Filmmaker Mira Nair's son Zohran Mamdani has been making headlines as an Indian-origin Democrat in the race to be New York's first Muslim mayor. The 33-year-old also has a Dubai connection - he married his now-wife Rama Duwaji at a rooftop setting in Creek Harbour.

Another India-born member of the Democratic party, in the race for Virginia's next Lieutenant Governor, has been generating quite the buzz ahead of the state's election day.

Ghazala Hashmi, a Hyderabad-born Democratic State Senator, is running for lieutenant governor on the same ticket as Democratic nominee for governor, Abigail Spanberger, and candidate for attorney general, Jay Jones.

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The 61-year-old is currently holding a lead over her Republican rival, John Reid, according to the latest poll survey, said US media reports.

Hashmi is the first Muslim and the first South Asian American to serve in the Virginia Senate, according to her campaign website.

Hashmi was born in India's Hyderabad in 1964. She lived at her maternal grandparents' home in Malakpet during her childhood. Her maternal grandfather served in the finance department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

She moved to the US with her mother and older brother when she was 4 years old. They joined her father in Georgia just as he was completing his PhD in international relations and beginning his university teaching career. Ghazala grew up in that small college town.

After graduating as valedictorian of her high school class and receiving multiple full scholarships and fellowships, Ghazala earned a BA with honors 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.

The couple has two daughters, both graduated from Chesterfield County Public Schools and the University of Virginia.

In the 2019 Virginia Senate election, Hashmi defeated incumbent Republican Glen Sturtevant in the 10th district. In 2023, she was re-elected with over 60 per cent of the vote against Republican candidate Hayden Fisher in the 15th district.

In May 2024, Hashmi announced her campaign for lieutenant governor. If elected, she would be the first Muslim and Asian American elected to a statewide office in Virginia. She won the Democratic nomination for Virginia lieutenant governor in June, defeating five other candidates.

During her tenure in the Senate, Hashmi put forth the Right to Contraception Act, which passed in both the Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate, but was vetoed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.

In April 2025, Hashmi stated her support for repealing Virginia's right-to-work laws.

Her other focuses include public education, voting rights, gun violence prevention, climate change, housing and access to affordable health care. She also values the "preservation of democracy."

The election for Virginia's governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general will be held on November 4.

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