Democrat Aisha Wahab wins California special election to fill Eric Swalwell’s US House seat

Progressive wins bitter fight for seat formerly held by congressman who quit amid sexual misconduct claims

Progressive Aisha Wahab was elected to Congress in a special election on Tuesday following a bitter intra-party battle over the seat formerly held by Eric Swalwell, who resigned in April after facing sexual misconduct allegations. Swalwell has denied the allegations.

Wahab, a state senator, was widely considered the frontrunner in the district in California's East Bay and had the backing of the state Democratic party as well as Our Revolution, labor unions, local officials and the state's attorney general, Rob Bonta. She won the primary for the special election for the final months of Swalwell's term by more than 20 points over Hernandez, the president of the board of directors for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) agency.