But just four months into Omar’s first term, that feeling of celebration has taken a sharp turn.
“Watching what Congresswoman Omar is going through will have a lot of young black Muslim women wondering if what she is going through will ultimately be worth it,” said Ali, 29, a producer and co-host of the “Identity Politics” podcast.
Omar, 36, the first congresswoman to wear a hijab, has faced intense opposition over her outspoken, controversial positions on Israel and comments about Jews that many felt played on anti-Semitic tropes about money and dual loyalty.
Leaders of her own party drafted a resolution rebuking her comments. Republicans have threatened to censure her. Things escalated when President Donald Trump accused her of downplaying the events of Sept. 11 after comments she made about the aftermath of the attacks.
And while her choice of words has caused some of her own Muslim constituents to describe her as anti-Semitic, many American Muslims across the country are worried that the ongoing criticism of Omar is being motived by racism and Islamophobia, and they are concerned about the broader consequences for their communities, including a heightened sense that they are not welcome in the halls of power.
“If we start fearing visibility, we’re putting a ceiling on what change we can make in this world,” Ali said.
American Muslims are a small but increasingly significant part of the electorate. During last year’s midterm elections, nearly 100 Muslim candidates ran for office, and some of the largest American Muslim communities are in swing states.
But that momentum could easily be derailed, some say, and the blame for such a setback would lie not just with Omar’s poor choice of words or Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, but also with Democratic leaders who appear reluctant to embrace the diversity they claim to champion.
Maheen Ahmed, a 25-year-old aide in the California Legislature, said it was inspiring to see someone who looked and prayed like her representing Americans at the federal level, but the tepid support for Omar from some Democrats was disheartening.
“By allowing for the hate toward Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to go unchecked, many people that are like me, we are pretty discouraged,” said Ahmed, who is Muslim and wears a hijab.
Omar has received hundreds of threats since taking office, she said. A New York man was arrested earlier this month for threatening to kill her. A Florida man was arrested last week for making threatening phone calls to members of Congress, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib, with references to Omar.
Tlaib, D-Mich., is also Muslim, but it is Omar who has attracted the most scrutiny because of her outspoken criticism of Israel.
When Omar first came onto the national scene as a blunt-talking freshman congresswoman from Minnesota, Suldan Hagi, who is a Muslim immigrant from Somalia like Omar, understood how her comments and delivery could be perceived as hurtful and offensive.
Still, he felt her unique perspective as an immigrant and refugee made for valuable contributions to Congress. It was just that Omar needed to be more reserved and avoid attention and getting into trouble, he said.
Then came what Hagi saw as unfair charges that Omar was anti-Semitic, and a false insinuation from Trump that she did not understand the severity of Sept. 11. Now Hagi thinks it is not Omar’s politics upsetting people, but her identity.
“There’s many people that are racist,” said Hagi, 38, who owns a trucking business in Kansas City, Mo. “And when you see someone who wears a hijab, although an American, they don’t like it. She’s different. Maybe a lot of people are saying, ‘What’s going on here?’ ”
Others agreed that Omar would have been better off keeping a low profile so early in her tenure.
“Usually when someone is elected to a higher office, I always see that people take it easy in the first term, first year,” said Omar Jamal, a political consultant in St. Paul, Minnesota, who is from Somalia. “They learn. They don’t go around saying whatever comes to their mind.”
Jamal said he believed Omar was paying the price for focusing too heavily on Israel. “I think she’s gone the wrong way in creating controversy and being anti-Semitic,” he said. “She should have focused on her district, housing, education, but she became obsessed with Israel.”
Last month, Omar said during a speech at an event hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations that many Muslims had been mistreated because of the actions of a few on Sept. 11.
After those remarks, Trump shared a video on Twitter that featured four words from Omar’s speech — “some people did something” — against the backdrop of planes hitting the twin towers, suggesting that Omar did not comprehend the gravity of the attacks.
Trump also told a Minneapolis TV station that Omar has “been very disrespectful to this country.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the House speaker, acknowledged the video in a statement that criticized the president for using “the painful images of 9/11 for a political attack,” but she failed to mention Omar by name.
That led to accusations that the speaker and Democratic leadership were ambivalent about the continued attacks faced by Omar, who said she had received an increase in threats in the wake of the video.
Several Democrats, including Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, offered their support for Omar. Pelosi requested a review of the congresswoman’s security.
To Ali, the podcast host, Democratic leadership did not show real solidarity with Omar when she faced threats of violence, underscoring her fears that the congresswoman was being singled out. As a freshman, she said, Omar not only deserved support but also time to learn and grow.
“Give them the same benefit of the doubt we give to white politicians and leaders that say bigoted and racist and horrible things,” Ali said. “Black women have always been held to a different standard.”
Although Omar continues to face political attacks and death threats, she has said she does not plan to slow down, a relief to many of her Muslim supporters and others who feel her criticism of the influence Israel has on Washington is legitimate and justified.
“I think all of us are incredibly inspired by Ilhan’s bravery as she continues to face this hatred and Islamophobia,” said Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., who is also Muslim.
As for Omar’s comments on Israel, Hagi said that he felt Trump had said much worse, and that the president had put Omar in his crosshairs simply to spread fear and score political points.
It would not work, he added. “People are smarter than that.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.