CAIR-Philadelphia celebrates the outstanding Muslim American achievement in the November 5, 2019 elections in both Pennsylvania and across the nation. We congratulate those elected to serve their communities on their historic achievement.
In Pennsylvania the following names were elected to office (photos below, left to right):
• Omar Sabir – Philadelphia City Commission
• Nusrat Rashid – Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge
• Rochelle Bilal – Philadelphia City Sheriff
• Sheikh Siddique – Upper Darby Township Council
• Curtis Jones – Philadelphia City Council
Omar Sabir ran a competitive race and won a seat as City Commissioner.
Judge-Elect Nusrat J. Rashid became the first African American Woman elected judge in Delaware County, PA Court of Common Pleas and first Muslim Woman elected judge in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Sheriff-Elect Rochelle Bilal became the first woman Sheriff in Philadelphia’s history, also an African-American Muslim woman.
Councilmember Sheikh Siddique was re-elected to Upper Darby City Council in a race where he ran unchallenged and continues to advocate for all Upper Darby communities.
Councilmember Curtis Jones, Jr., was re-elected to the Philadelphia City Council, representing District 4.
List of Muslim American Election Winners on November 5, 2019
Maine
- Pious Ali – Portland City Council (reelection)
- Safiya Khalid – Lewiston City Council
Maryland
- Fazlul Kabir – College Park City Council (reelection)
Massachusetts
- Mehreen Butt – Wakefield Town Council (reelection)
- Afroz Khan – Newburyport City Council (reelection)
- Sumbul Siddiqui – Cambridge City Council (reelection)
Michigan
- Dave Abdallah – City Council (Dearborn Heights, MI)
- Ray Muscat – City Council (Dearborn Heights, MI)
Minnesota
- Nadia Mohamed – St. Louis Park City Council
- Abdisalam Adam – Fridley School Board (appointed in 2018 to fill a vacant seat but elected by the public for the first time yesterday)
New Jersey
- Jamillah Beasley – Irvington Municipal Council (reelection)
- Mustafa Al-Mutazzim Brent – East Orange City Council (reelection)
- Denise Sanders – Teaneck Board of Education (reelection)
- Raghib Muhammad – Montgomery Township Board of Education
- Adnan Zakaria – Prospect Park City Council (reelection)
- Esllam Zakaria – Prospect Park Board of Education (reelection)
Ohio
- Omar Tarazi – Hillard City Council
Pennsylvania
- Omar Sabir – Philadelphia City Commission
- Nusrat Rashid – Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge
- Sheikh Siddique – Upper Darby Township Council
- Rochelle Bilal – Philadelphia City Sheriff
- Curtis Jones – Philadelphia City Council
Virginia
- Abrar Omeish – Fairfax County School Board
- Sam Rasoul – House of Delegates District 11 (reelection)
- Babur Lateef – Prince William County School Board (reelection)
- Ghazala Hashmi – Senate District 10
- Lisa Zargarpur – Prince William County School Board
- Ibraheem Samirah – House of Delegates District 86 (reelection)
- Harris Mahedavi – Loudon County School Board
- Buta Biberaj – Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney
Washington
- Turan Kayaoglu – Puyallup School Board
- Zahra Roach – Pasco City Council
In July 2019, CAIR, Jetpac and MPower Change released an updated version of their report, “The Rise of American Muslim Changemakers,” documenting the 323 American Muslims who at that time ran for public office since the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and the subsequent rise in anti-Muslim bigotry. CAIR and Jetpac note that as of this posting, the number of American Muslims who have run for office since 2016 is 365.
The report includes profiles of those who ran for office during 2018 and 2019, including newly-elected Pennsylvania State Representative Movita Johnson-Harrell, Virginia State Delegate Dr. Ibraheem Samirah and Montgomery (New Jersey) Township Mayor Sadaf Jaffer, among many others elected in 2019.
