Ilhan Omar re-elected in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, the first Somali American elected to Congress, easily won a third term to represent the Fifth Congressional District that includes all of Minneapolis and some inner ring suburbs.

Ilhan Omar said in a written statement after she won that the seat is for everybody in her district, regardless of who they love, how they pray, the color of their skin, or even how they vote, and she will continue to fight for all of them.

Ilhan Omar faced a closer call in the August primary when former Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels came surprisingly close to defeating her. Samuels focused on Omar’s support for the 2021 Minneapolis ballot measure that would have reshaped the police department after George Floyd’s murder.

In 2018, Ilhan Omar was one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. She has consistently advocated for progressive measures such as abortion access, cancelling student loan debt and environmental protections.