Aisha Wahab

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After incumbent U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell announced he would run in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Wahab announced she would run for California's 15th congressional district in 2020. [8] 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. [9] Swalwell decided to run for re-election after ending his presidential campaign, leading Wahab to suspend her campaign 3 weeks later. [10]

2022 California State Senate campaign

Wahab announced she would run for California's 10th State Senate district, incumbent state senator Bob Wieckowski was term-limited. She noted the housing crisis and stagnating wages as issues she would focus on. California State Assembly member Alex Lee and former chair of the Federal Election Commission Ann Ravel backed her campaign. [11] She won in the general election on November 8, 2022, defeating Fremont Mayor Lily Mei, a more establishment oriented Democrat. [1]

Legislative career

Caste discrimination

In March 2023, as a first-term state senator, Wahab introduced Senate Bill 403, a bill with a broad objective to prohibit caste discrimination. [12] The SB 403 bill, which involved adding caste into the definition of ancestry under multiple discrimination laws, [13] was passed by the California State Senate in May 2023 after a divisive debate. [14] [12] The bill was considered controversial by many in the South Asian community; [12] and Wahab was subject to a recall effort. [15] [16] 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. [17] In October 2023, the bill was eventually vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom, who argued that "caste discrimination is already prohibited under existing civil rights protections". [18] [17]

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. [19] 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. [20] [21] 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. [4]

In 2025, Wahab was named chair of the Senate Housing Committee. [22] In her first hearing as chair, she said that California, which was in the throes of a housing shortage, needs to move away from "development, development, development." [23] As chair, she expressed skepticism that increased housing supply would lead to lower housing prices. [24] She has described proposals to reduce California's stringent zoning regulations as "giveaways to developers." [24] She criticized SB 79, a pro-housing bill that would allow apartment buildings near mass transit stations. [24] [25] She said that housing development near mass transit stations "doesn’t necessarily work" because many working people need to commute by car. [24] She said might support increases in housing supply if developers subsidize more affordable housing and if the housing comes with a minimum number of parking spaces. [24] According to CalMatters, Wahab's opposition to SB 79 "nearly killed" the legislation due to her role as chair of the housing committee. [3] Wahab later voted against SB 79. [26]

Wahab has broadly opposed the YIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard) movement's central argument that the California housing shortage is largely caused by exclusionary zoning resulting in an insufficient supply of housing. [27]

Electoral history

Aisha Wahab
Sd10 headshot.jpg
Member of the California State Senate
from the 10th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
December 5, 2022
2018 Hayward City Council election [28]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Nonpartisan Aisha Wahab 15,949 27.22
Nonpartisan Sara Lamnin (incumbent) 15,172 25.89
Nonpartisan Marvin Peixoto (incumbent)10,19717.40
Nonpartisan Tom Ferreira5,6389.62
Nonpartisan Joe Orlando Ramos4,9088.38
Nonpartisan Didacus Ramos3,9916.81
Nonpartisan Mekia Michelle Fields2,3724.05
Write-in 3690.63
Total votes58,596 100.00
2022 California State Senate 10th district election [29] [30]
Primary election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Lily Mei 47,149 33.1
Democratic Aisha Wahab 42,731 30.0
Republican Paul J. Pimentel30,74221.6
Democratic Jamal Khan10,4247.3
Democratic Raymond Liu6,9324.9
Democratic Jim Canova4,3913.1
Total votes142,369 100.0
General election
Democratic Aisha Wahab 114,997 53.7
Democratic Lily Mei 99,01146.3
Total votes214,008 100.0
Democratic hold

References

  1. 1 2 "Hayward city council member Aisha Wahab becomes 1st Muslim, Afghan American elected to CA senate". ABC7 San Francisco. 2022-11-22. Archived from the original on 2023-04-18. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  2. 1 2 3 Tavares, Steven (February 6, 2019). "Aisha Wahab Made History". East Bay Express . Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Kuang, Jeanne (2025-04-23). "California Democrats, YIMBYs clash over housing bills and 'abundance' agenda". CalMatters.
  4. 1 2 "California Housing Bills Face Crucial Hearing Today". Yahoo News. 2025-04-22.
  5. 1 2 Fost, Dan (March 21, 2019). "One of the First". East Bay Today . Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Class of 2024: USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work by USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work". Issuu. 2024-05-08. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  7. ↑ "Assemblymember Quirk recognized Honorable Aisha Wahab as his 2019 Woman of the Year". March 6, 2019. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  8. ↑ Nielson, Katie (April 13, 2019). "Hayward City Councilwoman Aisha Wahab Running For Eric Swalwell's House Seat". KPIX-TV . Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  9. ↑ Tolan, Casey (April 12, 2019). "Hayward council member Aisha Wahab runs for Eric Swalwell's open congressional seat in what could be crowded race". The Mercury News . Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  10. ↑ Peele, Thomas (July 29, 2019). "Hayward council member suspends challenge against Rep. Swalwell". The Mercury News . Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  11. ↑ Herrera, Sonya (June 18, 2021). "Aisha Wahab looks to break barriers in Sacramento". San José Spotlight . Archived from the original on July 7, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 "The divisive debate over California's anti-caste bill". BBC News . June 9, 2023. Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  13. ↑ He, Eric (October 7, 2023). "Newsom vetoes a proposed ban on caste discrimination in California". Politico . Archived from the original on October 7, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  14. ↑ Venkatraman, Sakshi (May 11, 2023). "California Senate passes bill that would make caste discrimination illegal". NBC News . Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  15. ↑ He, Eric (September 4, 2023). "An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve". Politico . Archived from the original on September 4, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  16. ↑ Hatch, Jenavieve (May 3, 2023). "Republican-backed recall committee forms against Bay Area Democratic Sen. Aisha Wahab". The Sacramento Bee . Archived from the original on May 2, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  17. 1 2 Qin, Amy (October 7, 2023). "Newsom Vetoes Bill Banning Caste Discrimination". The New York Times . Archived from the original on October 7, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023. Hindu residents and organizations who had argued that the proposal unfairly targeted them because the caste system is most commonly associated with Hinduism
  18. ↑ He, Eric (October 7, 2023). "Newsom vetoes a proposed ban on caste discrimination in California". Politico . Archived from the original on October 7, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023. The governor said the bill is unnecessary because caste discrimination is already prohibited under existing civil rights protections.
  19. ↑ "Renters' rights: California advocates chip away at landlords' political influence". calmatters.org. June 15, 2023. Archived from the original on October 18, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
  20. ↑ Mello, Felicia (2025-03-10). "They tried to pay their overdue rent. Their landlord wouldn't accept it". CalMatters. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  21. ↑ Schreiber, Monica (March 12, 2025). "Stanford research informs legislative proposal on California eviction laws". Stanford Report. Retrieved April 12, 2025.
  22. ↑ Hoeven, Emily (April 12, 2025). "Meet the politician who could make or break California's housing efforts. What's her plan?". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved April 12, 2025.
  23. ↑ "Meet the politician who could make or break California's housing efforts. What's her plan?". San Francisco Chronicle. 2025.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 Gardiner, Dustin; Jones, Blake (2025-04-22). "The state senator who could foil the YIMBY agenda". POLITICO.
  25. ↑ White, Jeremy B.; Gardiner, Dustin; Holden, Lindsey (2025-04-22). "A house divided by housing". POLITICO.
  26. ↑ "Bill Votes - SB-79 Housing development: transit-oriented development". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
  27. ↑ Gardiner, Dustin; Jones, Blake (2025-04-22). "The state senator who could foil the YIMBY agenda". POLITICO. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
  28. ↑ "General Election - 11/06/2018". Alameda County Registrar of Voters. December 6, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
  29. ↑ "June 7, 2022, Primary Election - State Senator" (PDF). Secretary of State of California . Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  30. ↑ "November 8, 2022, General Election - State Senator" (PDF). Secretary of State of California . Retrieved July 3, 2025.
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