November 27, 2020
Iranian-American Democrat Sima Ladjevardian has lost her congressional race against staunchly conservative House Republican Dan Crenshaw.
Crenshaw, the incumbent congressman, and Ladjevardian were competing to represent the state’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes parts of Houston.
The complete but not yet certified count three weeks after the November 3 election gave the following numbers.
Dan Crenshaw 19200,828 55.6%
Ladjevardian 148,374 42.8%
Elliott Scheirman 5,524 1.6%
Scheirman was the Libertarian Party candidate.
Ladjevardian was born in Iran and immigrated to the United States as a child. She identifies as a “lawyer, a mother of two, a breast cancer survivor and a political activist.”
Crenshaw, a rising star in the Republican Party, won his seat in 2018. He is a former Navy SEAL who served in Iraq and lost an eye in Afghanistan.
He vastly outraised Ladjevardian in campaign funds.
If Ladjevardian had won, she would have been the first Iranian-American elected to Congress. One other Iranian-American enjoyed a major party nomination in a competitive district but also lost. In 2004 , Goli Ameri, also an Iranian-born woman, had the GOP nomination for a district in Oregon and was widely expected to win over the Democratic incumbent. He won, however, by 58 percent to 38 percent, with a third party candidate taking the other 4 percent.
Ladjevardian focused her campaign on criticizing Crenshaw’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which she said he had downplayed. She called for expanding access to affordable healthcare, addressing climate change and removing injustices in the US immigration system.
She was a key adviser to Beto O’Rourke during his attempt to defeat Republican Senator Ted Cruz in 2018, and was endorsed by former President Barack Obama.
Crenshaw was considered the favorite in the race. However, campaign watchers saw an opening for Ladjevardian’s immigrant-friendly policies, particularly as the Houston area sees the number of immigrant voters growing markedly.
“As an immigrant, I understand the value of why our votes matter and why it’s essential to be civically engaged,” she told The Washington Post in late August, while adding she was running more as “a mom, a breast cancer survivor and a political activist.”
Crenshaw recently sent out a fund-raising appeal that never mentioned Ladjevardian but condemns Rep. Ilhan Omar, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez for “pushing radical schemes that would bankrupt America.” The letter concentrates on his career as a Navy Seal and the letterhead uses his former Navy rank, identifying him as Lieutenant Commander Dan Crenshaw rather than Congressman Crenshaw.
Democrats had expected to pick up several seats across the country to add to their majority in the House of Representatives. Most pundits also expected them to pick up a few seats. But, instead, they lost at least seven seats in the 435-seat House of Representatives, though they retain the majority.