WASHINGTON, 6 November 2004 — A Saudi-American woman who lost a long shot bid for the state Legislature said Wednesday she’s trying again — starting this month.
High school government teacher Ferial Amin Masry lost the race to Republican Audra Strickland 42 percent to 56 percent in a heavily GOP district in suburban Los Angeles.
Masry, 55, won the Democratic nomination for the Assembly seat in a last-minute, write-in campaign. She plans to submit her 2006 campaign papers in two weeks, hoping the fast start will reverse the outcome next time.
“If I start early, I know I can really get a lot of people to vote for me,” Masry said. “It’s a slow process but we’re going to be organizing ourselves and we’re going to be working.”
Masry would have become the country’s first Saudi-American to hold elective state or federal office, according to the Arab American Institute in Washington.
“Everybody is so proud there of what I’m doing,” Masry said. “They’re looking to what I’m doing as something amazing. It’s something that really represents American democracy.”
On Monday, Masry accused her opponent, who will take the seat being vacated by her termed-out husband, of distorting her position on illegal immigration in automated telephone calls. She said the calls, which referred to the 9/11 commission, linked her to terrorism.
“I feel like she’s a traitor to this country. Everything I’m doing good she’s really spitting on it.”
Cynthia McKinney Re-Elected
In 2002, Jewish groups across the country spent a small fortune knocking off then-Republican Cynthia McKinney in a Democratic primary with Denise Majette in Georgia. But earlier this year Majette decided to run for Senate (she lost, to Johnny Isakson), which left the door open for McKinney to run on the Democratic ticket.
On Tuesday, the five-term US congresswoman from the 4th District of Georgia easily won reelection with a landslide margin of 60 percent, despite a well-coordinated and well-financed campaign by her opponent.
