Saqib Ali
[8] Ali's political activity first gained media attention when he "was the Legislative District 39 Coordinator for the Howard Dean presidential campaign in 2003 and early 2004.[16] On October 1, 2005, Ali announced his candidacy for inclusion on the three-person Democratic slate for "Legislative District 39 which includes Montgomery Village, Washington Grove and parts of Gaithersburg, Derwood, Germantown and North Potomac.On January 30, 2006, candidate Ali "accompanied a Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) contingent to Annapolis to lobby legislators to improve the state's... teacher pension system.'"[21][23] On September 10, 2006, Ali was endorsed by The Washington Post which one county political veteran ranked as only behind that of the Democratic Party for its influence on local voters.[19] The Post said "Political newcomer Saqib Ali has shown good command of issues and would bring new vigor to this district's delegation."[24] On September Sept. 20, 2006, it was announced Ali had won the Democratic primary in Maryland's 39th Legislative District, defeating incumbent Delegate Joan F. Stern for a position on the slate with Del's Nancy J.[26] Ali, King, and Barkley faced Republican challengers David Nichols, Gary Scott, and Bill Witham in the November 2006 election.[27] After his election, Ali told reporters that his "district is about 40 percent minority... and part of his campaign involved introducing those new immigrants to the political process, registering new voters and showing them how to cast a ballot."[29] Ali's election is also seen as evidence of another American minority moving towards civic empowerment by participating in the political process, as "[h]e is the first Muslim in the Maryland State legislature."[30] His election and that of Keith Ellison (D-MN) to the United States Congress are viewed by Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post as "part of a concerted march of Muslims into civic and political life" in reaction to "worries about civil liberties and immigration policy" that began after Sept. 11, 2001.[4] In CNN's "Election Night 2006" coverage on November 7, 2006, Candy Crowley mentioned Ali in a discussion about Keith Ellison (D-MN) and the growth of Muslim political participation in the United States."[25] The Washington Post reported that since "Saqib Ali was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates this month, he has been flooded with calls and e-mails from across the country asking: How'd you do it?And initial polling data and anecdotal evidence suggest that significantly more Muslims in Virginia registered and voted this month than in previous elections."'"[34] Ali did not want to be seen as just a novelty because of his religion, he said he'd "like to work on transportation matters and to pass a bill making it tougher for companies to track information and buying habits of private citizens."[32] After his election as Governor, Martin O'Malley (D) renewed his four-year call for the state to use revenue from slot machines to reduce its fiscal problem.[35] Opposition to slot machines was one of the issues that Ali ran on and he repeated this position on Maryland Public Radio, citing his fears of the effects that such a measure would have on families of gambling addicts and calling for the state to close corporate tax loopholes instead.[38][39] Ali is the co-founder of Freedom2Boycott in Maryland, an organization of Palestinian solidarity activists who opposes anti-BDS laws that they believe infringe on their constitutional right to boycott Israel and Israeli settlements.[40] The organization helped defeat anti-BDS bills in the Maryland House from 2014 to 2017, but then Governor Larry Hogan issued an executive order requiring state contractors to pledge that they will not boycott Israel to be eligible for contracts.Leaders of the Montgomery County Muslim Council pressured Democratic leaders to appoint him to fill the seat,[43] but the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee ultimately appointed the panel's chair, Linda Foley, to fill the vacancy by a vote of 20–2, with one committee member not voting and Foley abstaining.