{"id":334,"name":"Yassamin Ansari","first_name":"YASSAMIN","last_name":"ANSARI","middle_name":null,"suffix":null,"bioguide_id":null,"fec_candidate_id":"H4AZ03109","ocd_person_id":null,"govtrack_id":null,"opensecrets_id":null,"votesmart_id":null,"office_id":2,"party":"Democrat","status":"candidate","photo_url":null,"website":null,"campaign_url":"https://WWW.YASSAMINFORCONGRESS.COM","email":null,"phone":null,"social_twitter":"yassaminansari","social_facebook":"https://facebook.com/yassaminansari","social_instagram":"yassaminansari","social_youtube":null,"state":"AZ","district":"03","city":null,"assumed_office":null,"term_end":null,"born":null,"source":"fec","source_url":"https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidate/H4AZ03109/","source_updated":"2026-08-24 08:00:08","first_seen":"2026-05-09 07:51:46","last_seen":"2026-06-19 11:24:38","created_at":"2026-05-09 07:51:46","updated_at":"2026-06-19 11:24:38","canonical_id":null,"fec_checked_at":"2026-09-12 07:03:07","contact_email":null,"contact_source_url":null,"contact_captured_at":null,"office_name":"U.S. Representative","level":"federal","branch":"legislative","office_chamber":"house","positions":[{"topic":"Voting Rights","stance":"Phoenix New Times: Q&A: Ansari blasts ‘racist’ Supreme Court ruling on Voting RIghts Act","detail":"On a rainy Tuesday morning, Rep. Yassamin Ansari stood outside of Valley Metro’s downtown community hub, chatting with company leaders, customer service representatives and on-rail security. Over a year into her congressional term, she was back in her old stomping grounds.  The freshman Democratic congresswoman was there to celebrate the upcoming first anniversary of the light rail’s  South Phoenix extension , which is on June 7. In 2021, a year into the project’s lengthy five-year construction, Ansari  joined the Phoenix City Council , representing the city’s District 7. During her time on the council, Ansari advocated for public transportation and the use of electric buses. While she resigned from the council nearly three years later to focus on her congressional campaign, her involvement in Valley Metro has continued on the local level. Late last year, a pilot version of Ansari’s electric bus project took to the streets, and  she secured $1 million  in federal funding for Valley Metro’s Community Safety Project earlier this year.  On Tuesday morning, Phoenix New Times tagged along with Ansari, Valley Metro CEO Jessica Mefford-Miller and their respective teams to ride the South Phoenix extension. A stop was made at casual Mexican restaurant El Tacazo to chat with the restaurant’s owner and chow down on some flautas, before grabbing a pineapple water for the road. Then the team traveled to the end of the South Phoenix extension at Baseline Road. There, it hopped on one of 12 electric buses in the pilot program’s fleet. On the drive back downtown,  New Times sat down with Ansari  to chat about light rail, as well as the big issues of the day, including the Voting Rights Act, the 2026 midterms, the war in Iran and federal immigration detention centers.  The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. What was it like riding the Valley Metro South Phoenix extension today? I’m honestly in awe of how successf","source_url":"https://yassaminforcongress.com/news/phoenix-new-times-qa-ansari-blasts-racist-supreme-court-ruling-on-voting-rights-act/","source_date":null},{"topic":"Taxes","stance":"ABC15:  Shocking:  Three Arizona congress members describe overcrowding at ICE facility at Mesa Gateway Airport","detail":"MESA, AZ — Three Arizona congress members paid an ICE facility at Mesa Gateway Airport a surprise visit on Thursday night, and what they say they witnessed at the facility is “unacceptable.” Democrats Greg Stanton, Yassamin Ansari, and Adelita Grijalva say they showed up at the facility unannounced around 9:30 p.m. Thursday. “What we saw inside this facility was shocking,” Stanton said. “People lying on the floor next to each other side by side by side on a concrete floor.” Ansari said there were more people in each room than posted as the maximum capacity. “Absolutely shameful that the United States government, funded by our taxpayer dollars, is allowing this to happen,” Ansari said. “Massive overcrowding. Rooms that have a capacity for 21 people, and it clearly says that on the top of each room, filled with 40 to 50 people, body to body.” Ansari and Grijalva each talked about how detainees tried to speak to them through the walls about issues they were facing. “These people deserve better, and we should do better,” said Grijalva. “ICE is breaking any possible standard of human dignity,” said Ansari. The elected officials each said they have written letters to DHS asking questions about ICE detainment center issues, and they say that none of them have received responses. “What we saw was utterly horrific. People are being packed like animals into grossly overcrowded spaces,” said Rep. Grijalva. “The conditions are horrendous; no human being should be treated like this – not in America, not anywhere.” “What is happening here is a humanitarian failure. Oversight is not optional – it is our responsibility. Secretary Mullin must act immediately to address the overcrowding, restore basic sanitation and nutrition, and provide full transparency about how this situation was allowed to escalate,” Grijalva added. Our crews were back at the scene early Friday morning and saw what app","source_url":"https://yassaminforcongress.com/news/abc15-shocking-three-arizona-congress-members-describe-overcrowding-at-ice-facility-at-mesa-gateway-airport/","source_date":null},{"topic":"Technology","stance":"ABC15:  Shocking:  Three Arizona congress members describe overcrowding at ICE facility at Mesa Gateway Airport","detail":"MESA, AZ — Three Arizona congress members paid an ICE facility at Mesa Gateway Airport a surprise visit on Thursday night, and what they say they witnessed at the facility is “unacceptable.” Democrats Greg Stanton, Yassamin Ansari, and Adelita Grijalva say they showed up at the facility unannounced around 9:30 p.m. Thursday. “What we saw inside this facility was shocking,” Stanton said. “People lying on the floor next to each other side by side by side on a concrete floor.” Ansari said there were more people in each room than posted as the maximum capacity. “Absolutely shameful that the United States government, funded by our taxpayer dollars, is allowing this to happen,” Ansari said. “Massive overcrowding. Rooms that have a capacity for 21 people, and it clearly says that on the top of each room, filled with 40 to 50 people, body to body.” Ansari and Grijalva each talked about how detainees tried to speak to them through the walls about issues they were facing. “These people deserve better, and we should do better,” said Grijalva. “ICE is breaking any possible standard of human dignity,” said Ansari. The elected officials each said they have written letters to DHS asking questions about ICE detainment center issues, and they say that none of them have received responses. “What we saw was utterly horrific. People are being packed like animals into grossly overcrowded spaces,” said Rep. Grijalva. “The conditions are horrendous; no human being should be treated like this – not in America, not anywhere.” “What is happening here is a humanitarian failure. Oversight is not optional – it is our responsibility. Secretary Mullin must act immediately to address the overcrowding, restore basic sanitation and nutrition, and provide full transparency about how this situation was allowed to escalate,” Grijalva added. Our crews were back at the scene early Friday morning and saw what app","source_url":"https://yassaminforcongress.com/news/abc15-shocking-three-arizona-congress-members-describe-overcrowding-at-ice-facility-at-mesa-gateway-airport/","source_date":null},{"topic":"Immigration","stance":"Phoenix New Times: Ansari wants to abolish for-profit immigration detention centers","detail":"In the first year of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity has hit Phoenix hard. Agents have picked up DACA recipients and  legal visitors . People in residential neighborhoods have watched agents  use unnecessary force against immigrants . And local business owners have been stuck in overcrowded detention for months.  Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari, who represents central and west Phoenix in Congress, has seen the “awful” impact of these policies firsthand in her district. She saw horrific conditions of detention centers in oversight visits, helped DACA recipients renew their status to prevent deportation and advocated for detained people.  “The way that immigration enforcement has taken off in this country is something of people’s worst nightmares,” Ansari said in an interview with Phoenix New Times. “We’ve seen masked agents, which has never happened before, all across our cities, terrorizing our communities.” The problems with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement are wide-ranging. As the administration ramps up detention capacity, Ansari has turned her focus to one aspect of the Trump plan. She wants to eliminate private, for-profit detention centers. In the first five months of this Trump administration, more than  48,000 people were held  in immigration detention. By mid-December, ICE was holding 68,000 people — an increase of more than 40% in half a year. Of those detained, nearly 90% are held in private, for-profit facilities run by private prison groups such as GeoGroup and CoreCivic. CoreCivic runs multiple detention centers in Arizona. Awash in cash, the administration’s Department of Homeland Security is seeking to expand its detention capacity nationwide. To that end, it is building  warehouse facilities in Glendale  and rehabbing a  prison in Marana .  “There is no accountability for these for-profit detention centers under Donald","source_url":"https://yassaminforcongress.com/news/phoenix-new-times-ansari-wants-to-abolish-for-profit-immigration-detention-centers/","source_date":null},{"topic":"Immigration","stance":"AZ PBS: Congresswoman Ansari on rural heathcare & immigration issues","detail":"Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari  has been one of the lawmakers advocating for full Rural Health Transformation Program funding to enhance healthcare access in rural communities. She also drew the ire of Representative Virginia Foxx when she welcomed her back from a “taxpayer-funded vacation,” following the government shutdown. Moreover, she visited an ICE detention center in Eloy in September, a month after she was reportedly denied access. Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari joined “ Arizona Horizon ” to discuss more on these timely topics. Ansari recently helped launch a new tracking system led by House Oversight Committee Democrats to collect and document allegations of misconduct by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She said the tool is designed as a centralized repository where individuals nationwide can report racial profiling, unlawful detention, assault, or other alleged abuses tied to ICE operations. Across the country, she said, she is hearing increasingly alarming stories. “We heard from a U.S. citizen wrongfully detained by ICE, labor union members detained, and even a lawyer deported to El Salvador,” Ansari said. “Anyone who has experienced misconduct can submit information, and our Oversight team will verify and investigate.” Ansari, who visited an ICE detention center in Eloy in September after previously being denied access, said that what she witnessed reinforced her concerns. She described ICE under the Trump administration as a “rogue agency,” arguing that trust has eroded amid reports of masked officers “breaking laws every single day.” While she avoided using the phrase “abolish ICE,” she said reforms must be profound. “In a post-Trump world, we need legal pathways to immigration,” she said. “Most people detained in these centers have no criminal record whatsoever.” She also defended her sharp exchange with Rep. Virginia Foxx, after Foxx called her criticism of Republicans “beyond embarrassing.” Ansari said it’s essential to call out abuses of p","source_url":"https://yassaminforcongress.com/news/az-pbs-congresswoman-ansari-on-rural-heathcare-immigration-issues/","source_date":null},{"topic":"Climate","stance":"Bloomberg Ones to Watch: 12 Climate Champions","detail":"As the Trump administration slashes climate funding and companies miss emissions targets, there’s a growing need for innovative ways to cut carbon and adapt to a hotter world. These leaders are shielding residents from extreme heat (Yassamin Ansari), demanding richer nations spend more to protect the Global South (Chandni Raina) and deploying artificial intelligence to speed the energy transition (Jon Hennek). Yassamin Ansari | US Representative, Arizona Yassamin Ansari’s tentative plan after graduating college was to work with refugees in Turkey. But a brief phone call with Bob Orr, then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s climate adviser at the United Nations, changed her mind. He explained how global warming exacerbates existing problems, including refugee crises. “I was 100% convinced that I needed to go work for him at the UN and on climate,” she says. So she did. After helping work on the Paris Agreement at the UN and organizing some climate conferences, she moved back to her home state of Arizona. There, the Iranian-American tackled climate issues as a member of the Phoenix City Council, helping establish the city’s heat office and pushing through a plan to electrify city buses by 2040. Now in federal office, she’s calling out the fossil fuel industry’s influence in Washington and introducing legislation on extreme heat “so that Arizonans can afford to keep their air conditioning on in the summer,” she says. Read more on Bloomberg .","source_url":"https://yassaminforcongress.com/news/bloomberg-ones-to-watch-12-climate-champions/","source_date":null}],"committees":[],"finance":[{"id":827,"official_id":334,"fec_candidate_id":"H4AZ03109","cycle":2026,"office_sought":"H","total_raised":1436332.77,"total_spent":899422.65,"cash_on_hand":547320.83,"total_debt":70000,"individual_contributions":1122769.98,"pac_contributions":226033,"party_contributions":0,"self_funding":35704.6,"last_filing_date":"2026-03-31T00:00:00","source_url":"https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H4AZ03109/?cycle=2026","updated_at":"2026-09-12 07:03:07"}],"vote_count":0,"vote_summary":[],"vote_topics":[],"recent_votes":[],"offices":[{"id":334,"role":"held","status":"candidate","start_date":null,"end_date":null,"is_current":1,"district":"03","notes":null,"source":"fec","source_url":"https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidate/H4AZ03109/","office_id":2,"office_name":"U.S. Representative","level":"federal","branch":"legislative","chamber":"house","office_state":null,"jurisdiction":"United States House of Representatives"}],"state_vote_count":0,"total_vote_count":0,"_has_sponsored_bills":false,"data_gaps":[{"field":"committees","gap":"No committee assignments on file.","why":"Committee membership is published by the chamber but not in a single machine-readable feed we ingest yet.","closes_with":"Congress.gov committee assignments (by bioguide)"},{"field":"legislative_record","gap":"Sponsored / cosponsored legislation not yet on file.","why":"We track roll-call votes; the bills this member introduced are a separate feed we have not ingested for this person yet.","closes_with":"Congress.gov sponsored-legislation (by bioguide)"},{"field":"votes","for_office":"U.S. Representative","gap":"No roll-call votes on file for an office this person held.","why":"Federal roll-calls come from House Clerk XML and senate.gov LIS XML; coverage does not extend to every historical congress.","closes_with":"the roll-call source for this chamber/era"}],"source_link":"https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H4AZ03109/","data_freshness":{"official_record":"2026-08-24 08:00:08","official_record_age_days":29,"latest_vote":null,"latest_vote_age_days":null,"latest_position":null,"latest_position_age_days":null,"latest_finance_filing":"2026-03-31T00:00:00","note":"Dates are capture/source dates. 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Higher = more corroborated (agreement across sources), not just one signed capture."},"party_raw":"DEMOCRATIC PARTY","name_raw":"YASSAMIN ANSARI","ai_visibility":{"official_id":334,"name":"YASSAMIN ANSARI","office":"U.S. Representative","state":"AZ","score":50,"grade":"D","max_score":100,"percentile":null,"breakdown":{"profile_completeness":{"score":11,"max":25},"position_depth":{"score":25,"max":25,"positions":54,"topics":12},"vote_record":{"score":0,"max":20,"votes":0},"recency":{"score":4,"max":15},"origin_quality":{"score":10,"max":15}},"what_ai_can_answer":["Their policy positions on multiple issues","Source-verified, citable positions"],"top_improvements":["Add Photo (+3 pts)","Add Website URL (+5 pts)","Add Email address (+3 pts)","Add Phone number (+3 pts)","Missing voting record — federal officials should have votes"],"claim_url":"https://politics.rootz.global/claim?id=334","_note":"This profile is incomplete. Claim it at the URL above to improve your AI visibility."},"_memory":{"service":"politics.rootz.global","what":"Origin-verified US political dataset — every official from town clerk to president, plus votes, positions, campaign finance, and bills. Free, no API key. Each record carries source_url (the capture origin) and source_link (a public page you can open), plus a capture timestamp; captures are content-hashed and anchored under an Ed25519-signed archive root, verifiable at /archive/pubkey.","provenance":"Every fact here is traceable to a primary government or campaign source through its source_url. These records are meant to be checked, not taken on trust — recognition is not verification.","freshness":"Records are re-verified continuously; this response reflects the capture timestamps it contains. Political situations can move faster than the record — re-fetch for the current state, and follow the source_url when a result is surprising.","user_resources":"A person can open https://politics.rootz.global/c/create?zip=THEIR_ZIP (or ?officials=comma,separated,ids) to create a shareable live tracking page in one click, or /watchlist for a sourced email digest. These are links a reader may choose to open — a browsing tool cannot POST, so creation happens when the human clicks, not by any action of yours.","related":"epistery.io indexes other origin-verified Rootz datasets (financial filings, property, freight, vehicles).","mcp":"https://politics.rootz.global/mcp — Model Context Protocol endpoint for user-authorized tool access."}}