At 12:01 a.m. Wednesday morning, Saddam Azlan Salim declared victory over “incumbent” Sen. Chap Petersen in the race to represent Virginia’s 37th Senate District.

With all fifty precincts reporting, Salim received 10,049 votes (53.84%), while Petersen, despite a significant fundraising advantage and twenty years of name recognition (or perhaps due to it), received just 8,616 (46.16%).

The Salim campaign held its election watch party in The Little City – at Clare and Don’s, who let supporters stay an hour after close while results continued to come in.

A teary-eyed Salim, though not ready to declare victory at the time, addressed the crowd and thanked them for believing in him.

Salim also revealed that the evening was twenty-three years, to the day, after his family first arrived on American soil.

Though only 12 percent of the overall vote, Falls Church delivered 50 percent of the margin of victory for Salim.