Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
How did Muslim American candidates fare in gubernatorial and lieutenant governor races from 2015–2025, including vote percentages and opponents?
Executive summary
Muslim-American candidates saw historic statewide and municipal successes in 2025, most notably Ghazala Hashmi’s victory in Virginia’s lieutenant governor race where multiple outlets report she captured roughly 54–55% of the vote versus Republican John Reid’s total, a margin of about 10–11 points [1] [2] [3]. Reporting also highlights wider gains for Muslim candidates across local and mayoral contests — including Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral win — but detailed vote percentages and opponent names for every gubernatorial/lieutenant‑governor contest from 2015–2025 are not comprehensively listed in the available set of sources [4] [5].
1. A single clear statewide result: Ghazala Hashmi’s 2025 lieutenant‑governor win
Virginia’s 2025 lieutenant‑governor race is the clearest statewide example in the provided reporting: Ghazala Hashmi, a Democratic state senator, won with reports clustering around 54.2%–55% of the vote, defeating Republican John Reid by roughly 9–11 percentage points; outlets including WRIC, 13NewsNow, NBC, CNN and The Hindu document her victory and historic status as the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office in the U.S. [1] [2] [6] [3] [7]. Multiple accounts also note she narrowly won a crowded Democratic primary in June 2025 before the general election [7] [8].
2. Broader 2025 landscape: municipal and mayoral breakthroughs
Beyond Virginia, 2025 reporting frames the year as a breakout cycle for Muslim candidates nationwide: Zohran Mamdani won New York City mayor, becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor, and CAIR and other trackers report dozens of Muslim winners across local and judicial offices — CAIR tallied roughly 38 confirmed wins out of at least 76 Muslim candidates tracked in 2025 [9] [4] [5] [10]. These sources emphasize a pattern of rising representation rather than offering a precise roll‑call of gubernatorial and lieutenant‑governor vote shares across the whole 2015–2025 window [4] [5].
3. What the sources do and do not provide about 2015–2025 gubernatorial/lieutenant races
Available sources give specific, cited numbers for Hashmi’s 2025 race (vote share and opponent) and contextualize 2025 as a milestone year for Muslim officeholders; however, the provided set does not compile a complete list of Muslim‑American gubernatorial or lieutenant‑governor candidates, opponents, and vote percentages for the full 2015–2025 period. If you seek a year‑by‑year table across that decade, "available sources do not mention" a comprehensive dataset covering every such race in 2015–2025 [1] [7] [4].
4. Competing narratives in the coverage: celebration vs. caution
Advocacy groups and community outlets frame 2025 as a record year — CAIR and MPAC highlight historic firsts and dozens of wins [5] [11]. Mainstream outlets (NBC, CNN, The Guardian, Axios) report the same headline victories but also note campaign controversies, close primaries, and the specific margin data for Hashmi’s race, giving both triumph and electoral context [6] [7] [12] [13]. Some niche outlets and commentary pieces emphasize Muslim voter shifts and strategic dynamics (e.g., exit polls showing heavy Muslim support in some 2025 races), but those are exit‑poll or organizational data with methodological caveats reported alongside the claims [5] [14].
5. Vote percentages, margins and the limits of exit‑poll claims
Hashmi’s vote share is consistently reported (~54–55%) with opponent John Reid’s totals noted in some outlets [1] [3]. Broader claims about near‑unanimous Muslim voter support for specific candidates (e.g., 97% in New York per CAIR reporting) appear in exit‑poll releases and advocacy summaries and are echoed by media, but those figures reflect sampled exit‑poll data and CAIR’s tracking rather than official certified vote totals; the sources themselves present them as surveys and organizational counts rather than canvassed statewide tallies [5] [14] [4].
6. How to fill the gaps if you want a full 2015–2025 roll‑call
To produce a complete list of Muslim-American gubernatorial and lieutenant‑governor candidates from 2015–2025 with vote percentages and opponents, researchers need (a) official state election returns for each relevant year and office and (b) validated identification of candidates as Muslim (which some outlets identify, others do not). The sources here point to the most notable 2025 wins and aggregated tallies from CAIR/MPAC but do not supply the full decade’s, race‑by‑race numeric record — "available sources do not mention" that complete historical table [4] [5].
Conclusion: media and advocacy reporting agree that 2025 was a landmark year for Muslim political representation, with Ghazala Hashmi’s lieutenant‑governor victory one of the best‑documented statewide results [1] [2] [6]. For a definitive, itemized accounting across 2015–2025 you’ll need state election returns plus candidate background verification; the current corpus provides strong evidence of the 2025 milestones but lacks a comprehensive decade‑long dataset [7] [5].