Progressive Aisha Wahab was elected to Congress in a special election Tuesday following a bitter battle within the party for the seat previously held by Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April after facing allegations of sexual misconduct. Swalwell has denied the allegations. Wahab, a state senator, was widely considered the front-runner in California’s East Bay district and had the backing of the state Democratic Party, as well as Our Revolution, unions, local officials and state Attorney General Rob Bonta. He won the primary for the special election in the final months of Swalwell’s term by more than 20 points over Hernandez, the board president of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) agency. While Wahab maintained a large lead throughout the race, Hernandez’s campaign received a significant boost when Super Pacs connected to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) poured money into the race. With 92% of the votes counted Thursday afternoon, Wahab led Hernandez by just over six points, a much closer race than expected. Earlier this month, it emerged that the Super Pacs had spent more than $5 million in a matter of weeks on pro-Hernández ads and attack ads against Wahab. Track Aipac, which oversees the group’s funding of U.S. politicians, recently reported that the lobby had spent nearly $6.4 million to support Hernández. Wahab, the first Muslim and Afghan-American woman elected to the California legislature, told The Guardian that there had been a sudden surge in critical ads that had misrepresented her record. He described the Super Pacs’ involvement as election interference and said they were trying to buy the seat. The race intensified further in recent days after Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, chairwoman of the California Democratic delegation, endorsed Hernandez. Lofgren said Wahab did not support an effort to elect an interim candidate to fill Swalwell’s seat as quickly as possible. But the progressive wing of the party strongly supported Wahab, and a former chair of the California Democratic Party’s progressive caucus, Amar Shergill, told Politico that Lofgren’s actions were “surprising” and he continued to back Wahab amid turmoil in the race in recent weeks.
