MI-13: She could be the first Muslim woman in Congress.
People who follow religion and politics put Tlaib in the top tier of Muslim American candidates, saying she has as much chance as anyone to break one of the last religious barriers in Congress. The eldest daughter of Palestinian immigrants, Tlaib was already the first Muslim woman in Michigan's Legislature, where she served 2008-2014, before reaching term limits. She's now an attorney and advocate at the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice.
If you squint, it's possible to see Tlaib's campaign as the confluence of two midterm meta-narratives: the surge of Muslim democrats running for office meets the year of the women, a perfect storm of progressive anti-Trumpism.
Like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a political newcomer in New York who shocked the establishment by beating a prominent Democrat in the party's primary last month, Tlaib is taking an "aggressive and direct" approach to campaigning.
"We are basically running the same campaign, with the same platform and with a very similar candidate," said Andy Goddeeris, Tlaib's campaign manager. Both campaigns describe themselves as unabashedly progressive, and, rather than blanketing the airwaves with ads, have taken their message directly to tens of thousands of voters, meeting them on the streets of Detroit or a New York subway station.
But neat narratives rarely match raw political reality.
Several of Tlaib's Democratic opponents are themselves accomplished women. And while Tlaib doesn't shy away from talking about her faith, it's not a big part of her pitch to her voters. Many Michigan Muslims live in Dearborn and Hamtramck, outside of the 13th Congressional District.
And it will take more than a meta-narrative to beat the four other Democrats vying for the same seat in Congress -- a seat previously held by a man, former Rep. John Conyers, who served in Congress for more than 50 years.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/03/politics/rashida-tlaib-congress/index.html
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