Three Muslim candidates were re-elected to the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s election. Ilhan Omar won in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District and Rashida Tlaib won in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. They are the first Muslim women elected to the Congress in 2018. In Indiana, Rep. Andre’ Carson (D) won his re-election bid for the 7th District.
US Representative Ilhan Omar has won a second term in the Congress. Omar, 38, defeated her Republican challenger, African American businessman Lacy Johnson, by 64.6 percent of the vote to 25.9 percent, according to The Associated Press news agency with 99 percent of votes counted.
Omar is the first Somali American member of the US Congress and one of the first two Muslim women to be elected to Congress in 2018.
Democrat candidate Rashida Talib, of Palestinian descent, defeated Republican candidate David Dudenhofer within the 13th district of Michigan.
After the victory, Rashida Talib said that in her second term in Congress, she would give top priority to preventing Kovid-19 and would still press for human rights in Palestine.
The two women are part of a quartet of like-minded congresswoman known as “The Squad” who are admired on the Left for challenging the status quo in Washington.
Squad members Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York also retained their seats.
U.S. Rep. André Carson (D) has been re-elected in the 7th District of Indiana. He defeated Republican Catherine Ping and libertarian Chris Mayo.
Carson was first elected to Congress in 2008. He previously served on the Indianapolis City Council.
He won the primary in May with nearly 88 percent of the vote. Carson has been the representative from the 7th District since he won a special election in 2008 after the death of the previous representative, his grandmother Julia Carson.
69 percent of Muslim voters cast their ballot for Biden
The CAIR exit poll survey indicated that nearly 69 percent of Muslim voters cast their ballot for Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden while 17 percent supported President Donald Trump.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, released the results of its 2020 Muslim Voters Presidential Election Exit Poll on Tuesday.
CAIR said more than one million American Muslim voters turned out in “record-breaking” numbers this election cycle. CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said the “Muslim community’s significant ability to impact the results of numerous races across this country – including the presidential election – was recognized nationally.”
Director of Government Affairs Robert S McCaw said there was no denying the role the Muslim community plays in local, state and national politics. “Now is the time to hold the politicians we elected to office accountable to ensure that the civil and religious rights of all Americans are being upheld and protected,” McCaw said.
Compared with the 2016 election, in which then-President-elect Donald Trump received 13 percent of the Muslim vote, Trump in 2020 received 4 percent more support.
