By The Star Staff Writer
Ilhan Omar, who lived in a refugee camp in East Africa before immigrating to the United States, has made history and become the first Somali-American elected to Congress, in a stinging rebuke to President Donald Trump’s decision to bar Somalis from entering his country.
Asked in a brief Voice of America interview about her message to Trump, she said her victory alone was a well-deserved slap on the face of the divisive president.
“A big message,” she said, smiling widely. “Most of the people in my campaign often said ‘the only thing we’re interested in (is this irony:) those whom he (Trump) tried to bar from coming to the country are now becoming the ones who will be making legislation(s) about him’. I think that alone will be enough to him.”
Ilhan, 36, trounced Republican activist Jennifer Zielinski to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. On Tuesday, Ellison narrowly won Minnesota’s attorney general race licking Republican Doug Wardlow.
“What an amazing journey this has been,” she said in her victory speech. “I stand here before you tonight as your congresswoman-elect with many firsts behind my name.
“The first woman of color to represent our state in Congress, the first woman to wear a hijab, the first refugee ever elected to Congress and one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress,” she said.
Ilhan became the first Somali-American to win a state legislative seat in 2016, when she beat incumbent Rep. Phyllis Kahn who held the seat for 44 years.
On Tuesday, Ilhan was already a shoo-in to clinch the safe seat as Minnesota’s 5th District, which includes Minneapolis and a number of its suburbs, votes traditionally for democrats.
llhan campaigned against President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies, invoking her background as a Somali and Muslim who fled her country when she was eight-years-old and lived several years in a refugee camp in Kenya before emigrating to the United States. Somalis — along with citizens of five Muslim-majority countries — are banned from entering the United States. Others are Iran, Yemen, Syria and Libya.
“I am more than excited that we’re gathered here again to make another history,” she said to applause by her supporters.
Ilhan’s campaign was focused on healthcare for all U.S. residents, raising the national minimum wage to $15, funding universal prekindergarten programs nationwide, guaranteeing tuition-free and debt-free two-and four-year public colleges and universities, funding millions of homes in the coming decade and abolishing ICE and ending all inhumane deportation and detention programs.
“When the call came for me to run for Congress I answered,” she said. “Because the time demanded, a time when racism and white supremacy threaten our very existence. When my status as an immigrant, black, Muslim woman means that the current administration doesn’t see me as an American, you know I will not bow down. You know that I will not bow down to fear and hate. I will stand strong with you.
“And as we fight to protect our immigrant families, our neighbors, our children, our planet, our communities, I promise to always have your back,” she said.
She lavished praise on her state, saying it’s “cool” and its people “have warm hearts.”
“This state has always made me feel like I was part of a family,” she said. “Because here in Minnesota, we don’t only welcome immigrants, (but) we send them to Washington.”
Ilhan already charmed Minnesotans during the August primary, defeating Margaret Anderson Kelliher, former house speaker; Patricia Torres Ray, who was a Minnesota Senator for 12 years; Electrical Engineer Jamal Abdulahi, a Somali American; Frank Drake, who in 2016 ran against Rep. Ellison as a Republican.
Ilhan said she would fight for justice, saying her grandfather once told her, “when you see injustice, you fight back. You do not give in to sorrow. You do not give in to sadness.”
She also said that voters expected her to fight for “bold progressive” ideas.
“Our beautiful journey doesn’t end tonight. We must stand side by side and fight for our democracy,” she said. “We must fight for our rights and the freedoms we value. It’s up to us to fulfill the promise of America. We must do the work to create the America we believe in, the America we deserve.”
Ilhan joins Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, who was elected to Congress on Tuesday.