Ilhan Omar is an American politician. She currently serves as a United States Representative for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District. She has served in this role since 2019. Omar is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
Omar has served her state as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. She represented an area that is partially located inside Minneapolis. The district that Ms. Omar serves is made up of Minneapolis as well as some of its suburbs.
Omar is a progressive legislator; she is part of a group of female Democratic Congress people nicknamed “the Squad.”
| Celebrated Name: | Ilhan Omar |
| Real Name/Full Name: | Ilhan Abdullahi Omar |
| Gender: | Female |
| Age: | 39 |
| Birthdate: | October 4, 1982 |
| Birthplace: | Mogadishu (Somalia) |
| Nationality: | Somalian |
| Height: | 5 ft. 6 in. |
| Weight: | 114 lb. |
| Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Husband/Spouse | . Abdisalan Hirsi (ne’ Aden) (2002 – 2008, 2012 – 2019), Tim Mynett (2020 – present) |
| Children/Kids: | Isra Hirsi and Ilwad Hirsi; Adnan Hirsi |
| Dating/Boyfriend Name: | N/A |
| Is Ilhan Omar Gay? | No |
| Highest Political Office: | U.S. Representative for the state of Minnesota |
| Profession: | Politician |
| Colleges Attended: | North Dakota State University |
| Degrees: | Bachelor’s in International Studies and Political Science |
| Salary: | $174,000 |
| Net Worth in 2021: | $3 million |
Biography: Early Life and Family
Ilhan Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia on October 4, 1982 but spent the first years of her life in Baidoa (Somalia). Omar is one of seven siblings. Her parents are Nur Omar Mohamed and Fadhuma Abukar Haji Hussein. Omar’s mother passed away when she was two. Her father had served in the Somalian army as colonel, but he also had employment as a teacher and trainer.
Ilhan would be raised by her father and grandfather. The two were moderate Sunni Muslims who opposed the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, which is rather strict. Many in Omar’s family worked either as civil servants or educators; her maternal grandfather was involved with the Marine Transport in Somalia. When civil war broke out in Somalia, Omar and her family fled their home and living in a refugee camp in Garissa County in Kenya, which was not far from the Somalian border.
By 1995, Omar’s family was able to obtain a path to the United States as they were granted asylum due to the happenings in Somalia. The family initially arrived in America in New York, but they would soon move to Arlington, Virginia. Omar’s family would eventually decide to move to Minneapolis. Once they settled in Minneapolis, Omar’s father would find work as a taxi driver. Eventually, he secured a job with the post office.
Omar’s father and grandfather were a large influence in her life, particularly where politics are concerned. Omar’s grandfather particularly introduced the idea of democracy to Ilhan. When Omar was fourteen, she attended caucus meetings with her grandfather. There, she served as an interpreter. Omar would officially become a citizen of the United States at the age of seventeen.
In Minneapolis, Omar would attend and later graduated from Thomas Edison High School. During her high school years, Omar served as a volunteer student organizer.
Personal Life
Ilhan Omar would attend North Dakota State University, from which she earned a bachelor’s degree in 2011. A double major, Omar studied both Political Science and International Studies. Omar was also a Policy Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
Omar graduated from high school in 2001, and by 2002, she was engaged to Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi (ne’ Aden). Omar states that she and Hirsi had an unofficial faith-based Islamic marriage, and they divorced according to a faith tradition in 2008. Between 2002 and 2008, the pair had two children.
One year after her faith-based divorce from Hirsi, Omar married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. Elmi was a British Somalian. However, their marriage was short-lived. She and Elmi were divorced “within their faith” and she soon reconciled to her first husband, Ahmed Hirsi. In 2012, Omar and Hirsi would welcome a third child. By 2017, however, Omar decided to have a legal divorce from Elmi. In 2018, Omar and Hirsi would legally marry, but by late 2019, Omar would file for a legal divorce from Hirsi. At the time, she said there was an “irretrievable breakdown” of their marriage; their divorce would become final on November 5, 2019.
By March 2020, Omar would wed once more. This time, she tied the knot with Tim Mynett, who is a political consultant with the E Street Group. Mynett’s firm was the recipient of contracts with Omar’s 2020 campaign totaling $2.78 million. Omar’s Democratic opponent during the primary election made this contract a point of contention. Omar’s conservative critics also pointed out the contract, and eventually the contract would receive national media attention. However, by the end of November 2020, Omar’s campaign would terminate the contract so as to ensure that there was no impropriety; she would later say “(the termination of the contract) was the make sure that anybody who is supporting our campaign with their time or financial support feels there is no perceived issue with that support.”
Omar’s daughter Isra has also made headlines. She was an organizer of the school strike for climate in the United States.
Age, Height, and Weight
Ilhan Omar is 39 years old. She is approximately 5’5″ in height and weighs 132 lbs.
Net Worth
Ilhan Omar is said to have a net worth of $3 million.
Career Outside of Politics
Omar is one of the youngest faces in Washington, but she did not begin her career in politics. She was a community nutrition educator for the Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. She held this position between 2006 to 2009. She also worked for the Minnesota Department of Education in 2012 – 2013; her position was a child nutrition outreach coordinator.
Career in Politics
By 2012, however, Omar was beginning to dabble in politics. She served as an organizer for other politicians, and she would eventually move up to working for elected politicians in the Minneapolis area. She was the campaign manager for Kari Dziedzic, who was looking to remain in her seat in the Minnesota State Senate.
In 2013, Omar was a campaign manager for Andrew Johnson, who was looking to fill a seat on the Minneapolis City Council. Once he was elected, Omar would be named Johnson’s Senior Policy Aide for two years.
By September 2015, Omar found herself working as the Director of Policy Initiatives of the Women Organizing Women Network. The aim of this organization was to encourage women from East Africa to run for political office or take on other civil servant roles. Omar was garnering both local and national attention at this point of her career; she was described as a “progressive rising star.”
By 2018, Omar would decide that she herself was going to run for a political office. On June 5 of that year, Ilhan Omar filed the necessary paperwork to run for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, she only did so after then-Congressman Keith Ellison had announced that he would not run for a seventh term in the office. Within two weeks, Omar was endorsed by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. She would win the primary held for the seat by just under fifty percent of the vote. Omar’s opponent in the general election was a healthcare employee and staunch conservative, Jennifer Zielinski. The district for which the two ladies were vying is heavily Democratic; in fact, a Democrat has held the Congressional seat since 1963. Omar would win 78 percent of the vote in the general election, and she would enter office in January 2019. Omar won recognition as she was the first woman of color to be elected to a Representative seat in the state of Minnesota; she and her “Squad” colleague, Rashida Tlaib, are both the first Muslim women elected to Congress.
When Omar was sworn in, she chose to use a Quran owned by her grandfather. She is the first female to receive such a large percentage of the vote in the state of Minnesota. She also did this as a non-incumbent candidate for the United States House of Representatives.
Omar would be back up for re-election in the 2020 election cycle. She won the Democratic nomination for the August 2020 primary; she faced off four opponents. Interestingly enough, Omar faced opponents who were supported by pro-Israel groups or by Minnesota’s largest news sources; however, she would successfully secure the nomination for a second term. In the general election, she defeated Lacy Johnson, the Republican candidate.
Omar is the first woman to wear a hijab on the floor of the House of Representatives. After her election, the ban on head coverings on the Congressional floor was modified. Omar is still a supporter of more progressive policies along with her fellow “Squad” mates, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib. Omar is often at the center of controversy, although she is not as outspoken as her colleagues in the Squad.
Omar and her Squad colleagues have even broken with their fellow Democrats when it comes to the passage of certain legislation. They refused to vote for a bipartisan bill that would fund infrastructure unless the House would set up a vote on the controversial Build Back Better bill.
Omar was also heavily involved in promoting a second impeachment of outgoing President Donald Trump. She was one of thirteen Representatives to do so; the impeachment charged Donald Trump with “high crimes and misdemeanors.” However, Trump would not be impeached; the Senate would vote overall “no” on the measure.
Omar has several committee assignments. She is on the Committee for Education and Labor and Committee on Foreign Affairs. She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, where she serves as the whip on the committee.
