Aisha Wahab became the first Afghan American elected to the US Congress late Thursday after she was declared the winner of a special runoff election to fill California’s 14th Congressional District seat vacated by former US Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned amid sexual assault allegations.
With 100% of the ballots counted, Wahab received 53.1% of the vote, defeating her fellow Democratic opponent Melissa Hernandez, who tallied 46.9%.
Wahab, the first Muslim and first Afghan American to be elected to the California Senate, ran on a progressive Democratic platform that was pro-Palestinian.
Her counterpart, Hernandez, ran on a pro-Israeli platform and received a huge boost in campaign funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which contributed nearly $3 million to Hernandez’s campaign, according to Politico, adding that of the $4 million put into both campaigns since July, $3.7 million of that funding went to Hernandez.
“I am very proud of this district looking at the millions of dollars of outside money pouring in with false rhetoric, false narratives, and false records, and seeing through it and voting for me,” Wahab said in an interview with the CBS television station in San Francisco.
Hernandez told the CBS station that she likes her chances in the November rematch against Wahab with a newly redrawn congressional map for the 14th District, which she said included 26,000 more voters.
“I will gain Dublin back, the city I was mayor in, seeing that I will be able to gain thousands more voters there,” said Hernandez. “Our team has done an amazing job to be able to close a gap by 20 points. I think folks need to remember that.”
The rematch between Wahab and Hernandez takes place during the midterms on Nov. 3.
