Summary
Current Position: Consultant advising federal clients
Former Positions: Financial Consultant
Affiliation: Democrat
Candidate: Senate District 37
Saddam believes in public service, because he has seen the real effects of affordable housing, healthcare, education and community support on his life. The City of Falls Church and Fairfax County helped his family survive and supported him through his education and career.
Today, he wants to give back and serve that community. Help us elect a new kind of leader, who focuses on Virginia’s future and the issues that matter!
Source: Campaign site
OnAir Post: Saddam Azlan Salim
News
In the region’s most notable upset, state Senate candidate Saddam Azlan Salim beat 16-year incumbent Chap Petersen in the July 20 primary, taking the 37th District remapped seat by a decisive 64-36 percent. The son of Bangladeshi immigrants and a Democratic Party leader who was class president at Falls Church High School overperformed in greater Falls Church, where the Fairfax-based Petersen, 55, had not run before last year’s redistricting.
Salim, 33, a financial consultant who raised $188,653 by June, finished in the 60 — 70 percentiles in Falls Church City’s three wards and the precincts of Pimmit, Graham-Greenway, Marshall and Timber Lane.
In a Monday interview with the News-Press, Salim discussed his plans for the November contest against Republican former Loudoun County supervisor Ken Reid. (Until January, the seat will remain filled by retiring Dick Saslaw.)
On his conversation with defeated Petersen: “It was a good call. He congratulated me and wished me good luck, and I thanked him. It may be some time before I reach out for his institutional knowledge and projects he’s working on. It’s my first time running, so I don’t know the formalities. At the end of the day, there were a lot of committees he sat on, so I want to look at the unfinished projects. I will pick up the phone to have a relationship and get advice, but I want to give him a month or two.
FAIRFAX, VA — Saddam Salim, a Noakhali, Bangladesh-born, first generation Bengali-American defeated incumbent Sen. Chap Petersen in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Salim will be the party’s candidate on the Nov. 7 ballot in 37th District race for the Virginia Senate. He will face Republican Ken Reid, who announced his candidacy in April.
“I am truly humbled by the community that rallied to support me in this race,” Salim said, in a statement issued late Tuesday by his campaign. “This was an incredible grassroots movement of constituents all across the district and we achieved this victory together. I look forward to being your Democratic nominee and continuing our fight for the issues that we care about: gun violence prevention, affordable housing, reproductive rights and so much more.”
With all 50 precincts reporting, Salim received 10,049 votes (53.84 percent) compared to 8,616 (46.16 percent), according to unofficial results reported Wednesday morning by the Virginia Public Access Project and the Associated Press.
About
An Immigrant Story
Saddam Azlan Salim is a first-generation immigrant born in Bangladesh. Growing up, he and his family experienced severe drought followed by the flood of 1998, the most extreme and long-lasting flood of the century in Bangladesh. He saw first-hand the damage caused by natural disasters as an 8-year-old boy.
His father brought his family to America in 2000 so his kids could get a world class education and a better life. Only a year later, his family was evicted because the building they lived in was sold for luxury condos. Homeless on the streets of DC, Saddam watched as his belongings were put out on the side of the road and taken by strangers. At the time, he and his siblings spoke no English so they did not understand what was happening.
Finding a Home in Falls Church
A family friend took them in, and they lived in basements in Falls Church for two years until they were eligible for Fairfax County’s low-income affordable housing program. Both his parents worked minimum wage jobs and relied on public transportation to get to work. Saddam’s father worked his way up from a dishwasher to the chef for more than 20 years at the popular restaurant Haandi Indian Cuisine on West Broad Street.
They were also able to use the community health centers so the family could get the healthcare they needed, including a diagnosis for a reproductive condition his mother had struggled with for many years.
Saddam attended Falls Church High School where he was a track and field athlete, president of his class and a recipient of the John Morris Athletic Scholarship. During his senior year of high school, his mother’s health issues required surgery. Since his parents relied on minimum wage jobs, Saddam stayed back to help his mother, giving up college out of state to instead attend Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University. With the help of community healthcare, his mother’s surgery was a success, but the medical bills were a source of struggle for the family.
While in college, he also went back to serve as assistant coach for track & field at his high school. The affordable education at NVCC and GMU allowed him to get a college education while helping at home and giving back to the community. He graduated from George Mason University in 2012 with Bachelor of Science in Public Administration and went back to GMU for a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in public and non-profit finance.
Saddam Azlan Salim: A Leader on the Rise
During his career Saddam has worked at PenFed Credit Union, Kearney and Company and the United States Institute of Peace as a financial consultant. Today, Saddam works for 11th Hour Service as a Senior Consultant advising federal clients.
Saddam has also been active in his community as a leader of political and business associations. He has served as Co-Chair to the Providence District Democratic Committee and Finance Vice Chair of Fairfax County Democratic Committee. He was the founding member of both API and FCDC Black Caucus. He currently serves as second Vice Chair of the 8th Congressional District Democratic Committee, Vice President of Fairfax Young Democrats, Co-State Director for South Asians for America and is a Board Member of DemBiz Council.
Senate District 37
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Contact
Email: Campaign
Locations
Saddam Salim
P.O. Box 249
Merrifield, VA 22116-0249
Phone: 571-697-7338
