The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is extremely heartened by Virginia’s election of Democrat state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi as the state’s first female Muslim lieutenant governor, deeming this “historic.”
Hashmi defeated Republican radio host and political strategist John Reid in the night’s election, with the Associated Press (AP) calling the race for the Democrat at 8:28 p.m. ET.
As of Wednesday morning, with 96.5 percent of the votes in, Hashmi led Reid with 55.6 percent of the vote compared to Reid’s 44.2 percent.
“We congratulate all the reelected and newly-elected leaders in Virginia, including state senator Ghazala Hashmi. State Senator Hashmi has made history as the first Muslim woman elected to any statewide office in the United States,” CAIR said in a statement.
“We hope this historic moment will inspire American Muslims to continue pursuing public service in Virginia and across the country,” CAIR added.
During her victory speech, Hashmi declared that politics must be “more inclusive and focused on solving problems instead of scoring maximum points on the backs of other people’s pain.”
She also touted her status as a Muslim woman.
“My own journey from a young child landing at the airport in Savannah to now being elected as the first Muslim woman to achieve statewide office — the first Muslim woman to achieve statewide office, not just in Virginia, but in the entire country,” she said to cheers in the crowd, asserting that she decided to run for Lieutenant Governor because she observed what she described as the “targeting and the scapegoating of marginalized communities.”
“I decided to run for public office because no one in this country should be made to feel as though they’re not welcome in their neighborhoods or in their own communities,” she declared.
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CAIR also released a statement celebrating the victory of New York City’s socialist Muslim Zohran Mamdani winning the mayoral race, deeming it a “historic turning point for American Muslim political engagement” and “historic rebuke of both Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism in politics.”
“We commend the college students and other young people in New York City who, just one year after being smeared and brutalized for protesting the genocide in Gaza, helped elect a mayor who vocally opposes that genocide and supports the right to peaceful protest,” CAIR continued, asserting that Americans everywhere should “celebrate our nation for once again showing that America is a place where people of all races, faiths, and backgrounds can make history.”
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