California lawmaker overcomes pro-Israel spending to win special election

California state Senator Aisha Wahab has won a special election to fill the seat of former United States Congressman Eric Swalwell, overcoming a deluge of attack advertising funded by pro-Israel groups in the final weeks of the race.

US media outlets projected on Thursday that Wahab, a progressive, had beaten her rival, moderate Democrat Melissa Hernandez.
She will now represent California’s 14th congressional district, which includes the southeastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, for the remainder of Swalwell’s term, which ends in January.

“I will fight for this district that raised me,” Wahab said in a statement, adding that her victory shows that her district “cannot be bought”.

“From foster care to Congress, this journey shows the possibility of the American Dream.”
Wahab, a longtime supporter of economic and social justice issues in California’s state legislature, is set to become the first Afghan American member of the US Congress.

The special election was triggered when Swalwell resigned in April, following reports of alleged sexual assault, which he denied.

The race is the latest to test the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in the US, where support for the country has dropped precipitously amid its genocidal war on Gaza.

According to an Associated Press poll released in July, roughly a third of US adults believed Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, a position backed by United Nations experts and rights groups.

While foreign policy was not a main pillar of her campaign, Wahab has echoed those views during her time in politics.