New York's Grace Meng retains her seat in Congress, newcomer Qasim Rashid will challenge in Virginia

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Congressmember Grace Meng, left, campaigned with her family on election day.

The primary elections Tuesday in New York and Virginia introduced some new Asian American faces to the political landscape in those two states.

With some mail-in ballots yet to be counted, Rep. Grace Meng has enough votes to safely be declared the winner for New York's 6th Congressional District primary Tuesday.

"So grateful for the overwhelming show of support for our campaign," she tweeted late Tuesday. "While we must wait until all votes have been counted, I'm confident that our grassroots support will lead us to victory. I dedicated my career to fighting for Queens families & I’m ready to continue that fight.

At last count, the four-term member of Congress was leading with 61 percent of the vote, prevailing over Democratic rivals Sandra Choi and Melquiades Gagarin with 74 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press.

It marked the first time that Meng has faced primary challengers since taking office, as a number of progressive Democrats challenged House incumbents this campaign cycle.

In November, Meng will face Republican Thomas Zmich, who ran unopposed in his primary.

Meanwhile, in the neighboring 12th District which includes parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, its still to close to tell. Incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who has been in Congress 25 years, narrowly leads attorney Suraj Patel. The 75-year old Maloney held an edge of less than 2 percentage points over Patel on Wednesday morning.

Down ballot, New York Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou (D-Financial District, Chinatown) secured a decisive victory over Grace Lee in last night’s primary.

According to the unofficial numbers, Niou nabbed 56.77 percent of the vote in District 65 – more than 20 percent higher than Lee’s 35.41 percent margin.

“I’m so proud and incredibly grateful to my hardworking team, countless volunteers, and every New Yorker who cast their ballot in this very unusual and challenging election,” said Niou. “I am proud of our campaign, putting our grassroots support up against a flood of money from Wall Street and the 1%.

Incumbent Democrat, Assemblymember Ron Kim easily won his race with 63% of the vote of District 40, which encompasses the New York borough of Queens, where Asian Americans make up 26% of the population.

Two progressive Democrats who had the backing of Congresswoman Alajandra Ocasio-Cortez will be taking seats in the New York Assembly.

JENEFIR RAJKUMAR

In Queens’ Assembly District 38, challenger Jenifer Rajkumar led incumbent Michael Miller 52 percent to 25 percent with more than 80 percent of the votes in. If she holds on to her lead, the former staffer for Gov. Cuomo would become the first Indian American to be elected to the New York Assembly.

Meanwhile in AD 36 (Astoria, Long Island City) favorite Ugandan Indian Zohran Mamdani leads incumbent Aravella Simotas by seven percentage points with more than 75% of the vote counted. 

For complete primary election results for New York, click here.

In Virginia, a Pakistani American attorney, won the Democratic primary to challenge the Republican incumbent, Rep. Rob Wittman. 

QASIM RASHID

With 99% of the vote counted, Qasim Rashid had almost 53% of the vote in Congressional District 1 over rival Lavangelene Williams.

After Rashid was declared winner, he recalled his journey overcoming bias in his tweet: 

"10 years ago a major law firm rescinded a job offer b/c I was 'too Muslim' & would “make clients uncomfortable. "Last night I became the first American Muslim in Virginia history to win a Congressional primary election. "That firm has since folded. "My fight for justice won’t stop."


For complete Virginia primary election results, click here.