Progressive Aisha Wahab won the special election to replace Eric Swalwell in California's 14th congressional district. US media outlets projected the result on Thursday, ending a race that drew nearly $4.4m in outside spending aimed at helping Melissa Hernandez.
Wahab said, “I will fight for this district that raised me,” and added that her victory shows the district “cannot be bought.” She also said, “From foster care to Congress, this journey shows the possibility of the American Dream.”
California's 14th congressional district
Wahab will serve the rest of Swalwell's term, which ends in January. The seat opened after Swalwell resigned in April, sending the contest to a special election that became part of the broader 2026 midterm election season.
Wahab is set to become the first Afghan American member of US Congress. She won June's primary by more than 42 percent of the vote, while Hernandez received 17 percent. That earlier result gave Wahab a clear advantage before the late spending campaign intensified.
United Democracy Project spending
Since early August, the United Democracy Project spent nearly $2.5m to boost Hernandez. reported that BOLD America spent $1.9m, and BOLD America receives funding from AIPAC. The total outside money tied to those groups came to nearly $4.4m.
The race also carried positions each candidate had taken on Gaza. Wahab co-authored a state resolution last year denouncing the “horrific humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza” and calling for an end to the war, and at a candidate forum in April she answered “yes” when asked whether what was happening to the Palestinian people constituted a genocide. Hernandez said that Israel had a right to defend itself and that the destruction in Gaza had gone “too far”.
Aisha Wahab after Thursday
Wahab's win leaves her to represent California's 14th congressional district for the remainder of Swalwell's term, with January marking the end of that term. The result also adds another data point in a set of races testing the influence of Support for Israel spending in US politics, after an poll released in July found that roughly a third of US adults believed Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
Progressives after Oliver Larkin clips offer another look at how political labels can shape campaign fights, while Wahab's race shows how outside spending can still fall short when primary numbers already point in one direction.
