Ilhan Omar: Breaking Barriers for Muslim Women

• In Event: Race and Ethnicity in the Legislature

Abstract

Ilhan Omar’s 2018 victory for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives garnered tremendous national attention. As one of the first two Muslim women ever elected to Congress, the first Somali-American and the first refugee ever to serve in Congress, and the first women of color to represent Minnesota, her historic victory marked a new era in American politics.

Her election can best be understood as part of broader trends shaping the representation of women of color in Congress, as well as through an intersectional lens that considers her identities as a black woman, someone who came to the United States as a refugee, a religious minority, a person who entered Congress at a young age, and a mother of young children. Intersectionality is a term used frequently in the academy, but perhaps more than anyone else in Congress, Omar’s election and leadership illustrates the need for such an approach.

Understanding Omar’s political trajectory and against-the-odds success in politics is both inspiring and instructive for scholars, activists, potential candidates, and citizens who do not reflect the traditional older, white, male membership of Congress, as well as those concerned with the rise of racist and anti-immigrant sentiments in American life.

In this paper we provide an analysis of Ilhan Omar’s life, political ascendance, policy initiatives, missteps, and overall experience in American politics. Shedding light on these areas gives readers interested in diversifying political office-holding a sense of how it can be done. We employ the lens of symbolic empowerment as a means of understanding the distinctive electoral coalition that put her in Congress, exploring the ways her candidacy and political leadership has sparked political interest, civic engagement, and political confidence among marginalized communities in the U.S. who had never seen someone who looks like them in the highest levels of political power.

Authors

• Stefanie Chambers, Trinity College

• Laurel Elder, Hartwick College