Inside the strip-mall gurdwara in the D.C. suburbs, Ghazala F. Hashmi snaked through the winding line of people sitting cross-legged in this Sikh house of worship.
The state delegate leading her through, JJ Singh (D-Loudoun), introduced Hashmi – a Democrat seeking to becomer Viriginia’s lieutenant govenor – the same way to each one.
“She’d be the first Indian to hold statewide office in the entire state,” Singh said, crouching down to greet one woman eating lunch.
She would also notch an even bigger first if she wins Tuesday’s election: She would be the first Muslim woman elected statewide anywhere in the country. But her faith and ethnicity, she said, are not the driving forces behind her campaign.
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