SAnna Rasool, the Virginia Democrat who is currently the longest-serving Muslim state lawmaker in the United States and has faced accusations of anti-Semitism over language condemning the Israeli attack on Gaza as genocide, won a resounding victory in Tuesday’s election that he believes shows voters crave honesty from politicians.
Rasoul, an American legislator for a Palestinian state since 2014, strengthened his majority after being re-elected from a district in Virginia where the city of Roanoke leans Democratic and the surrounding areas are very conservative. In an election seen as a referendum on Trump’s policies, which disproportionately affected Virginia, Rasul increased his share of the vote from four years ago by more than 5% as Democrats edged Republicans from the Legislature to the governor’s mansion.
“A 70% Palestinian Muslim win in Virginia’s Bible Belt is really confirmation, beyond just a Democratic win, that you can be bold in genocide in Gaza and still win,” Rasoul told The Guardian.
His victory came despite months of attack ads and rebukes from other party leaders in the state. It was Accused of hate speech and anti-Semitism By his opponent, a member of the Jewish Republican Party who ran as independent pro-Israel groups, and senior members of his party after he called the killing of at least 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023 “the worst purge in human history” and blamed Zionism, which he described as “a superior ideology created to destroy and conquer everything and everyone in its path.”
“But I don’t think issues win election campaigns,” Rasoul said. “Good organization and deep, trusted relationships are what win elections because people are really only looking for two things. Are you honest with me? And will you work hard for me?”
Rasool is part of the most progressive faction of the Democratic Party, and like his friend and newly elected New York City mayor, Zahran Mamdani, he has put affordability at the center of his politics.
“The truth is that over the past 40 years, the Democratic Party has been so desperate to please special interests that we have lost touch with middle- and working-class Americans,” he said. “Establishment voices are too often on the wrong side of history, representing the wrong interests. What people need most, as we saw with Zahran and at the local level in Erki, are bold solutions that make them feel like we are genuinely fighting for them.”
Mamdani first reached out to Rasoul in November 2023 — a month after Israel launched its full-scale invasion of Gaza — and invited him over. To participate in the hunger strike Outside the White House. At the time, Rasul had a much higher profile, and he had to Google the relatively unknown New York City Council member before he said yes.
“Forget him being a democratic socialist, people were tired of political talk and were desperate for honesty,” Rasoul said. “Zahran was able to present real material in an entertaining way that allowed people to connect emotionally with what he was conveying.”
Rasoul, 44, grew up in the Roanoke Valley in southwest Virginia, where his Palestinian parents eventually settled after leaving the occupied West Bank in the wake of the 1967 war that left thousands dead and forcibly displaced.
He has a background in health administration and strategic planning for nonprofits, and since 2014 has represented the city of Roanoke — a racially diverse, Democratic-leaning district (about 60% white, 30% black, and another 10%, mostly Hispanic) with 86,000 mostly Christian voters.
Rasool, one of three part-time Muslim members of the Virginia General Assembly and among only seven state legislators (and one federal lawmaker, Rashida Tlaib) of Palestinian descent, has faced Islamophobia throughout his political career.
In his first run for office, Rasoul was accused in a widely circulated mailer of receiving funding from the terrorist group Al Qaeda. In a failed bid for lieutenant governor in 2021, Rasool was the only candidate asked during the debate whether he would represent him.Voters “regardless of their faith and beliefs” Which sparked accusations of Islamophobia and an apology from the TV station.
The latest wave of attacks accusing him of anti-Semitism began in July 2025 after he attacked him I posted a picture Online book by award-winning Palestinian writer Omar Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Always Be Against This.
He said that what he posted on social media was aimed at “making clear that the genocide in Gaza has nothing to do with Judaism, but rather is a result of Zionism.”
Despite the attacks and the impact of the war on voters, Rasoul believes it was his principled stance and focus on affordability, housing and utility costs that led to his re-election
“It’s not that genocide is at the top of everyone’s list, but issues like Gaza are a barometer for people in our moral compass,” he said. “Until we have that relationship of trust, it doesn’t matter what we say. People know that when it’s tough, I will speak the truth and fight for the issues they care deeply about and that affect their lives.” “We come to their doors, to their fish fry, to their churches, to their schools, and they know that I am willing to work hard for them.
“That’s how you win elections.”