Texas City Council Muslim Candidate Seeks to Inspire Not Just Represent As Early Voting Begins in Dec 8 Run-Off Election

Winning is one thing, but Abdul Khabeer has another thing on his mind as he runs for a seat on the City Council in Irving, Texas.

He aims to inspire.

“Two things: number one, to take care of the issues related to our community at large, seriously, and try to resolve as much as I could. And number two is, being a Muslim who was born and raised in India, who’s participating in this process, just to put a road map for the future generations,” he says.

“If a guy who’s 59 to 60-years-old could run for the city elections, the new generation should take a lesson from it. My only thing is to fire [up]  future generations to take part in state level politics so that they could be relevant.”

After getting 32.7 percent of the votes from the more than 10,000 votes cast, the businessman  is now in the Dec. 8 runoff election for Place 3. He and Mark Zeske (46.5 percent) advanced to the general runoff election after being the top two vote-getters in the general election on Nov. 3. 

Mohammed Akbar (20.8 percent) also ran in the general election that was to fill a vacant spot on the council. Sitting Councilman Dennis Webb did not run for re-election.

Muslims stepped up boldly during the national elections, even getting much of the credit for a big victory for the Democratic party in Michigan. They also made their presence felt in Irving. Khabeer is encouraged by the support, what his campaign manager Hayat Malik calls a “massive turnout.” 

Hayat Malik “We (came) to realize that out of 11,000 or 10,000 people who voted in our district, 56 percent of the vote goes to the Muslim candidates, so that is a surprising number,” Khabeer says. “I mean, if my numbers and Mohammed’s number, if you add those together, it’s about 5 percent in a general election, which is very surprising. And led to the outcome of the runoff.”

Malik sees the numbers as an opportunity, a sign that it’s time to join the political fray.

“For many years, I should say for many decades, Muslims, in particular, and immigrants, we had sat on the sidelines ... For the past, almost two decades, we have been helping the other candidates, the white Americans, the African Americans, helping them win elections. I think it is time that the Muslims, not just in the city of Irving, Texas, but around the United States, take active part in politics,” he says.

For Malik, this election turned into something bigger.

“As Abdul and I were campaigning, you know, we would talk to people during the election and the overwhelming support we saw from the other communities,” he says. “Obviously, we were expecting and we got our own community, but the support we had from the others was very well-received and that's very good to know. If we as Muslims step out, we will get support from the others. People like us, they respect us, they want to get to know us.”

Khabeer noticed it, too, and has a plan for victory.

“We are trying to reach out not only just to the Muslim community, but we are trying to reach out to all the African American community who has participated in the election on Nov. 3 and we are also reaching out to the Latino community who has already participated so we have to move them to come out in our district to vote for us,” he says. “So we are confident that we will win this challenge.”

Khabeer is an “accomplished businessman who is not trying to just run for office,” says Malik. He is using the platform to reach out to other minority groups and to educate the community about the political process. Because change starts in the place you are.

“We need to educate our community, you know. The governance and the issues of the local government and the local issues are more important than what happens in Washington or what happens in Austin, right? So we have a very large Muslim community who lives in Irving. ... what affects the Muslim community in Irving, it should be the number one priority,” Malik says. “That is what Abdul has been doing for the last two years, educating people to make sure and make them understand that local issues are more important.”