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Published on: Nov 05, 2025 10:56 am IST
Ghazala Hashmi, born in Hyderabad, India, has made history as the first Indian-origin Muslim woman to hold any US statewide office.
Ghazala Hashmi has etched her name in history as the first Indian-origin Muslim woman to become a Lieutenant Governor in the United States. The 61-year-old, who beat Republican John Reid in the Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial race, campaigned on promises to confront the Trump administration, according to CNN.
As per her website, Ghazala Hashmi is the first Muslim and the first South Asian American to serve in the Virginia Senate.
Hashmi moved to US when she was four
Born in 1964 in Hyderabad, India, Ghazala Hashmi grew up in a close-knit Hyderabadi household to Tanveer and Zia Hashmi. During her early years, she lived in Malakpet with her maternal grandparents. Her grandfather worked in the Finance Department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
When Hashmi was four years old, her family moved to the United States, joining her father, who was then pursuing a PhD in international relations in Georgia, as per her website. She attended the Marvin Pittman Laboratory School at Georgia Southern University, where both her father and uncle taught in the political science department.
Hashmi’s education
Hashmi went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgia Southern University and later completed her PhD in American Literature at Emory University. Her 1992 dissertation, titled “In the American Grain and Paterson by William Carlos Williams, and the American Ground,” was supervised by Professor Peter Dowell.
Career as a professor
Before stepping into politics, Hashmi dedicated nearly three decades to academia. She taught at the University of Richmond and later at Reynolds Community College, where she also founded and led the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL),
Why Ghazala Hashmi entered politics
Ghazala Hashmi’s decision to enter politics was deeply influenced by Donald Trump’s travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries, which motivated her to represent voices of inclusion and equality in American governance, as per The Washington Post.
