Aisha Wahab Defeats AIPAC-Backed Attack Ads, Becomes First Afghan American Elected to Congress

Aisha Wahab will be sworn in as the first Afghan American member of Congress after winning a special election in California, defeating Democratic rival Melissa Hernandez in a race that drew heavy outside spending from pro-Israel groups.

Wahab, a progressive state senator, was running to fill the seat vacated by Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April amid allegations of sexual misconduct. In the closing weeks of the campaign, her district was hit with attack ads from pro-Israel organizations, according to Wahab and Democracy Now! reporting on the race.

Speaking to Democracy Now!, Wahab credited voters for rejecting the messaging.

"Seeing through the lies that were spread by AIPAC," Wahab said of the district's voters, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

The characterization of AIPAC's ads as containing falsehoods is Wahab's own account. The full content of the ads and the scale of AIPAC-linked spending in the race were not detailed in available reporting, and AIPAC has not offered a public response to Wahab's remarks as of this writing.

The outcome nonetheless lands the group on the losing side of another closely watched contest. AIPAC and affiliated super PACs have poured tens of millions of dollars into House and Senate primaries in recent cycles, frequently targeting progressive candidates seen as critical of Israeli government policy. Wahab's win adds to a growing list of races where that spending failed to determine the result.

Before her election to the state Senate, Wahab was known in California for legislation addressing caste-based discrimination, making her one of the few American lawmakers to take up the issue directly. In her Democracy Now! interview she also called for the United States to engage directly with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, framing diplomatic contact as a way of "steering them in the right direction" on human rights, a position that remains her own and is not U.S. policy.

Wahab's swearing-in will make her the sole Afghan American currently serving in Congress. Her campaign's success against AIPAC-aligned spending arrives amid broader scrutiny of the lobby's financial footprint in congressional races, an area Occupation Watch continues to track as part of the money and political infrastructure that shapes U.S. policy toward Israel and the occupation.