Sam Rasoul, the Virginia Democrat who is currently the longest-serving Muslim state lawmaker in the US and who faced accusations of antisemitism over language condemning Israel’s assault on Gaza as genocide, scored a resounding victory in Tuesday’s election that he believes shows voters are craving honesty from politicians.
Rasoul, an American Palestinian state legislator since 2014, strengthened his majority as he was re-elected to an area of Virginia where the city of Roanoke leans Democrat and the surrounding areas are deeply conservative. In an election seen as a referendum on Trump’s policies, which have disproportionately affected Virginia, Rasoul increased his vote share from four years ago by more than 5% as Democrats trounced Republicans from the legislature to the governor’s mansion.
“A 70% victory in the Bible belt of Virginia for a Palestinian Muslim is really a validation, beyond just Democrats winning, that you can be bold on the Gaza genocide and still be victorious,” Rasoul told the Guardian.
His win came despite months of attack ads and rebukes from other party leaders in the state. He was accused of hate speech and antisemitism by his opponent, a Jewish Republican party member who ran as an independent, pro-Israel groups and senior members of his own party after he called the killing of at least 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023 “the most evil cleansing in human history” and blamed Zionism, which he labelled “a supremacist ideology created to destroy and conquer everything and everyone in its way”.
“But I don’t believe that issues win campaigns,” Rasoul said. “It’s good organizing and deep, trusted relationships that win elections because people are really only looking for two things. Are you being honest with me? And will you work hard for me?”
Rasoul is part of the most progressive faction of the Democratic party, and like his friend and the newly elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, has put affordability at the centre of his politics.
“The reality is that over the past 40 years, the Democratic party was so desperate to please special interests, that we’ve lost touch with middle- and working-class Americans,” he said. “The establishment voices are too often on the wrong side of history, and representing the wrong interests. What people are desperate for, as we saw with Zohran and locally in my race, are bold solutions that make them feel like we’re genuinely batting for them.”
Mamdani first reached out to Rasoul in November 2023 – a month after Israel launched its full-scale invasion of Gaza, inviting him to participate in a hunger strike outside the White House. At the time, Rasoul had a much higher profile, and he had to Google the relatively unknown New York City assembly member before saying yes.
“Forget about him being a democratic socialist, people are tired of political talk and just desperate for honesty. Zohran was able to provide real substance in an entertaining way that allowed people to connect emotionally to what he was conveying,” said Rasoul.
Rasoul, 44, was raised in Roanoke valley in south-west Virginia, where his Palestinian parents eventually settled after leaving the occupied West Bank following the 1967 war that left thousands dead and forcibly displaced.
He has a background in health administration and strategic planning for non-profits, and since 2014 has represented Roanoke City – an ethnically diverse Democratic-leaning district (around 60% white, 30% Black and 10% other, mostly Hispanic) with 86,000 predominantly Christian constituents.
Rasoul, who is one of three Muslim members of the part-time Virginia general assembly and among only seven state (and one federal, Representative Rashida Tlaib) lawmakers of Palestinian heritage, has faced Islamophobia throughout his political career.
In his first run for office, Rasoul was accused in a widely distributed mailer of being funded by the terror group Al-Qaida. In an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor in 2021, Rasoul was the only candidate asked during a debate if he would represent his constituents “regardless of faith and beliefs”, prompting accusations of Islamophobia and an apology from the TV station.
The recent flurry of attacks accusing him of antisemitism began in July 2025 after he posted a picture online of the award-winning Palestinian writer Omar El Akkad’s book One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This.
He said the social media post was meant to “clarify that the genocide in Gaza has nothing to do Judaism, but rather the result of Zionism”.
Despite the attacks, and the impact of the war on voters, Rasoul believes it’s his principled stance and focus on affordability, housing and utility costs that have resulted in his re-election
“It’s not that the genocide is at the top of everyone’s list, but issues like Gaza are proxies for people’s gauge on our moral compass. Until we have that trusted relationship, it doesn’t matter what we say. People know that when it’s hard, I will speak the truth and fight for the issues that they do deeply care about and that impact their lives,” he said. “We show up at their doors, to their fish fries, at their churches, and to their schools, and they know that I’m ready to work hard for them.
“That’s how you win elections.”
