How has the number of Muslim state legislators in the U.S. changed since 2010?

1. Growth described by advocacy groups: a broad upward trend

CAIR’s 2022 directory reports 189 elected American officials who identify as Muslim holding state or local office across 30 states, and that in 2010 “fewer than twenty” Muslims held elected office nationwide — framing a large net increase over roughly a decade ^[1]. Multiple outlets repeating CAIR figures characterize the 2010-to-2020 period as a tripling or steady rise in Muslim political representation, indicating organizational consensus that Muslim civic participation and election wins expanded substantially ^{[3] [4]}.

2. What reporters counted in 2025: 42 officials and “four state legislators”

Coverage of the 2025 elections by Radiance News and Muslim Network TV — both citing CAIR or CAIR Action — report 42 Muslim Americans elected to public office in 2025 and explicitly state that this group included four state legislators among mayors, judges and many local officials ^{[2] [4]}. That phrasing signals that in 2025 the number of Muslim state legislators newly elected was small relative to total Muslim officeholders, but adds to a cumulative increase in representation ^[2].

3. Statehouse firsts and diffusion across states

Reporting from Interfaith America and VOA documents first-ever Muslim lawmakers elected in several states (e.g., Oklahoma, Delaware, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Illinois in various cycles), demonstrating geographic spread of Muslim state legislative representation beyond a few traditional pockets ^{[5] [6]}. Arab News noted a record 12 Arab and Muslim state legislative wins in a 2022 cycle, highlighting episodic surges in statehouse representation tied to particular election years ^[7].

4. Limits of the available data: definitions, aggregation, and omissions

Available sources mix counts of "elected officials" (which include mayors, judges, school boards, and local posts) with counts of state legislators without providing consistent, annual totals limited to state legislatures alone; CAIR’s directory gives a 2022 snapshot of 189 total state/local officials but does not present a clean 2010–2025 state‑legislator time series ^[1]. The 2010 “fewer than twenty” figure cited in several outlets refers broadly to elected officeholders, not explicitly to state legislators only, so one cannot infer a precise multiplier for statehouse membership without additional records ^{[3] [4]}.

5. Competing framings and potential agendas in coverage

Advocacy outlets and CAIR emphasize growth and historic firsts as evidence of expanding political inclusion and organized civic work ^{[1] [4]}. Some partisan or activist sites may frame similar numbers as a political "takeover" or threat — for example, RAIR’s headline and tone portray Muslim candidacies as an organized seizure of power, an explicitly alarmist framing that contrasts with CAIR’s civic‑participation framing ^[3]. Readers should note those differing agendas when interpreting identical raw counts ^{[3] [1]}.

6. Bottom line and what would be needed for a precise answer

The arc of reporting offers a reliable qualitative conclusion: Muslim representation in U.S. elected office, including state legislatures, has grown since 2010, with documented firsts in multiple states and higher totals of Muslim officeholders by 2022–2025 ^{[5] [1] [2]}. However, a precise year‑by‑year count of Muslim state legislators since 2010 is not presented in the available reporting; producing that would require assembling state legislative rosters, cross‑referencing individual officials’ public self‑identification, and reconciling differences in how outlets count "Muslim" and "state legislator" across years (not found in current reporting).