqi acknowledged a difficult tradeoff in grassroots campaigns like her own, which aren’t financed at the same level as those backed by corporate PACs. Despite this challenge, she identified one strength of a bottom-up approach: the spirit of the people involved.
“A lot of people who are involved in the campaign are involved in the campaign, not because they’re getting a lot of money out of it. It’s because they genuinely want to see their communities thrive … so that’s been really…that’s brought me a lot of joy—seeing people getting involved simply because they want to do good,” Farooqi said.
Farooqi also believes that being her own representative affords a more personal, direct link to constituents.
“When I go and have a conversation with an individual from a community, it’s more about listening to them,” Farooqi said when explaining how her approach differs from canvassing.
“It doesn’t hurt to be kind and to just have conversations with community members and say, ‘ Hey, it’s gonna get better,’ and to inspire hope in others. I think we all need a little bit of that,” she said.
