Councilmember Zulfat Suara

Until Zulfat Suara’s historic 2019 election, no Muslim person had ever been elected to office in Tennessee. When we began working with Zulfat in early 2019, it looked like there was a good chance that streak would continue. Zulfat had low name recognition and in a race for Nashville’s Metro Council At-Large, there were almost 20 candidates vying for just 5 seats – two of which were held by incumbents running for re-election.

When we started with Zulfat, we found that her story resonated deeply with progressives. We arranged meet and greet events across the city with different progressive constituency groups, so she began to raise money and build momentum. Our call time and events-based plan helped garner local attention from many different communities.

Unfortunately with that attention came death threats from racists in and outside of Tennessee. Thankfully the Nashville community supported Zulfat and we were able to organize a number of large fundraising events in the final months of the campaign to help propel her to victory!

“Triumph’s guidance and encouragement along with their deep knowledge of fundraising methodology were instrumental in my successful election to city council. The best part for me was the relationship. Triumph staff do not treat me as a client, but as a friend. They believe in me and in my campaign, which shows in how invested they in electing their clients and how hard they work. I am very grateful for their partnership and friendship.”

Zulfat Suara, Councilmember At-Large