Muslim woman eyes Congress seat
Ilhan Omar fled civil war in Somalia and spent four years of her childhood in a refugee camp in Kenya.
Now she is poised to win a seat in the US Congress, taking on a president who has tried to prevent people like her from coming to America.
The Democratic state legislator is heavily favoured to win her Minneapolis-based district over Republican Jennifer Zielinski in the November 6 congressional elections, which could make her one of the first Muslim women elected to the US House of Representatives.
Omar, a 36-year-old naturalised American citizen, says she is running for office to make sure fewer people have to struggle with the daily necessities of life, something she was shocked to find when she arrived in the US as a refugee with her family at age 12.
“I did not expect to come to the US and go to school with kids who were worried about food as much as I was worried about it in a refugee camp,” Omar said in an interview.
An Omar win would not affect the balance of power in the House, where her party needs to win 23 seats to take a majority, because she would succeed fellow Democrat Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress in 2006.
Ellison is stepping down to run for Minnesota state attorney general.
Omar is campaigning on policies embraced by the most liberal wing of the Democratic Party – universal healthcare, free college tuition, robust public housing – that are popular in a district that has not elected a Republican to the House since 1962.
Omar made history two years ago when she became the first Somali-American in the country to win a seat in a state legislature, unseating a 44year incumbent Democrat along the way.
No Somali-American has ever served in the US Congress.
That same night, Republican Donald Trump won the presidency after a campaign in which he called for a ban on all Muslims entering the US.
Trump has since banned people from Omar’s native Somalia and several other Mus- lim-majority countries from entering the US, citing national security concerns.
He has also sharply scaled back the number of refugees admitted into the country.
Like many liberal Democrats, Omar has said she would vote to impeach Trump, citing his business conflicts and the probe into his presidential campaign’s ties to Russia.
Many Democratic leaders before the election have downplayed the possibility of impeachment, wary of inciting a backlash from Trump backers.
Omar also said removing Trump from office would elevate Vice-President Mike Pence, known for his own conservative views.
With her election all but assured, Omar has been campaigning for other Democrats across Minnesota.
She has been accused by a Republican state legislator of misusing campaign funds while in the state legislature.
Records showed she has spent money on trips to Estonia as well as Boston and other cities, and she has returned $2,500 (R37,094) in speaking fees from two state colleges.
Omar has said she believes her office has complied with campaign-finance rules.
If elected, she may take office at the same time as another Muslim woman, Democrat Rashida Tlaib, who is running in a solidly Democratic Detroitarea US House district.
“Facing war, facing displacement – these things will make you strong, and she’s plenty strong,” Ellison said.
‘I did not expect to go to school with kids who were worried about food’ Ilhan Omar
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