Aisha Wahab | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theCalifornia State Senate from the10th district | |
| Assumed office December 5, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Bob Wieckowski |
| Member of theHayward City Council | |
| In office December 11, 2018 – December 5, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Marvin Peixoto |
| Succeeded by | George Syrop |
| Constituency | At-large |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1987 or 1988 (age 37–38) New York City, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence | Hayward, California |
| Education | San Jose State University (BA) California State University, East Bay (MBA) University of Southern California (DSW) |
Aisha Wahab (born 1987/1988) is an American politician who has been a member of theCalifornia State Senate from the10th district since 2022. A member of theDemocratic Party, she is the firstMuslim elected to the California State Senate.[1] Wahab served on theHayward City Council from 2018 to 2022 and was one of the firstAfghan-Americans elected to public office, alongsideNew Hampshire state RepresentativeSafiya Wazir.[2]
In 2025, Wahab was named chair of the Senate Housing Committee byMike McGuire. As chair, she has criticized efforts to increase housing supply in California amid ahousing shortage. Her April 2025 opposition toSB 79, a pro-housing bill that would allow apartment buildings near mass transit stations, almost killed the legislation.[3] She has criticized the legislation as "giveaways to developers" and criticized itsparking mandate exemption, but ultimately supported the bill after numerous amendments.[4][5]
Wahab was born inQueens, New York City, to refugees who fled Afghanistan in the 1980s. Her father was murdered and her mother died soon after, leaving Wahab and her sister infoster care. They were adopted by an Afghan couple inFremont, California, and moved toHayward after theGreat Recession.[2]
Wahab earned aBachelor's degree inpolitical science atSan Jose State University and aMasters in Business Administration fromCal State East Bay. She went on to work innon-profit organizations and is currently anIT consultant.[6] In 2024 she completed a doctorate ofsocial work at theUniversity of Southern CaliforniaSuzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.[7]
Wahab was the top vote-getter in a field of seven candidates vying for an at-large city council seat, beating out two incumbents.[6] Along withNew Hampshire State RepresentativeSafiya Wazir, Wahab was the firstAfghan-American elected to public office.[2]
California State Assembly memberBill Quirk recognized Wahab as Woman of the Year fromDistrict 20 in 2019.[8]
After incumbentU.S. RepresentativeEric Swalwell announced he would run in the2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Wahab announced she would run forCalifornia's 15th congressional district in 2020.[9] Her support forprogressive policies such asMedicare for All and identity as amillennialwomen of color led to comparisons to freshman representativeAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez.[10] Swalwell decided to run for re-election after ending his presidential campaign, leading Wahab to suspend her campaign 3 weeks later.[11]
Wahab announced she would run forCalifornia's 10th State Senate district, incumbentstate senatorBob Wieckowski wasterm-limited. She noted thehousing crisis and stagnating wages as issues she would focus on. California State Assembly memberAlex Lee and former chair of theFederal Election CommissionAnn Ravel backed her campaign.[12] She won in the general election on November 8, 2022, defeatingFremont Mayor Lily Mei, a more establishment oriented Democrat.[1]
In March 2023, as a first-term state senator, Wahab introducedSenate Bill 403, a bill with a broad objective to prohibitcaste discrimination.[13] The SB 403 bill, which involved adding caste into the definition ofancestry under multiple discrimination laws,[14] was passed by the California State Senate in May 2023 after a divisive debate.[15][13] The bill was considered controversial by many in theSouth Asian community;[13] and Wahab was subject to a recall effort.[16][17] 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 theHindu residents because the caste system was most commonly associated with their religious group.[18] In October 2023, the bill was eventually vetoed by GovernorGavin Newsom, who argued that "caste discrimination is already prohibited under existing civil rights protections".[19][18]
In 2023, Wahab authored SB 466, a bill to modify theCosta–Hawkins Rental Housing Act and allow cities to expandrent control. The bill failed to advance.[20] 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.[21][22] She believes thatminimum 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.[23] In her first hearing as chair, she said that California, which was in the throes of ahousing shortage, needs to move away from "development, development, development."[24] As chair, she expressed skepticism that increased housing supply would lead to lower housing prices.[25] She has described proposals to reduce California's stringent zoning regulations as "giveaways to developers."[25] She criticized SB 79, a pro-housing bill that would allow apartment buildings near mass transit stations.[25][26] She said that housing development near mass transit stations "doesn’t necessarily work" because many working people need to commute by car.[25] 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.[25] 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 initially voted against SB 79, but supported it when Newsom signed it after numerous amendments.[27][5]
Wahab has broadly opposed theYIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard) movement's central argument that theCalifornia housing shortage is largely caused byexclusionary zoning resulting in an insufficient supply of housing.[28]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Aisha Wahab | 15,949 | 27.22 | |
| Nonpartisan | Sara Lamnin (incumbent) | 15,172 | 25.89 | |
| Nonpartisan | Marvin Peixoto (incumbent) | 10,197 | 17.40 | |
| Nonpartisan | Tom Ferreira | 5,638 | 9.62 | |
| Nonpartisan | Joe Orlando Ramos | 4,908 | 8.38 | |
| Nonpartisan | Didacus Ramos | 3,991 | 6.81 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mekia Michelle Fields | 2,372 | 4.05 | |
| Write-in | 369 | 0.63 | ||
| Total votes | 58,596 | 100.00 | ||
| Primary election | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
| Democratic | Lily Mei | 47,149 | 33.1 | ||
| Democratic | Aisha Wahab | 42,731 | 30.0 | ||
| Republican | Paul J. Pimentel | 30,742 | 21.6 | ||
| Democratic | Jamal Khan | 10,424 | 7.3 | ||
| Democratic | Raymond Liu | 6,932 | 4.9 | ||
| Democratic | Jim Canova | 4,391 | 3.1 | ||
| Total votes | 142,369 | 100.0 | |||
| General election | |||||
| Democratic | Aisha Wahab | 114,997 | 53.7 | ||
| Democratic | Lily Mei | 99,011 | 46.3 | ||
| Total votes | 214,008 | 100.0 | |||
| Democratichold | |||||
Hindu residents and organizations who had argued that the proposal unfairly targeted them because the caste system is most commonly associated with Hinduism
The governor said the bill is unnecessary because caste discrimination is already prohibited under existing civil rights protections.
Members of theCalifornia State Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
2025–26 Session
| ||
|  | |