Swalwell May Be Replaced by First Afghan Muslim Congresswoman

Who will replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell? It won’t be some white guy. Here’s the list of candidates.

 In attendance were Democrats Aisha Wahab, Melissa Hernandez, Carin Elam, Rakhi Israni and Matt Ortega, as well as Republican Wendy Huang. Dublin resident Dena Maldonado, a Republican on the ballot, bowed out Sunday afternoon. San Leandro City Councilmember Victor Aguilar Jr., a Democrat, and newcomer Suzanne Chenault, listed with no party preference, did not respond to invitations to join the debate.

Aisha Wahab, an Afghan Muslim, appears to have the inside track and is holding the process ‘hostage’.

Five Democratic candidates running in the regularly-scheduled primary to succeed Swalwell for a full term have pledged they would not also run in the June 16 special election. Their hope is that rallying around a single candidate would ensure that person wins an outright majority in the primary and could be quickly sworn in.

But one Democratic contender, state Sen. Aisha Wahab, has not signed on, according to two people familiar with the document and granted anonymity to describe it. Having two or more Democrats on the ballot in the reliably blue district would all but guarantee the need for a run-off in mid-August, and the winner would not be seated until Congress returned from its August recess.

Wahab, who is also running for a full term, didn’t immediately respond to a text message seeking comment. She’s endorsed by institutional players including the California Democratic Party, Wieckowski and members of the state’s congressional delegation — Reps. Robert Garcia, Kevin Mullin and Lateefah Simon — but the large crop of Democratic contenders is nevertheless expected to dilute the vote.

The California Democratic Party would be a rather major ‘institutional player’ indeed.

State Sen. Aisha Wahab’s gender politics though make Swalwell look like a feminist.

Sen. Aisha Wahab, the first Afghan or Muslim senator, who had joined with her political allies to amend Senate Bill 1414 to protect those soliciting 16-year-olds for sex. Worse still, the process weakened the punishment for child predators.

Sen. Wahab shut down efforts to bring more witnesses to testify in support of the bill.

“Solicitation is not trafficking. Solicitation is not prostitution. Solicitation is a verbal request of an action in exchange for money that is usually sexual in nature,” the first Afghan Muslim politician had argued.

And the resulting bill, according to Sen. Grove, allows child sexual solicitation to “still be charged as a misdemeanor, punishable by as little as 2 days in jail OR up to a $10,000 fine.”

“Are you forcing these amendments on me, Madam Chair?” Sen. Grove had asked.

“Most likely, yes,” Sen. Wahab retorted.

It was fitting then that Sen. Aisha Wahab was named after the historical Islamic figure of Aisha, the 7-year-old ‘child bride’ of Mohamed, the founder of Islam, whom he married and raped.

Wahab, who claims to be the “First Afghan Woman in the Nation to Be Elected to Public Office”, had previously advanced a ‘Hinduphobic’ ‘caste discrimination bill’ targeting Hindus. Indian-Americans in Wahab’s district responded to the Anti-Hindu effort by the only Muslim senator with a recall campaign that was, like a number of such community efforts, sabotaged by the Democratic political machine which had protected the radical Muslim leftist politician.

“It’s disappointing to see that this is their third attempt, based on the fact that I carried a bill about civil rights and they’re not happy with it,” the Muslim politician blasted Hindus.

Now, California Dems are preparing to shove Wahab into Congress and chatter about how historic having the first Afghan Muslim woman in Congress will be.