Salman Bhojani

Bhojani was born in Pakistan and lived there until the age of 10. In 1990 his family immigrated to Montreal, Canada where he completed primary and secondary school. In 1999 Bhojani moved with his parents to Carrollton, Texas.[5] In 2000 he enrolled at the University of Texas at Dallas, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 2003.[6] During and after his studies, Bhojani worked at convenience stores and gas stations. In 2003 he became the owner of a gas station and convenience store, acquiring more properties around the DFW metroplex in the following years.[7] He moved to Bedford, Texas in 2007 and then to neighboring Euless, Texas in 2010.[8]

In 2009 Bhojani enrolled in the evening program at the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He received his Juris Doctor degree in 2013 and earned admission to the Texas State Bar.[9] Bhojani worked for Haynes and Boone LLP at its Dallas headquarters from 2013 to 2015, practicing corporate law. In 2015 he left Haynes and Boone to found Bhojani Law, PLLC, a firm specializing in real estate law, corporate law and estate planning, with offices in Irving, Texas.[10]

Bhojani was appointed to the Euless Parks & Leisure Services Board in 2014.[11] In May 2017 he ran for Place 2 on Euless City Council, earning 43.1% of the vote in a three-candidate race won by incumbent Jeremy Tompkins with 54.6% of the vote.[12] In May 2018 Bhojani ran for Place 6 on Euless City Council, an open seat. He won 50.4% of the vote, defeating his opponent Molly Maddux by 37 votes out of 4,203 votes cast.[13] This election saw the highest voter turnout in a Euless municipal election since 1993.[14]

This campaign earned local and national press coverage when Maddux sent a mailer to Euless voters highlighting Bhojani's Muslim faith and Republican State Representative Jonathan Stickland posted on Facebook calling Bhojani “sneaky,” “a Muslim, lawyer, and a lifelong Democrat” with “ideas for our community [that] would scare a majority of our residents.”[15] Stickland, whose district includes Euless, contributed $5,000 to the Maddux campaign and donated political consulting, canvassing services and postage worth an additional $7,909.[16] Stickland's comments were condemned on the editorial pages of the Dallas Morning News[17] and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram[18] and in a press release by the interfaith group Faith in Texas.[19]

Bhojani was sworn in as councilman on May 22, 2018 and presented with a ceremonial gavel by Texas State Rep. Rafael Anchia on behalf of Joe Straus, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. With his election, Bhojani became the first non-white minority elected official in Euless history.