This article was written by Hansen Zhang.

In the chambers of the Virginia Senate in Richmond stands a proud career educator, an Asian-American, and a Muslim woman seeking to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor. Her name is Ghazala Hashmi, and she has long defied Virginia’s Republican establishment and the state’s current governor, Glenn Youngkin.

Ghazala Hashmi speaking to supporters at a Democratic victory party in Richmond, Virginia, on November 5, 2019. Source: AP Photo/Steve Helber

Ever since Hashmi’s victory on Election Night 2019, the state senator has truly embodied many firsts. She is both the first Muslim-American woman and the first South Asian-American to ever serve in the Virginia Senate, per AP News. In addition, Hashmi’s triumph led Virginia Democrats to gain control of the General Assembly for the first time in nearly two decades.

That fateful night, Hashmi declared that “When Virginia leads in the right direction, the rest of the country follows,” and that “we will create meaningful impact on the climate crisis, on the improvement of our educational opportunities, and make sure that Virginians are not going to be continued victims of senseless gun violence.” These powerful words encapsulate Hashmi’s driving mission – a progressive, citizen-oriented platform with education as a first and foremost pillar. 

Born in Hyderabad, India, on July 5, 1964, to highly educated parents, Hashmi and her family relocated to Georgia when she was just four years old. Her father, Zia Hashmi, would later go on to have a distinguished career in Georgia Southern University’s political science department, given the title of professor emeritus upon his retirement.

Ghazala Hashmi attended the Marvin Pittman Laboratory School on GSU’s Statesboro campus as a child, and she recounts, “It was a lovely childhood… growing up in a small town, you pretty much knew everybody.” Nonetheless, she lived in that small town during the Jim Crow era, and she recalls many adults, who were meeting a Muslim for the first time, asking her strange questions about whether she prayed to multiple gods, or even if she prayed to Jesus. 

“I think it did help me to grapple with some big questions [and to define] my identity at a young age,” Hashmi later reflected while speaking to NOTUS.  “I think that’s been very formative for the kind of person I became.”

Hashmi earned her Bachelor’s degree from Georgia Southern University in English, the very same school her father had taught in for so many years. Hashmi, an excellent student, impressed her professors. One of her professors, Lane Van Tassell, even remarked: “I would rank Ghazala in the top 1% of students I had in over 33 years of teaching at Georgia Southern.” She later obtained her PhD in English at Emory University. 

Before ever running for politics, Hashmi had spent nearly 30 years working as a professor in the Richmond area. She initially taught at the University of Richmond before transitioning to Reynolds Community College, where she served as the Founding Director of the school’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, according to WAVY. While settled in Richmond, Hashmi and her husband, Azhar, raised two daughters who both graduated from Chesterfield County Public Schools and the University of Virginia. 

Hashmi has always been a firm supporter of education throughout her political career. Source: Ghazala for Virginia

Throughout her career, she has immersed herself in a profound love of poetry. It’s a passion nurtured since childhood, when Hashmi’s parents would read her ancient Indian poetry in Urdu. Hashmi has referenced poets like Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, and T.S. Eliot as her muses- writers who grappled with the struggles of the commoner and yearned for an improved society in their work.

It was in 2017 on a winter day that Hashmi realized she needed to enter politics if she wanted to have a lasting impact. Earlier that morning, she had heard on the radio that President Trump had issued an order banning refugees from select Muslim nations, and she feared that it would escalate to the possibility of the government creating a Muslim registry in the United States. 

Thus, influenced by the need to improve Virginia’s education system but motivated to do so much more, Hashmi announced her campaign as a Democrat running for Virginia’s 10th Senate district. Throughout the campaign, she frequently championed the slogan “Ghazala Hashmi is an American name,” rebutting those who see America through a limited and ignorant perspective.

On November 5th, 2019, she defeated Republican incumbent Glen Sturtevant in the seat’s general election. Hashmi was inaugurated in January 2020, representing a district that spans parts of Richmond, Chesterfield County, and all of Powhatan County.

Throughout her five years in the Virginia Senate, Hashmi has accumulated significant legislative experience. Hashmi, herself having experienced two dangerous miscarriages, is a staunch supporter of reproductive freedom. Virginia is currently one of the only Southern states to permit abortion – and in that, Hashmi notes, “we’re actually fighting for lives.” 

At an intersection of her past career and her political vision, education is a central ideal that Hashmi emphasizes. “Education is key to advocating and changing Virginia’s approach to labor, collective bargaining, and union activities,” she wrote in a written interview with WAVY. “[It’s] central to better economic outcomes, expansion of the middle class, and more opportunities for the majority of the people.” Hashmi is a firm advocate that education is the key to unlocking prosperity and the well-being of Virginia’s working class.

In 2021, Hashmi also co-founded the Virginia General Assembly’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus, along with other Democratic representatives, including Suhas Subramanyam, who was later elected as Virginia’s first Indian-American Congressman in 2024. 

Yet, Hashmi’s political ambition extends further. With Republican governor Glenn Youngkin approaching his term limit and Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears pursuing the governorship, Hashmi has set her sights on the office of Lieutenant Governor. 

In a tightly-contested Democratic primary for the position, Hashmi declared victory on June 18, 2025, receiving 27.49% of the vote, narrowly edging out her primary competitors: former Richmond mayor Levar Stoney with 26.65% and State Senator Aaron Rouse with 26.16%. 

Hashmi (right) with Democratic Governor candidate Abigail Spanberger (center) and Democratic Attorney General candidate Jay Jones at a Labor Day parade in Buena Vista. Source: Getty Images/Win McNamee

She is set to face off against Republican nominee John Reid, the first openly gay man to be a statewide nominee in Virginia, on November 4th of this year. Reid has been embroiled in controversy– in fact, Gov. Youngkin even asked Reid to drop out after a Tumblr account with the same name as Reid’s shared sexually explicit images of men. 

As Ghazala Hashmi advances toward the Lieutenant Governorship, she draws on decades as an educator and administrator and years of legislative experience representing constituents. She’s proven to be a steadfast advocate for reproductive rights and improving educational opportunities, particularly for Virginia’s most vulnerable communities. Speaking with VPM News’ Jahd Khalil, Hashmi underscored the readiness and responsibility needed for the role, stating: “Voters need to have the assurance that the executive team that we elect this November is ready and prepared on day one to fight to protect Virginians.”