Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Omar is an experienced Twin Cities policy analyst, organizer, public speaker and advocate. She was recently elected as the Minnesota House Representative for District 60B, making her the highest-elected Somali-American public official in the United States. Ilhan is the Assistant Minority Leader, with assignments to three house committees; Civic Law & Data Practices Policy, Higher Education & Career Readiness Policy and Finance, and State Government Finance. In addition to serving in the legislature, Ilhan is a mother of three and the Director of Policy Initiatives at Women Organizing Women, where she empowers East African women to take civic leadership roles in their community. Born in Somalia, Ilhan and her family fled the country’s civil war when she was eight. The family spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States in 1990s. Updated July 2017