MICHIGAN – Former Michigan state representative Rashida Tlaib will become the US’s first ever Muslim woman elected to Congress after winning the Democratic nomination to represent Michigan’s 13th district.
Tlaib, a daughter of Palestinian immigrants, said Tuesday evening that her day had been filled with emotion and described it as “happy chaos,” Detroit News reported.
“Especially meeting voters and talking to them, they are inspired,” Tlaib told The Detroit News in a phone interview before the polls closed.
“One resident said she’s happy for me and it’s already written. It’s been amazing to interact with families at polling locations. I feel very much supported.”
In the election to replace John Conyers Jr, who served from 1965, Tlaib took 33.6 percent of the vote following a strong grassroots campaign in which she raised over $1m.
There are no Republican candidates contesting the seat, so Tlaib will enter Congress unopposed following a special election on November 6, 2018, when she will formally replace Conyers.
Tlaib previously held a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives, first winning in 2008 and becoming just the second Muslim woman to serve in a state legislature nationwide, after Jamilah Nasheed of Missouri.
Elsewhere in Michigan, the Muslim candidates were not that successful as former Detroit health director Dr. Abdul El-Sayed lost Democratic nomination for Michigan governor Tuesday to former legislative leader Gretchen Whitmer.