Aisha Wahab won the special election for the U.S. House of Representatives in California

Progressive Democrat and California State Senator Aisha Wahab won a special election for the U.S. House of Representatives in a district in the East Bay region. She will serve out the remainder of Congressman Eric Suolwell’s term, who resigned in April amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Suolwell denies the allegations, according to The Guardian World.

Wahab was considered the frontrunner in the race. She was endorsed by the California Democratic Party, the organization Our Revolution, labor unions, local officials, and State Attorney General Rob Bonta. In the primary ahead of the special election, she led Hernandez, the chair of the Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors, by more than 20 percentage points.

Despite Wahab’s significant lead throughout the campaign, the result turned out to be closer than expected. With 92% of the votes counted on Thursday afternoon, she was leading Hernandez by just over six percentage points.

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Hernandez’s campaign received significant backing from Super PACs affiliated with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). It was previously reported that these committees spent more than $5 million in just a few weeks on ads supporting Hernandez and spots criticizing Wahab. According to Track AIPAC, which monitors this group’s funding of American politicians, the lobby spent nearly $6.4 million in support of Hernandez.

Wahab is the first Muslim woman and the first American of Afghan descent to be elected to the California legislature. She told The Guardian about the sudden appearance of critical ads, which she said distorted her political record. Wahab called the Super PAC’s involvement an interference in the election and stated that they were trying to buy her seat.

Toward the end of the campaign, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, the leader of the California Democratic delegation, endorsed Hernandez. She stated that Wahab had not supported the initiative to appoint an interim candidate to fill the vacancy as quickly as possible. At the same time, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party continued to support Wahab.