Texas town elects first Muslim councilman, defeating Tea Party candidate

Thousands of voters in the small town outside Dallas turned out to support Salman Bhojani, the city's first Muslim councilman. Thousands of voters in the small town outside Dallas turned out to support Salman Bhojani, the city's first Muslim councilman. Photo: Bhojani For Euless City Council Photo: Bhojani For Euless City Council Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Texas town elects first Muslim councilman, defeating Tea Party candidate 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A slim margin of 37 votes decided the election of Euless' first Muslim councilmember this past Saturday.

Thousands of voters in the small town outside Dallas turned out to support Salman Bhojani, a Pakistani immigrant attacked on the campaign trail because of his faith.

"I am proud to have participated in a race that saw the highest voter turnout in a Euless city election in twenty-five years," wrote Bhojani on his campaign site. "I am also proud to have run a positive, issues-focused campaign that rose above the negativity others sought to inject into the race."

The votes are in and I’ve won the race for Pl. 6 on Euless City Council! I’m proud to have run a positive, issues-focused campaign that rose above the negativity others sought to inject into the race. Now, it will be my duty and privilege to represent all Euless residents! pic.twitter.com/PaWHASkXbE — Salman Bhojani (@BhojaniSalman) May 9, 2018

A little over 4,000 votes were cast in the election that pitted Bhojani, 38, against Molly Maddux, a 63-year-old retired teacher and Tea Party candidate.

Bhojani's victory is no doubt a sour note for Jonathan Stickland, a Texas House Representatives and member of the Freedom Caucus who donated $15,000 to Bhojani's opponent, according to the Star-Telegram.

Stickland made headlines when he weighed in on the race, controversially highlighting Bhojani's faith and describing him as "sneaky" in a Facebook post.

"He is a Muslim, lawyer, and a lifelong Democrat who supports raising your taxes," Stickland wrote, urging voters to watch a video of how "the Koran was read for the first time at a city council meeting thanks to Mr. Bhojani."

In an interview with Chron.com, Bhojani punched back saying his actions on the job will prove Stickland and others wrong.

"The fears people have are unfounded, they're not actual fears, just political fears," he said. "Stickland used [my faith] to rouse the Islamophobia in the country that's been seen from the president all the way down to city council ... Fortunately, it did not work in their favor."

"I want to represent the city regardless of people's faith or ideology," Bhojani said. "I'm going to change that image one person at a time."

Bhojani is set to be sworn in at a Euless City Council meeting on May 22. He is the city's first minority councilmen.

To dive deeper into how elections are playing out throughout Texas, you can check out Houston Chronicle's 2018 Election HQ here.