Attorney Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, who
is challenging incumbent U.S. Rep.
Richard Neal, D-Mass., center, talks
with Dondre Scott, right, during a
visit to a community garden while
campaigning in the Mason Square
neighborhood of Springfield, Mass.
Monday, June 18, 2018. At left is
Ivette Hernandez, who is running for
Mass. House of Representatives.
(Photo: Charles Krupa, AP)
Muslim-American
candidates
might
fare
better
in
Michigan,
which
has one
of the
nation’s
largest
Arab-American
populations.
There,
former
state
Rep.
Rashida
Tlaib
has
raised
more
money
than her
Democratic
rivals
in the
race to
succeed
Democratic
Rep.
John
Conyers,
who
resigned
last
year
amid
allegations
of
sexual
misconduct.
(Tlaib
campaign
photo)
Muslim
candidates
running
in
record
numbers
face
backlash
By
PHILIP
MARCELO
and
JEFF
KAROUB
APNews.com
SPRINGFIELD,
Mass. -
A
liberal
woman of
color
with
zero
name
recognition
and
little
funding
takes
down a
powerful,
long
serving
congressman
from her
own
political
party.
When
Tahirah
Amatul-Wadud
heard
about
Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez’s
stunning
upset
over
U.S.
Rep. Joe
Crowley
in New
York’s
Democratic
primary
last
month,
the
first-time
candidate
saw
parallels
with her
own
longshot
campaign
for
Congress
in
western
Massachusetts.
The
44-year-old
Muslim,
African-American
civil
rights
lawyer,
who is
taking
on a
30-year
congressman
and
ranking
Democrat
on the
influential
House
Ways and
Means
Committee,
says she
wasn’t
alone,
as
encouragement,
volunteers
and
donations
started
pouring
in.
“We
could
barely
stay on
top of
the
residual
love,”
says
Amatul-Wadud,
U.S.
Rep.
Richard
Neal’s
lone
challenger
in the
state’s
Sept. 4
Democratic
primary.
“It sent
a
message
to all
of our
volunteers,
voters
and
supporters
that
winning
is very
possible.”
Muslim
Americans
are
running
for
elected
office
in
numbers
not seen
since
before
the
terrorist
attacks
of Sept.
11,
2001.
Some 50
are
still in
the
running
for
national
or
statewide
offices,
but many
continue
to
weather
anti-Muslim
sentiment.
(July
16)
From
Congress
to state
legislatures
and
school
boards,
Muslim
Americans
spurred
to
action
by the
anti-Muslim
policies
and
rhetoric
of
President
Donald
Trump
and his
supporters
are
running
for
elected
offices
in
numbers
not seen
since
before
the
terrorist
attacks
of Sept.
11,
2001,
say
Muslim
groups
and
political
observers.
Many,
like
Amatul-Wadud,
hope to
ride the
surge of
progressive
activism
within
the
Democratic
Party
that
delivered
Ocasio-Cortez’s
unlikely
win and
could
help
propel
the
Democrats
back to
power in
November.
Still,
the path
to
victory
can be
tougher
for a
Muslim
American.
Some
promising
campaigns
already
have
fizzled
out
while
many
more
face
strong
anti-Muslim
backlash.
In
Michigan,
Democrat
candidate
for
governor
Abdul
El-Sayed
continues
to face
unfounded
claims
from a
GOP
rival
that he
has ties
to the
controversial
Muslim
Brotherhood,
even
though
Republican
and
Democratic
politicians
alike
have
denounced
the
accusations
as
“conspiracy
theories.”
In
Rochester,
Minnesota,
mayoral
candidate
Regina
Mustafa
has
notified
authorities
of at
least
two
instances
where
anti-Muslim
threats
were
posted
on her
social
media
accounts.
And
in
Arizona,
U.S.
Senate
candidate
Deedra
Abboud
received
a
torrent
of
Islamophobic
attacks
on
Facebook
last
July
that
prompted
outgoing
U.S.
Sen.
Jeff
Flake,
the
Republican
lawmaker
Abboud
is
hoping
to
replace,
to come
to her
defense
on
Twitter.
“I’m
a strong
believer
that we
have to
face
this
rhetoric,”
said
Abboud,
who has
also had
right-wing
militant
groups
the
Fraternal
Order of
Alt-Knights
and the
Proud
Boys
stage
armed
protests
her
campaign
events.
“We
can’t
ignore
it or
pretend
like
it’s a
fringe
element
anymore.
We have
to let
the ugly
face
show so
that we
can
decide
if that
is us.”
There
were as
many as
90
Muslim-Americans
running
for
national
or
statewide
offices
this
election
cycle, a
number
that
Muslim
groups
say was
unprecedented,
at least
in the
post-9/11
era.
But
recent
primaries
have
whittled
the
field
down to
around
50, a
number
that
still
far
exceeds
the
dozen or
so that
ran in
2016,
said
Shaun
Kennedy,
co-founder
of
Jetpac,
a
Massachusetts
nonprofit
that
helps
train
Muslim-American
candidates.
Among
the
candidates
to fall
short
were
California
physician
Asif
Mahmood,
who
placed
third in
last
month’s
primary
for
state
insurance
commissioner,
despite
raising
more
than $1
million.
And in
Texas,
wealthy
businessman
Tahir
Javed
finished
a
distant
second
in his
Democratic
primary
for
Congress,
despite
an
endorsement
from
Senate
Minority
Leader
Chuck
Schumer
of New
York.
Nine
candidates
for
Congress
are
still in
the
running,
according
to
Jetpac’s
tally.
At least
18
others
are
campaigning
for
state
legislature
and 10
more
seek
major
statewide
and
local
offices,
such as
governor,
mayor
and city
council.
Even
more are
running
for more
modest
offices
like
local
planning
board
and
school
committee.
The
next
critical
stretch
of
primaries
is in
August.
In
Michigan,
at least
seven
Muslim
Americans
are on
the Aug.
7
ballot,
including
El-Sayed,
who
could
become
the
nation’s
first
Muslim
governor.
In
Minnesota,
the
decision
by Keith
Ellison,
the
nation’s
first
Muslim
congressman,
to run
for
state
attorney
general
has set
off a
political
frenzy
for his
congressional
seat
that
includes
two
Muslim
candidates,
both
Democrats:
Ilhan
Omar,
the
country’s
first
Somali-American
state
lawmaker,
and
Jamal
Abdulahi,
a
Somali-American
activist.
But
historic
wins in
those
and
other
races
are far
from
assured,
cautions
Geoffrey
Skelley,
an
associate
editor
at
Sabato’s
Crystal
Ball, a
nonpartisan
political
analysis
website
run by
the
University
of
Virginia’s
Center
for
Politics.
Omar’s
chances
of
emerging
from a
field of
five
Democratic
candidates
in
Minnesota’s
Aug. 14
primary
was
bolstered
by a
recent
endorsement
from the
state
Democratic
Party,
but
El-Sayed
is an
underdog
in his
gubernatorial
race, he
said.
Other
Muslim-American
candidates
might
fare
better
in
Michigan,
which
has one
of the
nation’s
largest
Arab-American
populations,
Skelley
added.
There,
former
state
Rep.
Rashida
Tlaib
has
raised
more
money
than her
Democratic
rivals
in the
race to
succeed
Democratic
Rep.
John
Conyers,
who
resigned
last
year
amid
allegations
of
sexual
misconduct.
Former
Obama
administration
official
Fayrouz
Saad is
also
running
as a
Democrat
in the
wide
open
race to
succeed
Republican
Rep.
David
Trott,
who
isn’t
seeking
re-election.
Either
could
become
the
first
Muslim
woman
elected
to
Congress,
which
has only
ever had
two
Muslim
members:
outgoing
Ellison
and Rep.
Andre
Carson,
an
Indiana
Democrat
seeking
re-election.
Saad,
who
served
most
recently
as
director
of
Detroit’s
Office
of
Immigrant
Affairs,
recognizes
the
importance
of
representing
her
community
in an
era of
rising
Islamophobia.
The
35-year-old
broke
from the
conservative
Republican
politics
of her
Lebanese
immigrant
parents
following
the 9/11
attacks
because
she felt
Arabs
and
Muslims
were
unfairly
targeted.
“I
felt the
way to
push
back
against
that was
to be at
the
table,”
said
Saad,
adding
that her
parents’
political
leanings
have
also
since
moved to
the
left.
“We have
to step
up and
be
voices
for our
communities
and not
wait for
others
to speak
on
behalf
of us.”
But
not all
Muslim
candidates
feel
that
way.
In
San
Diego,
California,
36-year-old
Republican
congressional
candidate
Omar
Qudrat
declined
to
comment
on how
Islamophobia
has
impacted
his
campaign,
including
instances
when his
faith
have
been
called
into
question
by
members
of his
own
political
party.
Instead,
the
37-year
old
political
newcomer,
who is
one of
at least
three
Muslim
Republicans
running
nationwide
this
year,
provided
a
statement
touting
his main
campaign
issues
as faces
Democratic
U.S.
Rep.
Scott
Peters
in
November:
addressing
San
Diego’s
high
number
of
homeless
military
veterans,
improving
public
education
and
expanding
economic
opportunities
for city
residents.
“Running
for
public
office
is about
advancing
the
interests
of your
constituents
and the
American
people,”
Qudrat’s
statement
reads.
“Nothing
else.”