Progressive opposed by AIPAC declared winner of California special election

California state Senator Aisha Wahab will serve out the rest of former representative Eric Swalwell’s term after securing victory Thursday in a special election.

Swalwell, a Democrat who was running for California governor, ended his campaign and resigned from Congress in April after he was accused of sexual assault and harassment, which he denies. Wahab will represent the state’s 14th Congressional District, which covers parts of Alameda County on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay, through Swalwell’s term ending in January.

She will be the first Afghan American to serve in Congress. The progressive Democrat defeated Bay Area Rapid Transit Director Melissa Hernandez even after a swell of spending by outside groups opposing Wahab in the race’s final stretch. She says her victory shows her district “cannot be bought.”

“I will fight for this district that raised me,” Wahab says in a statement. “From foster care to Congress, this journey shows the possibility of the American Dream.”

Hernandez’s campaign doesn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wahab and Hernandez will face off again in a separate November election determining who will serve the next full two-year term.

Wahab won the June primary decisively, but she faced aggressive efforts to boost her rival ahead of the general. Groups affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, poured millions into supporting Hernandez, and thousands into opposing Wahab, who supports ending military aid to Israel and accused it of genocide during the Gaza war with Hamas.