She broke barriers as a woman in politics. Here's why she is leaving office

She was the first female Muslim mayor in the United States. Then she was the first of two Muslims — both women — elected to the New Jersey State legislature.

Now, Assemblywoman Sadaf Jaffer, D-Montgomery, has decided that she will not seek reelection after just one term.

In an interview with The Record and NorthJersey.com, Jaffer said she had faced sustained harassment both online and in opponents' attack ads because of her religious background. She will not seek reelection because she doesn't want to put her family, including her young daughter, through another ugly election cycle.

Jaffer's experience underscores a larger problem of harassment and bigotry that Muslim women in the public eye often face. The Assemblywoman, in her interview, talks about ways to make the journey easier for other women as they run for and serve in office.

Why did you decide to not seek reelection?

Every campaign is a commitment. It is a sacrifice for family. I just decided this was best in terms of being able to focus on my daughter and, you know, not having to subject myself and my family, including my daughter, to the type of harassment I get as a Muslim official, as a woman of color running for office.

What type of harassment have you faced?

It’s a slow drip of messages, comments, emails, tweets, Facebook comments that give the impression that my participation is not welcome. There are questions about my intentions. Unfortunately, my political opponents have also used that type of messaging against me in the campaign for assembly last year. My opponents had television ads, text messages, everything saying Sadaf Jaffer is a radical, reject extremism don’t vote for her, that sort of thing.

We all know it just takes one person to have a negative reaction to that sort of messaging and someone can get hurt. When I was making my decision there had been a series of state legislators whose homes had been shot into, including one where a 10-year-old girl was sleeping. Just thinking about that environment, I decided to focus on keeping my family safe and protected both emotionally and physically.

How can we continue to encourage and support women from diverse backgrounds to enter politics?

We do need to keep encouraging women to run. We know they win at the same level as men They just don’t run as often. We need to focus on sustaining that engagement and understand the pressure women from diverse backgrounds face, the types of harassment they face and make sure they have support they need.

We know they are going to get harassment. So maybe there could be a team that goes through social media and reports things and documents them so people like myself don’t have to do that, and the toll that it takes on us. Maybe have responses ready for attacks that are based on someone’s ethic or religious background, provide that support system. This is something I am really dedicated to working on.

I still share the same goals, the same passions I've always had. It's just a matter of doing it in a different space and a different role for the time being.

Can you name one or two highlights from your time in the Assembly?

Some of the things I’m proudest of that we in New Jersey have done is protect access to reproductive rights and reproductive health care. Maternal health care has been a priority, gun safety. I think many of the things people in New Jersey care about, in terms of individual rights and in terms of protecting their families from gun violence, those have been highlights and I’m really proud to have been part of that.

What are your next steps?

I’ve become chair of my local Democratic Party helping local candidates run. I want to be a part of that solution and make sure people from diverse backgrounds don't get burnt out and have the support they need.

New Jersey has a part-time Legislature, so I've been continuing my academic work. I teach and conduct research in South Asian studies at Princeton University. I plan to continue to focus on that work and my students.

Editor's note: This Q&A is part of an occasional series of interviews with people who are experts, leaders and changemakers in New Jersey's diverse communities. It has been edited for brevity.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Sadaf Jaffer: NJ Assemblywoman leaving office, not politics