WASHINGTON—Two Muslim women from the Midwest were elected to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, making history as the first females of their faith to serve in Congress.

The candidates secured their wins by running on a socially progressive platforms.

Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, will represent Michigan, and Ilhan Omar, once a Somali refugee in Kenya, will represent Minnesota. Both received an overwhelming majority of the vote in their respective districts on Tuesday and join a surge of Democratic women coming to the new Congress.

The women align with the left wing of the Democratic Party which focused its campaigns on vows to extend Medicare health coverage to all Americans and increase the minimum wage to $15. In 2016, Ms. Tlaib was arrested for disrupting a speech from then-candidate Donald Trump in Detroit, where she shouted at him that “our kids deserve better,” a move that cemented her progressive political credentials for some supporters.

Democratic candidate Rashida Tlaib celebrating her victory with her mother in Detroit. Photo: rebecca cook/Reuters

Both Ms. Tlaib, 42, and Ms. Omar, 37, have made comments that are critical of Israel. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not a central campaign issue for either candidate, but their views on the matter could test Democrats in a narrow House majority. The party typically draws widespread support from Jewish voters and donors. Seventy-one percent of American Jews voted for the Democrats, as did 80% of Muslims, according to AP VoteCast, a pre-election and Election Day survey of about 90,000 people who said they voted in the midterms or intended to do so.


Ms. Tlaib has said she would vote against bills that include aid to Israel; Ms. Omar has drawn criticism for a 2012 tweet in which she says that “Israel has hypnotized the world” with its “evil doings.”

J Street, a liberal Jewish lobbying organization, praised Ms. Tlaib’s progressive social views, but the group withdrew its endorsement in August after the candidate said she opposed a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ms. Tlaib told an online publication, “It has to be one state. Separate but equal does not work.”

The Jewish Democratic Council of America also criticized Ms. Tlaib’s push for military spending cuts for Israel, calling it “inconsistent with the values of the Democratic Party and the American people.”

Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. aid and is slated to receive more than $3 billion in 2019


Ms. Omar, who wears a hijab and was on the cover of Time magazine in September 2017, has emerged as one of the more high-profile lawmakers within Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. She came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia and was elected to the state House of Representatives in 2016. She will take the seat vacated by Rep. Keith Ellison, who left Congress to run for attorney general.

She has called for a reduction of military spending to Israel and said she plans to “uplift the voices of Palestinians demanding an end to the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”

When accused of anti-Semitism on Twitter, Ms. Omar responded in May of this year: “Drawing attention to the apartheid Israeli regime is far from hating Jews.”

Her campaign didn’t return an email requesting clarification or more context on her comments.


Ms. Tlaib, born in Detroit, is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants. She made history in 2008 by becoming the first Muslim woman to serve in the Michigan House of Representatives.

She will fill the seat vacated by Rep. John Conyers, who left his office last year after accusations of sexual misconduct.

Two Muslim men have been elected to Congress, Indiana Democratic Rep. Andre Carson, who was re-elected on Tuesday, and Mr. Ellison, who in 2007 became the first Muslim to be elected to Congress.

Millions of voters flocked to the polls Tuesday, giving Democrats a House majority while strengthening Republicans’ control of the Senate. WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib explains.

Write to Natalie Andrews at Natalie.Andrews@wsj.com