Which U.S. states have never elected a Muslim state legislator as of 2025?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows a record surge in Muslim officeholders after the 2025 elections, with 42 Muslim Americans elected to public office across nine states including four state legislators—bringing new statehouse representation in several places [1] [2]. The provided sources enumerate where Muslim officials were elected but do not supply a comprehensive list of every U.S. state that has never elected a Muslim state legislator as of 2025; therefore a complete state-by-state “never elected” list is not found in current reporting [1] [2].
1. What the recent coverage actually says about Muslim state legislators
Multiple outlets and community groups report 2025 as a milestone year: CAIR and allied reporting noted 42 Muslim Americans won public office across nine states, including four state legislators, and said victories spanned New York, Virginia, Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina [1] [2]. Those accounts frame 2025 as an expansion of Muslim representation from local offices into state legislatures in a set of states, but they do not claim to enumerate every state that has ever elected a Muslim to a statehouse [1] [2].
2. Limits of the sources: gaps that matter for your question
The available sources spotlight the scale and geography of the 2025 wins and promise a CAIR directory due in January 2026 to track elected Muslim officials more systematically, but none of the provided pieces gives a definitive, comprehensive list of which states have never elected a Muslim state legislator through 2025 [2]. That means any categorical “never elected” list would require additional state-level records or the forthcoming CAIR directory; current reporting does not supply that verification [2].
3. Historical context: growth is recent and uneven
CAIR’s earlier directories and reporting documented steady growth in Muslim officeholders across prior cycles—CAIR reported 189 Muslim officials across 30 states as of its 2022 directory, and noted first-ever Muslim state legislators in states such as Illinois, Maine, Ohio and Texas in earlier cycles [3]. This historical pattern shows breakthroughs tend to be clustered: a handful of states elect multiple Muslim officials while many others have had few or none reported to date [3].
4. Why a verified “never” list is hard to compile from news alone
News stories and advocacy press releases focus on victories and milestones; they list states with new wins but rarely keep running inventories of every state’s entire legislative history [1] [2]. Wikipedia lists and CAIR directories aim to track individuals but require cross-checking; the snippets shown include Congressional-level lists and claim there are now five Muslims elected to Congress as of 2025, but congressional lists do not substitute for statehouse histories [4] [5].
5. Competing perspectives and potential agendas in reporting
Advocacy outlets and community organizations (CAIR and allied outlets cited by media) emphasize historic gains and the narrative of inclusion—useful for highlighting progress but naturally focused on wins rather than gaps [1] [2] [3]. Some conservative outlets frame the same wave as politically or culturally threatening, emphasizing concerns about influence of Muslim communities; that framing appears in outlets such as the Washington Times excerpted here [6]. Readers should weigh advocacy-driven tallies against independent, state-level electoral records.
6. What would reliably answer your question—and where to get it
A definitive answer requires either (a) the CAIR 2025–2026 Directory of Elected Muslim Officials promised for January 2026, which aims to track state legislators explicitly, or (b) aggregation of each state’s legislative rosters and biographical records to verify religious identification or self-identification as Muslim—neither of which is present in the provided reporting [2] [3]. Available sources do not mention a completed, authoritative, nationwide list of “states that have never elected a Muslim state legislator” as of 2025 [2] [3].
7. Bottom line for readers seeking a state-by-state answer
Reporting confirms a clear expansion of Muslim representation in 2025 and names at least nine states with recent Muslim officeholders including state legislators, but the sources supplied do not support compiling a definitive list of U.S. states that have never elected a Muslim state legislator as of 2025; consult the CAIR directory when published or primary state legislative records for verification [1] [2] [3].