Ilhan Omar
Bio | As a child, Ilhan Omar migrated as a refugee from Somalia. She earned an undergraduate degree from North Dakota State University and studied as a Policy Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. She has made history as the first Somali-born American to serve in the United States Congress, the first woman of color to serve as a representative for Minnesota, as well as one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress. |
Status and Position | Current US House of Representatives of Minnesota |
Political Party and Jurisdiction | Democrat, Minnesota |
Elections | Election Jurisdiction | Started Campaign | Campaign Status | Poll Rankings (of the vote) |
| 2020 House of Representatives Election MN-05 | MN-05 | Yes | Running | N/A |
Campaign Financing | About 99% of Omar's campaign contributions come from small and large individual contributions. She has been a target of a complaint from the FEC about not unpaid expenses. |
Voting Rights | Omar is an advocate of expanding the right to vote. She voted in favor of the Voting Rights Advancement Act which helped ensure representation among many Americans. |
Opinions on Issues
Issues | Stance | Summary |
| Universal Healthcare | For | She is an advocate of universal healthcare. Omar contends that healthcare access limited to a select few reflects the overall inequality in the US. Likewise, as one of the primary messages of her platform is to guarantee equality, she would like to see this implemented in the issue of healthcare. |
| Socialized Healthcare | For | Omar supports socialized healthcare. |
| Private Healthcare | Against | Omar would like to lower costs at the expense of private healthcare companies in order to ensure increased coverage. |
| LGBT Rights | For | She is an avid supporter of the LGBT community. Omar does not accept the justification that LGBT rights should be limited for the sake of religious freedom. She points out that doctors refusing to give treatment and discrimination in the workplace as key examples for why our country needs reform. She has focused on international discrimination in addition to US LGBT legislation. |
| Taxes | For | She supports taxes. Omar does not see tax cuts as a means of spurring economic growth. She has backed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's proposal to raise the highest marginal income tax to 70%. |
| Flat Tax Rate | Against | Omar does not advocate for a flat tax rate. Omar does not see tax cuts as a means of spurring economic growth. She has backed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's proposal to raise the highest marginal income tax to 70%. |
| Abortion | For | She is pro-choice. Omar does not think that the role of government is to decide the reproductive choices of women. She has helped advocate for pro-choice legislation and has opposed pro-life attacks. |
| Gun Control | For | She is supportive of gun control reform. Omar points out that countless cases of gun violence occur in the United States. She maintains that gun control legislation will help solve this issue by reducing sales overall and mitigating the chances of irresponsible gun ownership. |
| Assisted Suicide | Unknown | She has not taken an explicit stance on assisted suicide. Omar points out that countless cases of gun violence occur in the United States. She maintains that gun control legislation will help solve this issue by reducing sales overall and mitigating the chances of irresponsible gun ownership. |
| Government Interference | For | From socialized economic policies to welfare, Omar is likely only to reject government interference in respect to abortions. |
| Planned Parenthood | For | Omar advocates for government's funding of Planned Parenthood and has been praised by the organization. |
| Welfare | For | She advocates for welfare programs. Interestingly, Omar found herself at the center of accusations that her campaign had vowed to "axe" senior entitlement programs such as Social Security. However, this is not the case. Fact checks have demonstrated that she generally supports welfare programs. |
| Welfare | Unknown | She does not have a position on this issue. |
| Death Penalty | Against | She does not support the death penalty. Omar argues that capital punishment is totalitarian in nature. Furthermore, she points out that the death penalty is continuously carried out on innocent people. |
| Mandatory Prison Sentence | Against | Omar does not believe that prison sentences are the proper remedy to criminal justice reform. |
| Military Spending | Against | She opposes increases in defense spending. |
| War on Terrorism | Against | Omar is unsupportive of using resources for the War on Terrorism. |
| Foreign Policy International Interaction | Against | Omar has been very apprehensive toward international interaction. The congresswoman argues that we must make efforts to ensure better livelihood of domestic workers. She voted against the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement because it did not ensure enough rights to labor and her "stakeholders" in Minnesota. |
| United Nations power | For | She supports the United Nations. |
| Nationalism | Against | Omar is concerned about the violent consequences of white nationalism. |
| Free Markets | Against | She opposes free markets. Omar sees taxes and other regulations as necessary to curb the power of the rich. In addition, she believes that corporations should be held responsible for their oppressive nature. |
| Brexit | Against | She opposes Brexit. |
| Affirmative Action | Unknown | She has not taken an explicit stance on affirmative action. |
| Government Spending | For | Omar's socialized policies in areas such as healthcare and climate action involve government spending. |
| Charter Schools | Against | She has aided legislation that increases the oversight and accountability of charter schools. |
| Common Core | Unknown | She does not have a stance on Common Core. N/A |
| Clean Energy | For | She promotes clean energy. Omar is vocal in her support of transitioning the US into a 100% renewable economy. She is an advocate of the Green New Deal. |
| Religious Freedom | For | She is an advocate of religious freedom. As one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, Omar states that she knows the importance of protecting one's right to religious practices. She has received many threats involving her religious affiliation. |
| Separation of Church and State | For | She is supportive of the separation of church and state. |
| Slavery Reparations | For | Omar is a co-sponsor of the bill that would create a commission to study reparations. |
| Border Control | Against | Omar has taken a position against border security. The congresswoman argues that immigration-regulating bodies such as ICE are "unreformable." Because she has concluded that the immigration system is fundamentally unjust, we must welcome all immigrants as citizens, not criminals. |
| Passenger Profiling | Against | Omar has condemned racial profiling. |
| DACA | For | Due to her commitment to provide as many people as possible paths to citizenship, Omar argues that the US must uphold DACA. |
| Sanctuary Cities | For | Omar is generally supportive of sanctuary cities. |
| Legalizing Marijuana | For | Omar sees marijuana as an aid to economic equality and would like to see it legalized. |