As first Muslim women head to Congress, balancing symbolism and service

Rashida Tlaib never set out to be a “new face” of the Democratic Party – but on the cusp of her election to the US House of Representatives, she can hardly avoid the label.

It helps that she’s practically a shoo-in, running unopposed as a Democrat in a district that hasn’t elected a Republican in nearly three decades. But mostly, she has the political moment to thank. Not long ago, her profile – a Muslim civil rights lawyer and mother of two, raised by Palestinian immigrant parents in a majority-minority community in Detroit – might have been seen as too far a reach for Congress. But in 2018, that kind of background seems quintessential, almost de rigueur, especially among Democratic candidates. 

This is, after all, shaping up to be another Year of the Woman, and it seems that the less a candidate looks like the old guard on Capitol Hill, the better. 

It’s also Democrats’ first real

 All part of the same fight‘Why does it have to be you?’