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Aber Kawas becomes first Palestinian American elected to New York's legislature
Democratic socialist Aber Kawas won New York State Senate District 12 in Queens with about 75% of the vote, becoming the first Palestinian American and the first hijab-wearing woman elected to the state legislature. "We made history," she wrote after the race was called.
Aber Kawas, a Palestinian American community organizer and democratic socialist, won New York State Senate District 12 in Queens on Tuesday, becoming the first Palestinian American elected to the New York State Legislature. She took about 75% of the vote, with roughly 90% of ballots counted when The New York Times called the race, and is also the first woman who wears a hijab to be elected to the state legislature.
"We made history," Kawas wrote on X after her victory. She will succeed Democratic state Sen. Michael Gianaris, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
From the Assembly race to the Senate
Born in Brooklyn in 1992 to Palestinian parents, Kawas spent more than 15 years organizing for workers, immigrant communities and Palestinian rights, including as advocacy director at the Arab American Association of New York. She has said she began organizing as a teenager after visiting her father, a Jordanian national, in immigration detention; he was later deported. She first entered the 2026 race for the State Assembly, then switched to the State Senate after Gianaris announced he would step down, defeating Assemblymember Steven Raga in the June 23 Democratic primary.
A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, she was endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, with whom she had worked on the "Not On Our Dime" bill in 2023, as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. Kawas said working with Mamdani had made her more open to running for office.
"Fund dignity, fight destruction"
Campaigning under the slogan "Fund dignity, fight destruction," Kawas called for health care for all, better public transit and affordable housing, climate action, "no money for war," and passage of the New York for All Act, which would end the state's cooperation with ICE. During the campaign she faced criticism over remarks she made about the Sept. 11 attacks in 2017; she said this year that her comments had been "cherry-picked" and "twisted" by the right.
Her win came on the same night that Rep. Ilhan Omar won a fifth term in Minnesota and surgeon Adam Hamawy was elected to the U.S. House from New Jersey.
Images: Social media
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