Midterms 2018: Ilhan Omar wins Minnesota’s 5th District

Minnesota’s Fifth District, which includes all of Minneapolis, hasn’t sent a Republican to Congress since 1962 — until now. The seat opened up this year when Rep. Keith Ellison stepped down to run for Minnesota attorney general, and now Democrat Ilhan Omar has won the seat.

Omar — a 36-year-old Somali refugee who immigrated to the United States when she was 12 — ran on a deeply progressive platform, supporting Medicare-for-all, tuition-free college, and criminal justice reform. Given this district’s solidly blue history, she was favored to win.

Her victory is historic: Along with Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, who ran unopposed, Omar now becomes one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress.