Aisha Wahab, who is of Afghan-American descent, made history by being the first to be elected to the U.S. Congress following a special election.

The TOI correspondent from Washington: Aisha Wahab, a 39-year old progressive Democrat, became the first Afghan-American elected to the U.S Congress on Friday after winning a special election in California amid what increasingly looks like a leftward revolt inside the Democratic Party.Wahab, a California state senator, defeated fellow Democrat Melissa Hernandez with 53.1% of the vote in a by-election to complete the term of former Congressman Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April amid sexual misconduct allegations he denies. She will serve through January and face Hernandez again in November for a full two-year term.The victory adds another extraordinary chapter to a life that began with her parents fleeing the Soviet-Afghan war. Born in Queens, Aisha Wahab was orphaned as a child after her father was murdered and her mother died soon afterward. She and her sister entered foster care before she was adopted by a California couple. She went on to earn a political-science degree, an MBA and a doctorate in social work, served on a City Council and in 2022, became the first Afghan American and first Muslim elected to California’s state legislature.Her latest victory also carries an unmistakable ideological message as she campaigned on an unabashedly leftist platform – Medicare for All, higher taxes on billionaires, student-debt cancellation, stronger social programs and policies aimed at reducing corporate power. Endorsed by progressive heavyweights including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal, the election became a test of whether big money could stop the Democratic left. Pro-Israel groups spent roughly $6.3 million attacking Wahab and supporting Hernandez, but the feisty Afghan-American prevailed.Wahab’s arrival in Congress comes amid an extraordinary run of progressive and democratic-socialist primary victories in recent weeks from New York and New Jersey to Colorado to California, the rebellion extending beyond Congress. In one of the more stunning upsets, Democratic socialist Angie Nixon shocked the party establishment by winning Florida’s Senate primary over former national-security official Alex Vindman despite being outspent 16:1, becoming the first DSA member to win a major-party nomination for statewide office. In Michigan, progressive Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic Senate nomination.While this does not yet amount to a socialist putsch – some progressives have lost, notably former Representative Cori Bush in Missouri and democratic socialist Francesca Hong in Wisconsin – the pattern has Democratic leaders worried: Axios reports that at least seven long-serving House Democrats have lost primaries this cycle, while establishment Democrats increasingly fear a left-wing equivalent of the Tea Party — perhaps a coffee clique.The Progressive Caucus in the House now numbers nearly 100 lawmakers, giving the movement considerable heft if Democrats regain the House. Its prominent women include Latina Ocasio-Cortez, Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib, Somali-American Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Summer Lee, Delia Ramirez and Lateefah Simon. Wahab becomes the fourth Muslim woman in the group after Omar, Tlaib and Simon.For MAGA Republicans, the development offers a familiar political weapon – portray Democrats – or “Dumocrats” as Trump has dubbed them — as having surrendered to “socialism,” radicalism, and anti-Israel politics, amid murmurs of a growing “hijab caucus.” But the deeper significance may lie elsewhere: the new left is increasingly diverse, younger, immigrant-heavy and willing to challenge Democratic orthodoxy. Whether this is a temporary anti-establishment backlash or the beginning of a durable transformation will be one of the central questions of American politics heading toward 2028.