California lawmaker Aisha Wahab has won a special election to serve the remainder of former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s term in the U.S. House of Representatives, a term that concludes in January. Wahab defeated Bay Area Rapid Transit Director Melissa Hernandez in the race for California’s 14th Congressional District, which encompasses parts of Alameda County.
Wahab’s victory makes her the first Afghan American to serve in Congress. She previously became the first Afghan American elected to public office in the U.S. when she won a Hayward City Council seat in 2018.
Swalwell, a Democrat, resigned from Congress in April following accusations of sexual assault and harassment, which he has denied. He had been running for California governor. The special election was held to fill the vacancy left by his resignation.
Wahab has focused on issues such as housing affordability and access. In 2023, she authored a bill to ban caste-based discrimination, a move that gained national attention, though it was ultimately vetoed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who stated that existing civil rights protections already prohibit such discrimination.
The special election concludes as criminal investigations into the sexual assault allegations against Swalwell continue. Federal agents reportedly seized electronic devices from Swalwell at San Francisco International Airport and later searched his Washington D.C. home, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
Wahab and Hernandez are slated to compete again in a separate election in November to determine who will represent the 14th Congressional District for the full two-year term beginning in January 2025. Wahab had previously won the June primary by a significant margin. Ahead of the general election, groups affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) reportedly spent millions of dollars supporting Hernandez and opposing Wahab.