More Muslim candidates seek office as 'Mamdani effect' takes hold

[RandySF]

A growing number of Muslim candidates are seeking office following Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s (D) stunning success in New York City this year.

Last week, an Arab and Muslim American co-founder of the “Uncommitted” movement, which urged Democrats to cast 2024 protest votes over the Israel-Hamas war, launched a bid for state office in Michigan. And this week, the first Muslim woman to win elected office in North Carolina jumped into the race to represent her state in Congress. They join Abdul El-Sayed, who has been vying for Michigan’s open Senate seat, as the most high-profile Muslim candidates running next year.

Their bids come after Mamdani, a democratic socialist, was elected the first Muslim mayor of New York City in November. That same night, Virginia voted to make progressive lieutenant governor candidate Ghazala Hashmi the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office.

“We have the Mamdani effect, which now is exciting a lot more folks to think about running for office,” said Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Action, which aims to engage the American Muslim community in elections up and down the ballot.


https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5647072-muslim-americans-running-office-record/

[AZJonnie]

1. That's nice and all, but personally I'd prefer to read about a lot more atheists running for office

Doesn't matter what religion's adherents this article was about, I'd say the same thing, to be clear.

[Buckeyeblue]

2. Agreed. I find one's faith in a myth to be mystifying

Not to mention, Islam is a very socially conservative religion. I would need to understand how a devout Muslin is able to reconcile religious beliefs with basic human rights.

I always thought Joe Biden was at his most eloquent in explaining how he could both be a faithful Catholic and champion human rights.

I don't think it is inappropriate for us to ask for that explanation from all candidates who align with a religion.

[AZJonnie]

3. To me religion is mostly an attempt by rulers to put a cop in everyone's life

Without having to pay the cop You just tell 'em they're ALL being watched by an invisible magical force, ALL the time. It's sorta genius if I think about it, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. And I definitely don't want laws for everyone being made based on the scribblings of any particular strain of superstitious Bronze Age nomads and clerics.

We're talking about people who didn't even know, for example, that the female contributes a genetic component to her offspring, or that the world's species were formed by natural selection and random mutation, or even that the earth is a sphere.

The people who came up with all this originally really didn't know jack about much of anything, and we're supposed to base our lives on their random, unscientific musings? I'm sorry, I won't

[Buckeyeblue]

5. Agreed. You've articulated much of why I'm not a believer

If there was a god and the Bible or other religious documents were divinely inspired, there would surely be more science and math, the foundations of the Earth and of living things.

[Scott Alan Swaggerty]

4. Nice!