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First Muslim Woman on Verge of Holding Congressional Seat After Primary Win

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A Michigan Democrat is likely to become the first Muslim woman elected to congress after winning the primary in her Detroit district Tuesday.

Rashida Tlaib is now running unopposed in the general election on Nov. 6, although she will likely face write-in Republican candidate David Dudenhoefer, who did not qualify for the ballot.

Even so, running in the extremely Democratic 13th congressional district, Tlaib is expected to take the lead with ease.

Her Tuesday victory is for a full two-year term starting in January.

“The winner of tonight’s primary will win the election,” Tlaib’s campaign manager Andy Goddeeris said according to CNN.

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“No doubt about it.”

A win in November wouldn’t be the first “first” for her.

In 2008, Tlaib, the daughter of two Palestinian immigrants, became the first Muslim woman ever to be elected to Michigan state legislature and the second elected to a state legislature in the United States.

The seat Tlaib is set to take was formerly held by former Rep. John Conyers who resigned in December.

“Rashida is the perfect example of how to hustle and win the right way, not just for Muslims or Arabs, but for anyone who ever felt the system was too stacked against them and had no place for a face like theirs,” former White House liaison to American Muslims Zaki Barzinji said.

“She may be the first Muslim congresswoman, but she just opened the door for millions of Rashidas to follow.

“As a Muslim and Arab father of a 9-month-old baby girl, I’ve never felt more hopeful about my daughter’s future.”

The Democrat’s campaign biography states she will work to secure $15 minimum wage, increase education funding, free health clinics and medicare-for-all.

She has also been an outspoken critic of the Trump Administration, and was arrested two years ago for disrupting the now-president’s speech in Detroit.

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“Rashida sees a lot of herself in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Goddeeris said of the progressive Democrat.

“We feel like we are part of this wave that’s coming: unapologetically progressive people who are unafraid of taking on the Democratic establishment.”

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Liz was a senior story editor for The Western Journal.
Liz was a senior story editor for The Western Journal.
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