California state Sen. Aisha Wahab has won the special election to succeed Democratic former Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April amid allegations of sexual misconduct. 

With more than 95 percent of the vote counted, Wahab was leading fellow Democrat Melissa Hernandez, the president of the Bay Area Rapid Transit board, 53 percent to 47 percent, when The Associated Press called the race for California’s 14th District on Thursday afternoon, two days after election day. 

Wahab, a progressive, finished comfortably ahead of Hernandez in the June primary for the East Bay seat, but the race tightened in the months since. Outside groups, including the main super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, spent millions boosting the more moderate Hernandez in the closing weeks of the campaign. 

“This victory belongs to the voters who made clear that our district cannot be bought,” Wahab, 39, said on social media Thursday.

Wahab’s victory echoes recent wins by progressives who overcame significant spending and fundraising disadvantages to defeat establishment-aligned opponents. Earlier this week, for example, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon won the Democratic nomination for Senate despite being outraised by her more moderate opponent by a nearly 16-to-1 ratio. 

Wahab had the endorsement of the California Democratic Party, as well as notable progressives such as Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar, D-Texas, and former Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. Hernandez was backed by the campaign arm of the New Democrat Coalition and by 11 members of the California delegation, including Bay Area Democratic Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Sam Liccardo, a former mayor of San Jose. 

Wahab will serve out the rest of Swalwell’s term, which ends in January. She and Hernandez will face off again in November for a full term in a slightly altered district, under a new map approved by California voters last year. 

The daughter of Afghan refugees, Wahab won her first political office in 2018 with her election to the Hayward City Council. Four years later, she was elected to the California state Senate. In between, she briefly sought what was then the 15th District seat held by Swalwell, who was running for president. But she ended her campaign after Swalwell dropped out of the 2020 presidential race. 

Wahab announced her current campaign for Congress in January, months after Swalwell announced his campaign for California governor. But faced with accusations of sexual misconduct, including rape, from several women, he ended his gubernatorial bid and later resigned from the House. He has denied the allegations. 

As a child, Wahab and her sister spent time in foster care after her father was murdered and her mother died. She and her sister were later adopted by an Afghan couple in California’s Bay Area. 

“From foster care to Congress, this journey shows the possibility of the American Dream,” Wahab said Thursday. “Today this district made history by electing the first Afghan American to Congress.”

There are currently four vacancies in the House, including open seats in Georgia, Florida and Texas. Voters in Georgia’s 13th District will decide on a successor to the late Democratic Rep. David Scott in a special election runoff next week. To date, no special elections have been announced to replace Texas Republican Tony Gonzales and Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who both resigned this year.