Aisha Wahab
American politician (born 1987)
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Aisha Wahab (born January 11, 1987) is an American politician who has served as the California state senator from the 10th district since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Wahab is the first Muslim and Afghan American elected to the California State Senate. She previously served on the Hayward City Council from 2018 to 2022.
Aisha Wahab | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of the California State Senate from the 10th district | |
| Assumed office December 5, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Bob Wieckowski |
| Member of the Hayward City Council | |
| In office December 11, 2018 – December 5, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Marvin Peixoto |
| Succeeded by | George Syrop |
| Constituency | At-large district |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 11, 1987 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Education | San Jose State University (BA) California State University, East Bay (MBA) University of Southern California (DSW) |
Born to Afghan refugees in New York City, Wahab was raised in Fremont and has a doctorate in social work from the University of Southern California. She worked in non-profit organizations and consulting before entering politics. Upon being elected to the Hayward City Council in 2018, she became one of the first Afghan Americans elected to public office in the United States. She was elected to the California State Senate in 2022.
In 2024, Wahab was named Assistant Majority Leader and currently serves as chair of the Senate Business, Professions & Economic Development Committee.[1] She has announced her candidacy for Congress in California's 14th congressional district in 2026.[2][3]
Early life and education
Wahab was born in Queens, New York City, to refugees who fled Afghanistan amid the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s. Soon after her birth, her father was murdered and her mother died shortly thereafter, leaving Wahab and her sister in foster care. Wahab and her sister were adopted by an Afghan couple in Fremont, California, where she was raised.[4] She graduated from John F. Kennedy High School and Ohlone College before earning a bachelor of arts in political science from San Jose State University in 2010.[5]
During and after college, Wahab was an account manager and business development director for various startup companies in the Bay Area. In 2011, economic impacts of the Great Recession caused Wahab to be laid off from her job and her parents to lose their business. When Wahab's parents' home was foreclosed on, the family was priced out of Fremont and forced to move to Hayward, California, where they became renters.[6]
Wahab earned a master of business administration from California State University, East Bay in 2013. She was involved in student government during graduate school and became an IT consultant after graduation.[7][8]
In 2024, Wahab completed a doctorate in social work through the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California.[9]
Early political career
Hayward City Council
Wahab ran for Hayward City Council in 2018. She was the top vote-getter in a field of seven candidates vying for an at-large city council seat, beating out two incumbents.[10] Along with New Hampshire State Representative Safiya Wazir, Wahab was the first Afghan-American elected to public office in the United States.[4]
In 2019, California state assemblymember Bill Quirk recognized Wahab as Woman of the Year from Assembly District 20.[11]
Wahab served one term on the city council from 2018 to 2022. She did not run for re-election in 2022, instead successfully running for California State Senate.
2020 congressional campaign
After incumbent U.S. representative Eric Swalwell announced he would run in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Wahab announced she would run to replace him in California's 15th congressional district.[12] Her support for progressive policies such as Medicare for All and identity as a millennial women of color led to comparisons to freshman representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.[13] Swalwell ultimately ended his presidential campaign and ran for re-election to Congress, leading Wahab to suspend her campaign three weeks later.[14]
California State Senate
2022 election
Wahab announced she would run for the California State Senate in the 10th district, which spans from Hayward to Sunnyvale. Incumbent state senator Bob Wieckowski was term-limited and endorsed Wahab to succeed him.[15] During the campaign, she noted that she would focus on California's housing crisis and stagnating wages. California state assemblymember Alex Lee, whose district overlaps with Wahab's, and former Federal Election Commission chair Ann Ravel backed her campaign.[16] She advanced to the top-two primary on June 7, 2022, and won the general election on November 8, 2022. She defeated Fremont mayor Lily Mei, a more establishment-oriented Democrat, in the general election.[17] Her victory made her the first Muslim and Afghan American elected to the California State Senate.[17]
Tenure
Wahab was sworn in as a state senator on December 5, 2022. She is the first Muslim and Afghan American to serve in the California State Senate.[18] Since taking office, Wahab has maintained a broad legislative portfolio spanning housing, public safety, health and human services, infrastructure, workforce development, and labor protections. During the 2023–2025 legislative sessions, she authored, principal-coauthored, or coauthored legislation across these policy areas, with dozens of measures enacted into law and others advancing through committee and appropriations processes.
Her housing-related legislative work has included more than twenty bills addressing tenant protections, rental practices, and housing affordability, alongside committee-level leadership on broader housing policy and infrastructure considerations. In the area of child welfare and human services, she has authored and supported numerous measures focused on foster youth, post-adoption protections, and service delivery standards.[19]
Wahab’s health-related legislation has included measures expanding access to essential services and addressing equity in public health settings, while her public safety work has addressed firearm safety, traffic enforcement practices, and criminal justice procedures. Additional legislative activity has focused on workforce development, economic security, infrastructure planning, and labor and workplace protections.[20]
Enacted legislation authored by Wahab includes measures addressing tenant security deposits, menstrual equity in schools and public facilities, expanded educational support for foster and homeless youth, post-adoption contact protections, and reforms affecting criminal records and survivor access to justice.[21]
Caste discrimination
In March 2023, Wahab introduced SB 403, a bill with a broad objective to prohibit caste discrimination.[22] The SB 403 bill, which involved adding caste into the definition of ancestry under multiple discrimination laws,[23] was passed by the California State Senate in May 2023 after a divisive debate.[24][22] The bill was considered controversial by many in the South Asian community;[22] and Wahab was subject to recall efforts, which ultimately did not get enough signatures to appear on the ballot.[25][26] While the proponents of the bill claimed that an explicit ban on caste discrimination was needed to increase awareness on such bias, the opponents including several Indian-American organizations insisted that this proposal unfairly targeted the Hindu residents because the caste system was most commonly associated with their religious group.[27] In October 2023, SB 403 was vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom, who argued that "caste discrimination is already prohibited under existing civil rights protections".[28][27]
Housing
In 2023, Wahab authored SB 466, a bill to modify the Costa–Hawkins Rental Housing Act and allow cities to expand rent control. The bill failed to advance.[29] In 2025, Wahab introduced SB 436, which would bar the landlord from evicting that tenant for failure to pay rent, if the tenant pays back the rent.[30][31] She believes that minimum parking requirements are necessary for new housing, and has frequently criticized past efforts in California for exempting new housing projects from them.[32]
In 2025, Wahab was named chair of the Senate Housing Committee by Mike McGuire.[33] As chair, she has criticized efforts to increase housing supply in California amid a housing shortage and said in her first hearing as chair that California needs to move away from "development, development, development."[34] As chair, she expressed skepticism that increased housing supply would lead to lower housing prices.[35] Wahab, a renter and Fremont Democrat who has long criticized new construction without protection for low-income tenants[36], described proposals to reduce California's stringent zoning regulations as "giveaways to developers."[35]
Wahab initially criticized SB 79, a pro-development bill led by Scott Wiener that would allow apartment buildings near mass transit stations without local control and traditional zoning regulations.[35][37] Wahab voiced early concerns and said she would support increases in housing supply if developers subsidize more affordable housing and if the housing comes with a minimum number of parking spaces.[35] According to CalMatters, Wahab's opposition to SB 79 "nearly killed" the legislation due to her role as chair of the housing committee.[38] Wahab initially voted against SB 79 but supported it when Newsom signed it after numerous amendments.[39][40]
In testimony before the 2026 Senate Housing Committee, Wahab has highlighted the importance of preserving existing affordable housing, including mobile home parks, as part of efforts to address California’s housing shortage, noting that several of the state’s largest mobile home communities are located in her district.[41]
2026 congressional campaign
On January 24, 2026, Wahab announced that she would run in the 2026 U.S. House of Representatives election in California's 14th congressional district, which opened after incumbent Eric Swalwell announced his candidacy in the 2026 California gubernatorial election.[3]
Electoral history
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Aisha Wahab | 15,949 | 27.22 | |
| Nonpartisan | Sara Lamnin (incumbent) | 15,172 | 25.89 | |
| Nonpartisan | Marvin Peixoto (incumbent) | 10,197 | 17.40 | |
| Nonpartisan | Tom Ferreira | 5,638 | 9.62 | |
| Nonpartisan | Joe Orlando Ramos | 4,908 | 8.38 | |
| Nonpartisan | Didacus Ramos | 3,991 | 6.81 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mekia Michelle Fields | 2,372 | 4.05 | |
| Write-in | 369 | 0.63 | ||
| Total votes | 58,596 | 100.00 | ||
| Primary election | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
| Democratic | Lily Mei | 47,149 | 33.1 | ||
| Democratic | Aisha Wahab | 42,731 | 30.0 | ||
| Republican | Paul J. Pimentel | 30,742 | 21.6 | ||
| Democratic | Jamal Khan | 10,424 | 7.3 | ||
| Democratic | Raymond Liu | 6,932 | 4.9 | ||
| Democratic | Jim Canova | 4,391 | 3.1 | ||
| Total votes | 142,369 | 100.0 | |||
| General election | |||||
| Democratic | Aisha Wahab | 114,997 | 53.7 | ||
| Democratic | Lily Mei | 99,011 | 46.3 | ||
| Total votes | 214,008 | 100.0 | |||
| Democratic hold | |||||