Hyderabad-born Ghazala Hashmi Scripts History by winning Virginia Lt Governor’s Race

HYDERABAD:
Hyderabad-born Ghazala Hashmi scripted history by winning the Virginia Lt Governor race to become the first Muslim, the first South Asian American, and the first Indian-origin woman to hold the post.

Six years after making history with her election as Virginia state Senator, the 61-year-old Democrat set another record by defeating Republican John Reid in the Virginia Lt Governor’s race.

She will succeed Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, the first woman to hold the post.

Ghazala Firdous Hashmi was born in Hyderabad in 1964 to Tanveer and Zia Hashmi. She lived at her maternal grandparents’ home in the Malakpet area here during her childhood.

Her maternal grandfather served in the Finance Department of the Andhra Pradesh government.

When she was four years old, she, along with her mother and older brother, moved to the United States, joining her father, who was then pursuing a PhD in international relations in Georgia and beginning his university teaching career, according to the profile on her website.

“Ghazala grew up in that small college town, at a time when public schools were being desegregated, and so she saw firsthand how communities can be built and dialogue promoted through intentional efforts to bridge cultural, racial, and socioeconomic divides.”

She attended the Marvin Pittman Laboratory School at Georgia Southern University, where both her father and uncle taught in the political science department.

Ghazala earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgia Southern University and her PhD in American literature from Emory University in Atlanta.

Ghazala and her husband, Azhar, moved as newlyweds to the Richmond area in 1991, and she spent nearly 30 years as a professor, first teaching at the University of Richmond and then at Reynolds Community College, where she founded and led the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL).

She and Azhar have two adult daughters who both graduated from Chesterfield County Public Schools and the University of Virginia.

Her decision to enter politics was deeply influenced by Donald Trump’s travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries, which motivated her to represent the voices of inclusion and equality in American governance.

In November 2019, she was elected to the Virginia state senate, defeating incumbent Republican Senator Glen Sturtevant. She became the first Muslim-American woman and also the first Indian-American to enter the Virginia state Senate.

According to the website, as an experienced educator and advocate of inclusive values and social justice, her legislative priorities include public education, voting rights and the preservation of democracy, reproductive freedom, gun violence prevention, the environment, housing, and affordable healthcare access.

“As a state Senator, Ghazala has dedicated her efforts to improving the lives of others, focusing on issues of inequity in housing, education, health care, environmental justice, and much more.”

In 2024, she was named Chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee, a crucial leadership post for two critical Democratic priorities, reproductive freedom and public education.

Meanwhile, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President and former Telangana minister K. T. Rama Rao has hailed Hashmi’s election as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.

“This is massive! From Malakpet to Virginia. Congratulations to Ghazala Hashmi on becoming the first Indian-American Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. There is nothing more beautiful when democracies celebrate diversity of the world,” Rama Rao posted on X.