Progressive California lawmaker Wahab wins special election despite pro-Israel spending blitz

Aisha Wahab stood at a threshold on Thursday. The California state senator, a progressive who had spent months speaking plainly about Gaza—calling it a genocide, co-authoring resolutions about humanitarian catastrophe—had just won a special election to fill Eric Swalwell's congressional seat. She would represent California's 14th district, a swath of the southeastern San Francisco Bay Area, for the remainder of his term ending in January. More than that, she would become the first Afghan American member of Congress. "I will fight for this district that raised me," she said in a statement. "From foster care to Congress, this journey shows the possibility of the American Dream."

What made the victory notable was not simply that Wahab won, but how she won. In the final weeks before the election, pro-Israel groups had unleashed a torrent of spending against her. The United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, spent nearly $2.5 million. BOLD America, another group funded by AIPAC, spent $1.9 million more. That was $4.4 million in attack advertising in a special election race—a staggering sum designed to move voters away from a candidate whose positions on the war in Gaza were unambiguous.

The spending had worked to tighten the race. Wahab had dominated the June primary with more than 42 percent of the vote to her rival Melissa Hernandez's 17 percent. But as the money poured in during August, the gap narrowed. Some of the advertising did not even mention Israel directly. One spot made misleading claims that Wahab had weakened laws against sex trafficking of minors. She responded with a video of her own, pointing out that she had made trafficking and solicitation of minors illegal and a felony. She called the campaign "$5 million of lies."

Hernandez, a moderate Democrat, had taken a more cautious line on Gaza. She acknowledged Israel's right to defend itself but said the destruction had gone "too far." She did not answer directly when asked whether she believed Israel's actions constituted genocide. Wahab had answered yes, without hesitation. She had also co-authored a state resolution the previous year denouncing what she called the "horrific humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza" and calling for an end to the war. These were not peripheral positions for her. They reflected a broader commitment to economic and social justice that had defined her time in the state legislature, where she had focused on housing affordability and authored a bill to ban caste-based discrimination—a measure Governor Gavin Newsom ultimately vetoed.

Wahab's victory was the latest in a pattern. Across the country during the 2026 midterm season, progressive candidates critical of Israel's war had overcome heavy spending from pro-Israel groups. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed had advanced to the general election despite similar pressure. The political landscape had shifted. According to an Associated Press poll released in July, roughly a third of American adults believed Israel had committed genocide in Gaza—a position backed by United Nations experts and human rights organizations. Support for Israel had dropped precipitously as the war in Gaza continued.

The special election had been triggered in April when Swalwell resigned following reports of alleged sexual assault, which he denied. Now Wahab would serve out his term and face Hernandez again in November, when both would compete for a full two-year term. The rematch would test whether Wahab's victory was a one-time outcome or evidence of a deeper shift in how voters weighed foreign policy against the spending power arrayed against it. Ro Khanna, a progressive California representative, offered his congratulations and spoke of working together on Medicare for All, a living wage, and ending the war in Iran—a signal that Wahab's arrival in Congress would align her with a particular wing of the Democratic caucus.