Question to US Muslim politician prompts Islamophobia accusations

Sam Rasoul, a Muslim American, was asked if he would represent his constituents ‘regardless of faith and beliefs’.

A Muslim political candidate for lieutenant governor in the US state of Virginia has received an outpouring of support after he was asked a question in a televised debate that critics describe as “Islamophobic”. Sam Rasoul is a Muslim American politician and the leading Democratic candidate in the race for the state’s lieutenant governorship. During the campaign’s only televised political debate on Tuesday night, WJLA TV anchor Dave Lucas, one of the moderators, asked Rasoul a question that prompted widespread accusations of Islamophobia, and a slew of condemnations on social media.