Ilhan Omar

Ilhan has risen to prominence as a controversial member of The Squad, fighting for progressive values and drawing a slew of criticism from Republicans. She was one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress and, despite the spotlight on her, has focused on complex issues like criminal justice reform since being elected.

So far 26 Democrats have announced they do not plan to seek re-election. Looks like some see the writing on the wall of a red wave. Unfortunately for controversial members like Ilhan it will be difficult for her to navigate as minority leader McCarthy (who would most likely be Speaker of the House) has publicly vowed to remove three Democrats off their committee assignments for their previous comments. Ilhan and PP Leader, Eric Swalwell, are both on his short list.

Ilhan has had her focus on several issues this year but has been especially vocal about the need for criminal justice reform. Ilhan introduced a package of bills to address police brutality in the misuse of force. The most significant piece of legislation that Ilhan dealt with would establish an independent federal agency to investigate deaths that happened under police custody, officer-involved shootings, and uses of force that resulted in severe bodily injury. Ilhan and a Democratic colleague cosponsored the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE) to eliminate federal criminal penalties, clear criminal records, and create social equity programs.

After Rep. Lauren Boebert’s Islamophobic comments about Ilhan became public a couple weeks ago, it might have seemed like yet another ‘gossip du jour’, as we named it. However, Ilhan has turned that tough moment into action and authored legislation combating islamophobia which just passed the House Foriegn Affairs Committee on a party-line vote. The act would require the State Dept. to create a special envoy for monitoring and combating islamophobia and include state-sponsored islamophobic violence in the departments annual human rights report. They argue that the special envoy would help policymakers better understand the global problem of anti-Muslim bigotry. Do you think it will make it into law?

Frankly, we all know that Ilhan has a knack for finding her way to the center of controversies, but this one seems to serve as Exhibit A vis a vis our last newsletter calling for a Congressional Code Of Conduct. It all began after fellow under-45er Lauren Boebert made a viral video that contained some anti-Muslim remarks—remarks that she has repeatedly used with regard to Ilhan at fundraisers. There was then the attempt at reconciliation in the way of a phone call that ended in Ilhan hanging up—though both sides dispute how it all went down. Suffice it to say that these blatantly bigoted remarks drew criticism from many lawmakers on all sides of the aisle but the real question is, at what point will people say enough is enough?