Hayward City Council Member Aisha Wahab announced on Monday that she was suspending her congressional run in the 15th district.
In an Instagram post, Wahab said she has decided to focus her attention in Hayward.
“I am so humbled by the incredible support that I have received from this community for my campaign for Congress,” Wahab said in her official statement on her website.
She made history as the first Afghan-American woman to be elected to the Hayward City Council and has been seen as a more progressive council member.
“I may be suspending this campaign, but I will continue to be a vigilant voice for every member of my community through my work on the Hayward City Council,” Wahab said.
This leaves Rep. Eric Swalwell as the only person left in the race as no Republicans have announced their intentions to run in the 15th district race against him.
In April, Wahab announced that she was running for Swalwell’s seat after he announced that he was running for President of the United States. After disappointing poll and fundraising numbers, Swalwell dropped out of the Presidential Race on June 8 and decided to refocus on his congressional campaign.
Swalwell hosted his first town hall meeting at Castro Valley High School on July 20 where he called on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $15.
“It has been ten years since the minimum wage was increased,” said Swalwell.
Swalwell ended his town hall by answering questions from the crowd on a range of issues from student debt to abortion rights. He used his own experiences of using loans to pay for college and law school.
“My student loan is around five percent. The government shouldn’t be in the business of making money off student loans,” said Swalwell.
In addition, he called on Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which bars the government from using federal funds to pay for abortion.
“What we are seeing a Supreme Court changing, states like Georgia and Louisiana see an opportunity. We need to invest more into sex education,” said Swalwell.
California State Senator Bob Wieckowski announced on May 22 that he was running for Swalwell’s open seat but if Swalwell was to drop out of the presidential race, Wieckowski said he would not challenge the representative, according to the Mercury News.
Wieckowski dropped out of the race less than a month later only to declare his candidacy for the Alameda County Board of Supervisor District 1 race.
Swalwell won the 15th district in 2013 when we beat incumbent Pete Stark, who held the seat for 40 years, longer than Swalwell or Wahab have been alive.