Egyptian-American surgeon Adam Hamawy wins New Jersey Congress seat

Summarised from 2 outlets · 3 reports · Updated 5 Nov, 15:14 · Archive

Adam Hamawy, an Egyptian-American surgeon and former US Army officer, has won New Jersey's 12th Congressional District with approximately 70 per cent of the vote, becoming the state's first Muslim member of Congress. He is one of eight Muslim Americans elected on the same night as Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress.

Hamawy, 56, campaigned on a platform of 'healthcare not bombs', pledging to challenge what he called a system that 'funds genocide [in Gaza] while trapping us all here in medical debt'. He said his volunteer work in Gaza in 2024 and 2025 made it impossible for him to return to normal life. He is a reconstructive surgeon who served eight years as a US Army officer, including a deployment to Iraq as a combat surgeon.

Fox News reports that his campaign faced scrutiny over past volunteer work with the Benevolence International Foundation, a Chicago-based charity that the US later identified as providing support to al Qaeda. According to a 1996 interview, Hamawy spent five weeks in Bosnia in 1994 with the organisation, delivering medical supplies to hospitals in Sarajevo and Zenica. In 2002, Bosnian authorities raided the charity's offices and recovered documents that federal investigators linked to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

Hamawy described his campaign as meeting 'a wave of attacks that he described as anti-Muslim' and said he had never seen such hate 'as open and as loud and as accepted as it is today'.

How it is being reported

• ‘Healthcare not bombs’: How Gaza shaped Adam Hamawy’s path to US CongressFormer army surgeon and Gaza volunteer Hamawy is the first Muslim American elected to the US Congress from New Jersey.Al Jazeera · 5 Nov, 14:30
• Dem newcomer heads to Washington despite past ties to al Qaeda-linked groupAdam Hamawy won New Jersey's 12th Congressional District despite scrutiny over ties to the Benevolence International Foundation and Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman.Fox News · 4 Nov, 19:14
• Gaza volunteer Adam Hamawy wins historic US Congress seatEgyptian-American surgeon Adam Hamawy has won New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District.Al Jazeera · 4 Nov, 13:33

In this story: Adam Hamawy · New Jersey · Gaza · Benevolence International Foundation · al Qaeda · Bosnia · Iraq

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log