The US midterm elections produced several surprises, and among the most noticed was the victory of four hijab-wearing state senators and one member of Congress. It is the first time in the country’s history that so many women who wear the hijab have been elected to legislatures at the same time.
The news outlet Middle East Eye sees Tuesday’s results as part of a nationwide backlash against President Donald Trump’s administration.
Anti-Muslim rhetoric and threats have risen in the United States since the Trump administration took office in January 2025. These women have faced mockery and insults from parts of the media, Republican politicians and online trolls, and their clothing and religious identity have come under attack.
Last week the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) raised concern about growing activity by far-right and anti-Muslim agitators in the United States. The group feared that this could lead to calls for a larger law enforcement presence, which might discourage Muslim Americans from voting.
A detailed picture of turnout is still being reviewed. Even so, several young women who are openly Muslim have won election as public representatives. All of them are progressive Democrats.
In Georgia, Ruwa Romman won a state Senate seat. She was the first hijab-wearing Muslim woman in the legislature of this relatively conservative state, and has now made history again by being elected a state senator.
Romman gained national attention during the 2024 presidential election. At the time, pro-Palestinian Democrats called on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and presidential candidate Kamala Harris to let a Palestinian speaker address the party convention. The request was turned down.
Romman, whose grandfather was born in Jerusalem, was herself due to speak at that convention on behalf of Palestinians. By then she had already served two years as an elected representative.
New York’s first Palestinian-American lawmaker
In New York, Aber Kawas will join the state Senate next January. Like Romman, she is a Palestinian immigrant who settled in the United States.
In an interview with Middle East Eye earlier this year, Kawas said she sees collective effort and civic participation in her new city as a way to overcome divisions between people.
After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Muslims across the United States faced heavy surveillance and repression. FBI raids, arrests and surveillance of mosques and other institutions increased in New York and elsewhere. Kawas’s father was then without valid immigration papers. He was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), held for nearly three years and then deported to Jordan.
Meanwhile, violent ICE arrests carried out in public and in daylight have provoked a strong reaction across the country. Middle East Eye believes these raids also played a part in the Democrats’ big gains in Tuesday’s election, a result being described as a “blue wave”.
Nabeela Syed wins in Illinois
In Illinois, 27-year-old state Representative Nabeela Syed faced a tough challenge from her Republican opponent. In the end she won comfortably with 57 percent of the vote.
The Muslim woman of Indian descent was appointed to a vacant seat in the state legislature in 2022. By winning this election she has strengthened her position.
She has named keeping healthcare affordable for ordinary people and promoting equality as the main priorities of her work.
She was recently endorsed by The Daily Herald, a 150-year-old newspaper circulated in the greater Chicago area, and by the influential Chicago Tribune.
Like Romman and Kawas, Syed has criticised Israel. On October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, she signed a letter with several Illinois lawmakers calling on Washington to push for a ceasefire.
Critics, however, described the letter as taking Hamas’s side.
The letter said: “We cannot achieve peace while millions of Palestinians are denied basic human rights. We call on the United States and the international community to move towards a lasting solution by addressing the root cause of the violence, namely inequality.”
Pakistani-born Maryam Khan heads to the Connecticut Senate
Connecticut state Representative Maryam Khan will also join the state Senate next January. The Democrat, in office since 2022, defeated her Republican opponent by a wide margin in the midterms.
In the party primary in August, she had beaten an influential Democrat who had held the seat for nearly a decade.
Born in Pakistan, Khan chaired the select committee on special education during her time in the state legislature. She has also served on the judiciary and education committees.
Bob Duff, the Democratic majority leader of the Connecticut state Senate, welcomed Khan on the social media platform X. He described her as a former special education teacher and a fighter for children’s rights.
Earlier this year Khan was criticised by Republicans for keeping a Pakistani flag on her desk. Pakistan had acted as a mediator in opening the way to a ceasefire in post-war US-Iran talks.
Speaking to The Connecticut Mirror on the matter, Khan said: “I kept the Pakistani flag as an expression of my heritage and personal pride. The idea that it is inappropriate or a symbol of disloyalty is completely wrong.”
She added: “Pakistan is a long-standing diplomatic partner of the United States. Acknowledging my roots and background does not mean my commitment to the United States or to serving the people of Connecticut has diminished.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report