Aisha Wahab Wins California Special Election to Replace Eric Swalwell
New York Times · LC · trust 63/100
Aisha Wahab, a Democratic state senator in California, will fill out the term of Eric Swalwell, who resigned from the House amid accusations of sexual misconduct.
Listen · 4:12 min Share full article State Senator Aisha Wahab addresses media at her election-night watch party in Hayward, Calif., on Tuesday. Credit... Heather Diehl/Getty Images By Jennifer Medina
Ms. Wahab was widely seen as the front-runner to represent California’s 14th Congressional District, after she won the June primary for the race with 43 percent of the vote. But this week’s election results were far tighter, and the race was too close to call for two days as local officials continued to count ballots until Thursday.
In the closing days of the race, several super PACs — including two with ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — spent millions on advertisements on television and social media targeting the district’s voters in the suburbs east of San Francisco.
United Democracy Project, AIPAC’s super PAC, spent roughly $2.5 million, primarily denouncing Ms. Wahab.
Neither candidate had made foreign policy central to their campaign. But the race became the latest in a string of Democratic primaries that pitted candidates from the more progressive faction of the party against those from the establishment wings in a kind of proxy battle over Israel.
This month, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan after AIPAC spent $32 million in an attempt to defeat him. Dr. El-Sayed won in part by making criticism of the group central to his campaign. Ms. Wahab’s victory is another sign of the committee’s weakened influence in Democratic primaries, even through its constant heavy spending.
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