Afghan American foster child romps to early lead in race to replace disgraced Eric Swalwell

By NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT Published: 04:40, 17 June 2026 | Updated: 04:47, 17 June 2026 Eric Swalwell's replacement in Congress will be a woman.   California voters cast ballots Tuesday in a special election to temporarily fill the seat vacated by the disgraced Congressman haunted by allegations of sexual misconduct, with Democratic state Senator Aisha Wahab taking an early lead. Garnering more than 40 percent of the vote, the AP called that Wahab would advance to an August runoff.  One other candidate will qualify.  Wahab was born to Afghan refugees and ended up in foster care after losing both of her parents. She was the first Afghan American to hold elected office.  The state senator received endorsements from Democrats with a national profile, including Representatives Maxwell Frost and Pramila Jayapal. Wahab was the top vote-getter in the open primary held earlier this month to take over the 14th Congressional District seat for a full term starting in January. She advanced to the general election alongside fellow Democrat, Bay Area transportation official Melissa Hernandez.  California state Senator Aisha Wahab, the first Afghan American to hold political office, qualified to compete in the November election to fill former Representative Eric Swalwell and an August runoff to fill the seat temporarily  Bay Area transportation official Melissa Hernandez is competing in Tuesday's special election to fill former Representative Eric Swalwell's seat temporarily, but already qualified to compete in the general election for the new Congressional term starting in January  Just weeks ago Eric Swalwell, who resigned in disgrace over allegations of sexual misconduct, was the frontrunning candidate for California governor Due to California's 'jungle' primary system, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, make it to the general election.  In Tuesday's special election, 11 candidates flocked to temporarily fill the seat - six Democrats, four Republicans and one candidate showing no party preference.  The two races are being fought on slightly different turf.  Governor Gavin Newsom had the state's congressional maps redrawn, responding to Republican redistricting efforts in Texas aimed at securing the House in 2026.  The new boundaries applied to the primary held earlier this month but not to Tuesday's special election.  With an August 18 runoff in place, the winner will serve less than six months in the seat.   With 80 percent of the vote in, Hernandez was in second place, receiving about 16 percent of the vote, with entrepreneur Rakhi Singh Israni in third with around 13 percent of the vote.  Swalwell was seen as one of the Democratic Party's rising stars and was a frontrunner in the California governor's race when sex abuse accusations rocked his campaign.  He denied the claims, but dropped out of the race - and resigned from Congress in mid-April.  Since then, Democratic former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra topped the California gubernatorial primary, followed by former Fox News star, Republican Steve Hilton.    The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.