at 17, as a hijab-wearing, politically-obsessed child of Sudanese immigrants who grew up in the eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities, Minnesota, I find Somali-born American politician Ilhan Omar’s 2018 election to Congress a bad thing. It has ties to thousands of American Muslims who consider it Changing trends in political representation. Suddenly, it felt like a new political door had opened. Doors were opened to bring in diverse people like me.
Six years later, in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, his Republican challenger, Iraqi-born journalist-turned-politician Dalia al-Aqidi, becomes the first Congressional election contested by two Muslims in U.S. history. And yet another first is happening. In fact, this historic race has been under-reported as Omar’s victory was almost certain.
Still, Minnesota’s fifth state contains valuable insights into patterns that are replicated across the country in how representation is shaped and how it is shaped by leaders. . What was once an enthusiasm for a diverse political class has become increasingly popular, with politicians (in this case the Republican Party) now offering candidates like al-Aqidi from ethnic and religious minorities who parrot the party’s mainstream policies. This is a wake-up call about how the government is using the United States without seriously engaging with the public. Political nuances of minority communities.
Mr. al-Aqidi is campaigning in a district that has not turned red since 1963, where about 40% of the population is minority and an estimated 15%, including Mr. Omar and Mr. al-Aqidi, are first-generation immigrants. Therefore, they are facing an uphill battle. Since Omar’s primary victory on Aug. 13, her opponent’s name has been mentioned dozens of times (not including retweets) and Omar’s video has appeared on her campaign’s front page, making al-Al Akidi has used the minority backgrounds common to his candidates to distinguish himself. He is a “common sense” American Muslim who is the exact opposite of Omar’s supposed “pro-Hamas”, “radical” and “divisive” policies.
Al-Aqidi claims his rivals are dividing the constituency through “identity politics.” But they overlook the fact that a big part of her appeal is not just her identity, but Omar’s progressive policies. The district is known for its leftward leanings, with a young median age of 34, and Millennials and Gen Z make up 48% of the district’s voting population. The 5th District also has the largest Somali-American population in the nation, and its growing Muslim and immigrant population led to the District becoming the first Muslim-majority state in modern-day Minnesota in 2006. It is no surprise that we elected Attorney General Keith Ellison to Congress. The city became the first major U.S. city to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer five times a day, highlighting the town’s deep Muslim roots and their involvement in local politics.
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While the Republican Party’s support for minority candidates appears to be an effort to bring more diversity to the party, candidates like al-Aqidi, who simply stick to right-wing policies, do so because of the concerns of their own groups. It does not represent. . Case in point: Mr. al-Aqidi’s Islamic faith is always prefaced with the modifier “secular” by both candidates and Republican leaders, as if to soften the blow.
“I would love to know the dictionary definition of what a secular Muslim is,” Robert McCaw, director of government affairs at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told me.
Tokenism is not an expression. But al-Aqidi appears to have become a key tokenized Muslim figure for the Republican Party. Her role as a co-founder of the Clarity Coalition, a group led by right-wing Muslims and ex-Muslims, was to “refuse to condone and legitimize jihad, to use da’wah for political purposes, and to defend the institutionalization of Sharia.” “to do”. This same dog whistle has long been used by the right to designate Muslims as “other,” relying on the public interpretation that mainstream Islam is a threat to Western civilization.
In fact, Mr. al-Aqidi has built a reputation for calling CAIR, the largest civil rights organization for American Muslims, “terrorists in suits,” and that both the Minnesota chapter and the national organization He is blocking her X activities.
This representationalism reveals a worrying dark side to how Republican leadership embraces minority candidates. 5th Congressional District Republican Party Chairman Alec Beck said, “I’m no expert on Omar or her ideas, but Dalia presents her Islam in a completely different way.” I like that,” he said.
Al-Aqidi’s camp has not been shy about labeling Omar as an “Islamic extremist” or a “terrorist sympathizer,” with Al-Aqidi saying, “@IlhanMN I don’t understand why women are so fascinated by terrorists like you. I’ve never seen one. And I’ve interviewed ISIS brides.” This inflammatory rhetoric has alienated many in the constituency who use their Muslim faith to inform their votes. Being ostracized by one of the Muslims.
Michael Minta, an associate professor of political science at the University of Minnesota, explained that candidates need to fill positions that reflect their communities. “You can’t just say, ‘I’m a Muslim.’ That’s not enough.”
But the memo hasn’t reached local Republicans. Al-Aqidi’s candidacy fails to comprehensively address issues related to the community. In fact, they often run counter to the views of the voters she hopes to represent. Her online presence is focused almost entirely on supporting Israel and its continued attacks on Gaza and now Lebanon. Al-Aqidi’s approach falls short of meeting the needs of the community when it comes to security, a thorny issue in the area that saw the police killing of George Floyd in 2020 and the protests that followed. Her platform did not take into account grassroots efforts to reinvent local safety practices or hold police unions accountable, led by community organizing groups that represent important local public safety issues. Instead, Rep. al-Aqidi and the Minneapolis Republican Party, seeing Omar’s support for defunding the police in 2020, have argued that “defunding the police” is a more appropriate measure. I decided that.
Al-Aqidi is all but certain to lose in November, and serious questions remain about why Republicans appointed her to the job. Stephanie Chambers, a scholar and co-author of Ilhan Omar: Breaking Barriers for Muslim, Somali-American, and Immigrant Women, argues that theories of gender and political literature have historically “When party leaders learned that this was the case, they would have executed the women as sacrificial lambs.” Not competitive. ” She added that this theory was largely ignored.
But the showdown between Omar and al-Aqidi breathes new life into this theory, raising questions about whether candidates from minority backgrounds should also be included.
The recent elections in District 5 bear this out. Beck said Republicans in the district hold no seats on the city council or state legislature and are lucky to get even 25% of the vote — typically from the suburbs. And in every election since 2020, local Republicans have supported candidates of color. Cicely Davis in the 2022 midterm elections and Lacey Johnson in the 2020 general election. The problem is that they have done so without changing their positions to reflect voters.
The reality is that Ms. Omar’s identity was not the decisive driver of her success here, and Republicans are discrediting her, and the Republican candidates, by assuming so. While some voters have an emotional attachment to Omar’s Somali origins, her active support is based on her consistent record. Her website boasts support for the Green New Deal, student debt relief, and police reform, reflecting an unwavering commitment to policies that unify the Upper Midwest’s most democratic district. In August, she visited an Uncommitment Movement sit-in outside the Democratic National Convention and supported a call for Palestinian Americans to speak at the convention. Her office receives thousands of calls from constituents asking for help. In tackling complex immigration issues, her team is so determined that a local immigration lawyer guides her clients around and asks, “Did you call Omar?”
For Minta, identity contributes to political ideology, but is not the only element. “Does a person’s lived experience matter? My research shows that it matters. But the people involved have to reflect.”
The Republican Party in Minnesota’s 5th District does not reflect the community. Candidates like al-Aqidi do not understand what they can bring to the table by engaging with the communities they seek to govern.
Identity matters. However, the complexity associated with them is reduced when leaders reduce them to a single category on a checklist.
Is this the final nail in the coffin for “identity politics” as we know it? perhaps. Probably not. However, even if it continues to be distorted in this way, I will not be sad when that time finally comes to an end.
