{"id":439975,"date":"2026-08-22T01:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T01:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/439975\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T01:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T01:16:08","slug":"california-lawmaker-overcomes-pro-israel-spending-to-win-special-election-elections-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/439975\/","title":{"rendered":"California lawmaker overcomes pro-Israel spending to win special election | Elections News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

US media outlets projected on Thursday that Wahab, a progressive, had beaten her rival, moderate Democrat Melissa Hernandez.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

She will now represent California\u2019s 14th congressional district, which includes the southeastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, for the remainder of Swalwell\u2019s term, which ends in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will fight for this district that raised me,\u201d Wahab said in a statement, adding that her victory shows that her district \u201ccannot be bought\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom foster care to Congress, this journey shows the possibility of the American Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wahab, a longtime supporter of economic and social justice issues<\/a> in California\u2019s state legislature, is set to become the first Afghan American member of the US Congress.<\/p>\n

The special election was triggered when Swalwell\u00a0resigned in April, following reports of alleged sexual assault, which he denied.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>\u00a0amid its genocidal war on Gaza.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

While foreign policy was not a main pillar of her campaign, Wahab has echoed those views during her time in politics.<\/p>\n

Last year, she co-authored a state resolution denouncing the \u201chorrific humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza\u201d and calling for an end to the war.<\/p>\n

At a candidate forum in April, Wahab also answered \u201cyes\u201d when asked whether she believed what was happening to the Palestinian people constituted a genocide.<\/p>\n

Hernandez, by contrast, did not give a direct answer. She said that, while Israel had a right to defend itself, the destruction in Gaza had gone \u201ctoo far\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wahab went on to win June\u2019s primary for the special election by a wide margin, with more than 42 percent of the vote to Hernandez\u2019s 17.<\/p>\n

But the race tightened as the United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), spent nearly $2.5m since early August to boost Hernandez, according to media reports.<\/p>\n

The news outlet CNN reported that BOLD America, another group that receives funding from AIPAC, also spent $1.9m.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

While pro-Israel groups have sought to shape elections through massive spending, such efforts<\/a> have faced several high-profile setbacks across the country during the 2026 midterm election season.<\/p>\n

Progressive candidates including Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed have overcome heavy spending from pro-Israel groups in the midterm primaries to advance to November\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n

Some of that spending, however, has gone to advertising that does not mention Israel or place the issue prominently.<\/p>\n

One ad against Wahab, for instance, focused on misleading claims that she had weakened laws against the sex-trafficking of minors. Wahab released her own video, emphasising that she had made it \u201cillegal and a felony to traffic or solicit minors, across the board\u201d. She called the advertising \u201c$5m of lies\u201d.<\/p>\n

During her time in the state legislature, Wahab focused on issues such as housing affordability and authored a bill that would have banned caste-based discrimination. It was ultimately vetoed by California Governor Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n

Wahab will have a rematch against Hernandez in November, when both women will compete for the chance to represent California\u2019s 14th district for a full two-year term.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations Aisha Wahab on your decisive victory,\u201d Ro Khanna, a progressive representative from California, said in response to Wahab\u2019s win. \u201cI look forward to working with you on Medicare for All, a living wage, and ending the war in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California state Senator Aisha Wahab has won a special election to fill the seat of former United States…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,989,405,137356,100,13,435,9098,129820],"class_list":["post-439975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-elections","tag-government","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-us-midterm-elections-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}