By 2002, while studying at Syarif Kasim, he had become a member of the
Muslim Students' Association and joined the
National Awakening Party (PKB). In the
2019 election, Wahid ran for a seat in the national
House of Representatives (DPR) in
Riau's 2nd district. He won 55,770 votes and secured a seat, the majority of his voters coming from his home regency of Indragiri Hilir. He was reelected in the
2024 election from the same district, with 101,400 votes. He resigned from his DPR seat on 23 September 2024 to run as governor of Riau in the
2024 gubernatorial election, fellow PKB member replacing him for the remainder of his term. Wahid won 1,224,193 votes (44.3%) in the three-way gubernatorial election, and was elected. On 3 November 2025, he was arrested by the
Corruption Eradication Commission in a sting operation, under charges of extortion related to Riau's public works department. ==References==