Hyderabad, Nov 5 (NationPress) The Chief Minister of Telangana, A. Revanth Reddy, extended his congratulations to Ghazala Hashmi, a prominent leader of the Democratic Party, on her recent election as the Lt. Governor of Virginia.

He highlighted that Senator Ghazala Hashmi, who hails from Hyderabad and later moved to the United States, has earned a doctorate in international affairs.

Revanth Reddy expressed his heartfelt wishes for her continued achievements and future successes in her public service journey.

Ghazala Hashmi made history by winning the Virginia Lt Governor race, becoming the first Indian-origin Muslim woman to take on this esteemed role.

After making her mark as a Virginia state senator six years ago, the 61-year-old Democrat achieved another milestone by defeating Republican candidate John Reid in the Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election.

She has also become the first Muslim and South Asian American to attain this position.

K. T. Rama Rao, working president of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and former minister of Telangana, praised Ghazala Hashmi’s election as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.

Rama Rao remarked, "This is monumental! From Malakpet to Virginia. Congratulations to Ghazala Hashmi for being the first Indian-American Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. It's a beautiful moment when democracies embrace global diversity," on his post on 'X'.

Ghazala Firdous Hashmi was born in Hyderabad in 1964 to Tanveer and Zia Hashmi. During her childhood, she resided at her maternal grandparents' home in the Malakpet area.

At the age of four, she, along with her mother and elder brother, relocated to the United States to join her father, who was pursuing a PhD in international relations in Georgia and starting his teaching career at the university, as detailed on her website.

She completed her education at the Marvin Pittman Laboratory School at Georgia Southern University, where both her father and uncle were faculty members in the political science department.

Ghazala received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgia Southern University and earned her PhD in American literature from Emory University in Atlanta.

In 1991, she and her husband Azhar moved to the Richmond area. Over nearly three decades, she served as a professor, initially at the University of Richmond and subsequently at Reynolds Community College, where she founded and directed the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL).

In November 2019, she was elected to the Virginia state senate, overcoming incumbent Republican senator Glen Sturtevant. She became the first Muslim-American woman and the first Indian-American to join the Virginia state senate.