Whether you’re a parent who objects to sexually explicit books being shown in your kids’ classrooms, an opponent of discriminatory Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, or a rank-and-file Virginian, your state’s Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor thinks you’re a bigot.
Ghazala Hashmi, an Indian immigrant who became the first Muslim elected to Virginia’s state senate in 2019, has a long history of smearing the very voters she’ll need to win over as racist, misogynistic, and fascist, a Washington Free Beacon review of her record in public life found.
During an interview with University of Delaware professor Muqtedar Khan after the 2021 gubernatorial election titled,”What Went wrong for the Democrats in Virginia?” Hashmi appeared to agree with Khan’s assessment that a majority of Virginia voters are bigots.
Khan said Governor Glenn Youngkin’s (R.) victory in that year’s contest meant “the majority of voters in Virginia are racist, or at least susceptible to racist dog whistles.”
The election results, according to Khan, showed “the Republicans are winning because the electorate responds to racist dog whistles.”
Hashmi agreed, saying the racism of the Virginia electorate is “very disturbing.”
“What’s really disturbing to [minority groups in Virginia] is this idea that racism is so latent and so much a part of the society that people could respond to these kinds of flagrant dog whistles that we heard throughout the Youngkin campaign,” she said. “Sadly, you know, we’re inheriting—not just Virginia but this whole country—we’re inheriting the results of four years of the Trump administration, an administration that thrived on these kinds of demonization, racist stereotypes, scapegoating of minority communities, and it’s become acceptable.”
Hashmi did not just target Republicans in her attack against Youngkin voters. The Virginia governor rode to victory in 2021 with the support of 54 percent of independents in the Old Dominion State, voters Hashmi will ostensibly need to win over during this year’s campaign.
Alongside Youngkin voters writ large, Hashmi has pointed to specific groups of Virginians she finds particularly objectionable.
Fairfax County parents in 2022 raised alarm over the presence of the book Gender Queer, which includes graphic illustrations of sex acts, in their children’s schools. In response, Hashmi compared those parents to fascists.
“The very first step of fascism—and I’m going to use that word in the context of history—very first step of fascism is to undermine the education system, to undermine the trust in teachers, and also to begin to systematically remove materials, conversation, discussions around issues the government itself might find offensive,” Hashmi said in a podcast appearance.
She also intimated that parents who supported a rating system for books—similar to the Motion Picture Association’s labels—had targeted specific groups.
“I’m concerned about this subset of parents who think that they can legislate what children are reading,” Hashmi told a local news outlet at the time. “Overwhelmingly, the books that we see targeted are by authors of minority communities or by LGBTQ authors.”
Hashmi’s comments are reminiscent of former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe’s (D.) 2021 statement that he did not “think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” an assertion widely understood to have been a major factor in his defeat in that year’s gubernatorial election.
The lieutenant governor nominee has worked to limit parents’ involvement in their children’s lives over the course of her career. During Hashmi’s time as a state senator, she helped kill legislation that would have allowed parents to know if their child had identified as transgender at school in addition to parental input in school libraries.
Hashmi has also accused those who oppose discriminatory DEI programs of being racist and misogynistic.
“The use of the word or phrase ‘DEI’ is simply another coded language for racism, for misogyny,” she said during a primary debate in May.
Hashmi, who has leaned heavily into culture war issues during her time in public life, has dismissed opposition to progressive ideology as a “distraction,” accusing those who care about cultural issues as using “racist dog whistles for the most part.”
Hashmi ran for state senate during former governor Ralph Northam’s (D.) blackface scandal and initially spoke out against him, calling on the former governor to resign. She later reversed that position after receiving $25,000 from Northam’s political action committee, citing “critical legislative priorities” that meant Northam should keep his job.
