22-year old Muslim PIO wins primary

Washington

Raheela Ahmed, received 9,624 votes as against incumbent Jeana Jacob (6,004 votes) in the Board of Education District 5 primary elections held on Tuesday. She along with her runner up Cheryl Landis who got 8,072 now advance to the November general elections.

Her win is considered to be significant given the anti-Muslim rhetoric’s coming from top Republican candidates in particular its presidential front-runner Donald Trump. “If Mr Trump’s views were a true reflection of Americans beliefs, I would not have won this election decisively. My district has around 56,000 voters and Muslims are less than one per cent of that,” Raheela said, who attributed her win to America’s diversity.

If elected in November general elections, she would be the youngest Indian-American to be elected to this top education post in Maryland. Raheela’s father, a technology entrepreneur immigrated from Hyderabad at the age 25, while her mother moved to the US when she was five years old from Pakistan. She said she believes that no religion condones violence, extremism, or terrorism. Islam is no exception.