Somali-American Politician Ilhan Omar Files To Run For Congress

The dominoes continue to fall after U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison withdrew from his re-election campaign to run for Minnesota Attorney General.

State Rep. Ilhan Omar (DFL-Minneapolis) filed her candidacy for Ellison’s seat in Congress Tuesday afternoon, just hours before the deadline. Minnesota’s reliably Democratic 5th Congressional District represents Minneapolis and several suburbs to the west.

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Also filing Tuesday to race for Ellison’s seat are state Sen. Patricia Torres and state Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher, both Democrats.

Omar, a Somali refugee who first came to the U.S. as a child, was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2016, making history as the nation’s first Somali-American lawmaker.

Since then, Omar has been the focus of national media attention, appearing on The Daily Show, the cover of TIME Magazine and recently in a music video for Maroon 5. She was also the subject of a documentary that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year.