Meet Aber Kawas, First Palestinian American Elected to New York Legislature
Aber Kawas created history after winning the New York State Senate District 12 seat and becoming the first Palestinian American and first Muslim woman elected to the New York State Legislature
US Midterm Election Results 2026: Aber Kawas created history after winning the New York State Senate District 12 seat and becoming the first Palestinian American and first Muslim woman elected to the New York State Legislature.
Aber bagged 75% of the vote, with 90 per cent of ballots counted when The New York Times called the race on Tuesday, November 3. The number of votes Aber has secured in the 2026 elections is unprecedented for a first-time candidate.
Aber's victory also makes her the first Hijab wearing woman elected to the NY state legislature.
"We Made History"
Aber, who was endorsed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, celebrated her victory calling it "historic".
"We made history", she wrote in a social media post on X.
The post is tagged with a photo of her written with "First Palestinian Elected in New York State".
Aber, a University of Johannesburg alumnus, won despite a strong negative and hate campaign, and her opponent pumping in millions of dollars to defeat her.
Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, first Muslim woman in US Congress, had also endorsed Aber Kawas, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
About Aber Kawas
Aber was born and raised in Brooklyn to Palestinian parents who immigrated to the United States in the 1990s.
Kawas experienced the impact of immigration enforcement during her childhood. Her father was detained by US immigration authorities and deported, an experience she has described as one of the deepest wounds of her life.
Kawas, a Brooklyn-born community organiser, returned to New York in 2024 after completing a Master’s degree in Islamic Liberation Theology at the University of Johannesburg.
Before becoming active in electoral politics, Aber Kawas spent more than 15 years in community organising. Her advocacy focused on workers’ rights, immigrant communities and Palestinian rights, particularly among Arab and Muslim communities in New York. She was associated with the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Urban Justice Center.
Kawas built her poll campaign around housing and tenant protections, immigrant rights at a moment of aggressive federal immigration enforcement, and solidarity with Palestinians under the slogan “Fund dignity, fight destruction” — themes that have animated a new generation of candidates since the start of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza.
Aber's bid drew a barrage of attacks from right-wing media during the campaign, which she and her supporters dismissed as smears intended to delegitimize a Palestinian American seeking office, Muslim Network TV reported. Aber's victory is the latest marker of a historic cycle for Muslim and Palestinian American political representation.
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