MoveOn is proud to endorse Rep. Ilhan Omar for reelection in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District!

Leadership and Experience

With a rich background as a community organizer, policy analyst, and coalition builder, Ilhan Omar has dedicated her career to fighting for everyday working families. Most recently, as the U.S. Representative for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, she has used her platform to advance progressive policies and bring over $40 million in community investments directly to her district—funding vital projects like affordable housing for veterans and people with disabilities.

Before being elected to Congress in 2018, Ilhan served in the Minnesota House of Representatives, where she became the first Somali-American, Muslim legislator in the United States. Her early career includes working as a community nutrition educator at the University of Minnesota, serving as a Humphrey Policy Fellow, and working as a Senior Policy Aide for the Minneapolis City Council. Having fled civil war in Somalia as a child and spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya, she made history as the first African refugee and one of the first two Muslim-American women elected to Congress. She continues to champion a model of co-governance that puts her constituents at the center of democracy.

How she’ll help your community:

• Housing as a Human Right: Ilhan believes everyone deserves a safe place to live. She introduced the Homes for All Act, groundbreaking legislation to invest $1 trillion in constructing 12 million new public housing and permanently affordable rental units built to the highest environmental standards.

• Dignity for All Workers: A fierce ally to the labor movement, Ilhan has co-sponsored the Raise the Wage Act to lift the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, backed the Paycheck Fairness Act to close the gender wage gap, and voted for the PRO Act to protect and strengthen workers’ right to organize.

• Climate Action & Accountability: As a leading progressive voice for environmental justice, Ilhan fought for the historic climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act. She has introduced core components of the Green New Deal framework, such as the Zero Waste Act, to transition the nation toward a clean energy economy.

• Investing in Education & Ending Hunger: Committed to lifting the weight of financial burden from students, Ilhan introduced the Student Debt Cancellation Act.She is also a passionate advocate for child nutrition, introducing the Universal School Meals Act to provide free breakfast, lunch, and dinner to every student in America.

Her position on key issues

• Healthcare for All: Ilhan serves as the Vice Chair of the Congressional Medicare for All Caucus. She is an original co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act, fighting to treat universal healthcare as a fundamental human right.

• A Peaceful Foreign Policy: As a foreign policy leader, Ilhan introduced the Pathway to PEACE platform—a package of seven bills designed to reorient U.S. foreign policy to center human rights, international justice, and diplomacy, ensuring military intervention is only ever a last resort.

• Immigration Justice: Drawing from her own lived experience, Ilhan advocates for a compassionate, just immigration system. She has championed a path to citizenship for DACA recipients, TPS holders, and undocumented neighbors, co-sponsored the NO BAN Act, and consistently pushes to dismantle inhumane, militarized enforcement practices.

• Public Safety and Accountability: Following the murder of George Floyd, Ilhan helped lead the swift passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in the House, aiming to ban chokeholds, end no-knock warrants, and establish transparent standards of accountability for law enforcement nationwide.

To learn more about Ilhan, visit her website: https://ilhanomar.com