Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and spent her early childhood in Baidoa. In 1991, her family fled the Somali Civil War and spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before being granted asylum in the United States in 1995. They initially settled in Virginia before moving to Minneapolis in 1997, where Omar became a U.S. citizen in 2000. She graduated from North Dakota State University in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies. Before entering elected office, Omar worked as a community nutrition educator at the University of Minnesota and as a child nutrition outreach coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Education. She also served as a senior policy aide for Minneapolis City Council Member Andrew Johnson and was a policy fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. In 2016, she was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives, becoming the first Somali-American legislator in the United States. In 2018, Omar was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Minnesota's 5th Congressional District as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party. Her election was historic, as she became the first African refugee, the first woman of color to represent Minnesota, and one of the first two Muslim-American women elected to Congress. She has been re-elected in 2020, 2022, and 2024, serving on committees such as the House Budget Committee and the House Education and Workforce Committee.

Rep. Ilhan Omar is a prominent progressive voice in Congress who advocates for 'Medicare for All' and a single-payer healthcare system to ensure universal coverage and lower prescription drug costs. She is a strong supporter of the Green New Deal and aggressive legislation to combat climate change. On economic issues, she supports a $15 federal minimum wage, universal student loan debt forgiveness, and reinvesting a portion of the military budget into domestic infrastructure, housing, and education. Her immigration policy focuses on protecting DACA recipients, ending mass deportations, and creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. In foreign policy, she advocates for a human rights-centered approach, calling for an end to 'endless wars,' the repeal of broad-based economic sanctions, and the reduction of U.S. military bases abroad. She also supports a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has been a critic of U.S. military aid to countries with poor human rights records.