U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar speaks during Day 2 of the Minnesota DFL Party Convention in the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minn. on Saturday, May 30, 2026
Alex Kormann/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS
The 2026 midterm election was undeniably historic, with notoriously red states like Texas flipping blue and the first Indigenous woman, Deb Haaland of the Laguna Pueblo, being elected governor of New Mexico, among many others.
This election season was particularly memorable in terms of an unprecedented level of Muslim politicians winning national Congressional and local seats. This coming January, seven Muslims will be sworn into office in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, with three House Reps. being re-elected.
As of Nov. 6, Muslim candidates secured 97 total confirmed wins across state and national elections across 21 states, but these victories did not come without massive anti-Muslim pushback.
During this election season, Muslim politicians were aggressively hounded and harassed, with 5th district of Michigan Representative Ilhan Omar’s home being raided on claims that her immigration documentation was faulty, despite no evidence presented to corroborate this claim or the drastic (to say the very least) measure of raiding a personal residence.
Investigations on high-profile individuals are typically not conducted during election seasons to avoid the accusation of election interference.
Another instance of overt anti-Muslim hate during this year’s midterms was on Oct. 17 at a town hall meeting in Caro, Michigan, when Abdul El-Sayed, who ended up winning and becoming the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, was heckled by a crowd member named “Tommy,” who pressed El-Sayed to “disavow the Muslim Brotherhood,” a Sunni Islamist organization El-Sayed has never been associated with.
While El-Sayed handled the interaction with immense composure and grace, as did Rep. Omar in publicly addressing the home raid, we cannot pretend that Muslim politicians are the only ones reaping the consequences of rising fear of a “Muslim takeover.”
This hatred, spread by politicians like Ted Cruz who loudly proclaimed during this election that “Sharia Law has no place in America,” inevitably affects the lives of everyday Muslims, and has long before this election season.
“I grew up in a post-9/11 world—if I could tell you all of the Islamophobia that I’ve experienced throughout my life, you would be shocked by the general view of Muslims in America,” Majid Matariyeh, SXU Project Management grad student and practicing Muslim, told of his experience.
“I have had bottles thrown at me while I was walking outside, saying ‘go back to your country!,’ I’ve been attacked for wearing religious clothing, I’ve been almost suspended from my high school for speaking out against Islamophobia and pro-Palestinian activism, especially after the shooting[s] at the mosque[s] in [New Zealand].”
“Having a Muslim politician, or a Muslim trying to run in politics, does [cause] an uptick of hatred because there is the propaganda machine that tries to smear Muslims in general,” Matariyeh continued.
Despite this, though, Matariyeh is optimistic about the historic win for Muslim representation in Congress.
“It definitely shows that more people are accepting of Muslims—obviously, if they’re being elected, that shows they’re being accepted, especially with Abdul El-Sayed, because we’re seeing that, while a certain foreign country tries to interfere with American politics, we see that a good portion of his votes actually came from Jewish voters,” said Matariyeh, highlighting the fact that 57% of Jewish voters in Michigan voted for El-Sayed despite El-Sayed defeating proudly AIPAC-backed Haley Stevens.
Matariyeh also noted the tens-to-hundreds of millions of dollars AIPAC spent on this election, just for many of them to be beaten by Muslim candidates.
However, Matariyeh still realizes the importance of having Muslim politicians in office who actually represent the interests of Muslims, rather than ones who use Muslim identity to get the Muslim vote.
“Just because you’re a Muslim, doesn’t mean I’ll automatically stand beside you,” said Matariyeh. “It really depends on what your values are.”
This election may have been a victory, but Matariyeh emphasized that Islamophobia is still alive and well, and it extends beyond Muslims. Matariyeh noted that Arab Christians are often assumed to be Muslim, and are attacked for that reason.
He also noted how political figures like Barack Obama, who identifies as Christian, are demonized with anti-Muslim vitriol.
In this massive victory for Muslims in the United States, we must all, especially non-Muslims like myself, remember that we have a duty to stand up and speak out when our Muslims neighbors are demonized, whether it is in the media or in everyday life.
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