Nina Ahmad (born 1960) is an American scientist,politician,and women's rights activist from Pennsylvania. She was elected in 2023 to be an at-large member of Philadelphia City Council and is the first person of South Asian descent to serve on the council.[1]
After stints at Wills Eye Hospital and serving as President of a life sciences company,she became involved in government affairs as the executive vice president of government affairs at JNA Capital,a real estate company.[4] During this time,Ahmad became the first Bangladeshi-American to be appointed to a position in the Obama Administration when President Barack Obama appointed her to the Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in 2014,while also serving on Michael Nutter's commission on Asian American Affairs while he was Mayor of Philadelphia.[5]
Ahmad also had a large role in the governance of the National Organization for Women,becoming the President of the Philadelphia Chapter in 2013,until being appointed to serve in Mayor Jim Kenney's administration as Deputy Mayor of Philadelphia for Public Engagement. She served in that position for a year before resigning to run for Congress. When electoral conditions changed,she instead ran and lost a bid for Lt. Governor,at which time she returned to serving on the National Board for the National Organization for Women before heading the Pennsylvania Chapter as its president.[3]
Entrance to Will Eye Institute
Campaigns
2017 congressional election
In November 2017,Ahmad announced her resignation as Deputy Mayor to launch a primary challenge against Bob Brady. She later withdrew after redistricting moved her out of the district.[6]
2018 Lieutenant Governor election
In February 2018,after redistricting,Ahmad withdrew from the congressional race to announce that she would challenge incumbent Lieutenant Governor Mike Stack to run alongside Tom Wolf in the 2018 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election. She placed second with 23.8% of the vote,losing to John Fetterman,who would go on to win in the general election.[7]
In the general election,Ahmad faced Republican Timothy DeFoor. Given that Ahmad is Bangladeshi American and DeFoor is African American,the election meant that the victor would be the first person of color to be elected to statewide executive office in Pennsylvania.[10] DeFoor went on to win the general election in November,defeating Ahmad by under 209,000 votes.[11]
2023 City Council election
In December 2022,Ahmad announced that she would seek one of the five nominations for the 2023 Philadelphia City Council at-large election. Ahmad successfully won one of the five nominations after raising the campaign contribution limits for the race by donating to her own campaign[12] and receiving 63,465 votes in the Democratic primary. Her campaign focused on making Philadelphia healthier and drew upon her background as a medical scientist.[13][14] She advanced to the general election in November and won a seat on the city council.[1]
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