New Delhi: Aisha Wahab’s win in a special election makes her the first Afghan-American elected to the US Congress.
Wahab defeated fellow Democratic Party member Melissa Hernandez for the California state senate after Eric Swalwell vacated the seat over sexual misconduct allegations in April.
“From foster care to Congress, this journey shows the possibility of the American Dream. Today this district made history by electing the first Afghan American to Congress,” Wahab said in a statement after the results. The 39-year-old will represent the state’s 14th Congressional District till January.
“I will fight for the district that raised me,” she added.
Before this election, Wahab was already the first Afghan American elected to public office in the United States, having won a Hayward City Council seat in 2018.
Afghan refugee to living the American Dream
Born to refugees in New York City, Wahab’s parents fled Afghanistan amid the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s. She lost both her parents at a young age. She and her sister ended up in foster care and were eventually adopted by an Afghan couple in Fremont, California.
“Her experiences inform her understanding of the struggles many silently face,” reads her website.
She has struggled with the cost of living. In 2011, her family home was foreclosed, her parents lost their business, her father’s health began to deteriorate, and Wahab was laid off from her job.
Wahab’s family then moved to Hayward, where she began to attend council meetings and advocate for affordable housing.
In 2022, she was elected to the California State Senate. Two years later, she was appointed Senate assistant majority leader and serves as chair of the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee. Later that same year, Wahab earned a doctorate in social work from the University of Southern California.
In the California State Senate, she maintained a legislative portfolio spanning housing, public safety, health and human services.
Wahab’s housing-related legislative work has included more than twenty bills addressing tenant protections and rental practices. Her health-related legislation has included measures expanding access to essential services and addressing equity in public health settings.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)