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Rashida Tlaib (pronounced ta-LEEB) (born July 24, 1976) is a Democratic member of the Michigan House of Representatives. She represents the 12th District (map), which is located in Southwest Detroit and stretches from an area just south of Downtown to the city's southern border, and west to the city of Dearborn. Upon her swearing in on January 1, 2009, Tlaib became the first Muslim-American woman to serve in the Michigan Legislature, and only the second Muslim woman in history to be elected to any state legislature in America.

Biography

The eldest of 14 children, Rashida Tlaib was born on July 24, 1976 to working class Palestinian Immigrants from Detroit, Michigan. Her mother was born in Beit Ur El Foka, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Her father was born in Beit Hanina, a suburb of Jerusalem. He moved first to Nicaragua, then to Detroit, where he worked on an assembly line in a Ford Motor Company plant. As the oldest, Tlaib played a role in raising her siblings while her parents worked but sometimes relied on welfare for support.

Rashida Tlaib attended elementary school at Harms, Bennett Elementary and Phoenix Academy. She graduated from Southwestern High School in Detroit in 1994, and attended Wayne State University where she received a B.A. in Political Science in 1998. She went on to earn a law degree from Thomas Cooley Law School in 2004.

In 1998, Rashida married Fayez Tlaib. Together they have a two year old son named Adam.

Political career

Tlaib began her political career in 2004, when she started an internship to the State Representative Steve Tobocman. Both Tobocman and Tlaib were born to immigrant families. Tabocman is the grandson of Jewish immigrants from Poland who fled the Holocaust, and Tlaib the daughter of Palestinian Muslim immigrants. When Tobocman became Majority Floor Leader in 2007, he recruited Tlaib to be on his staff.

In 2008, Tobocman convinced Tlaib to run for his seat, which he would be vacating due to term limits. The urban district is 40% Hispanic, 25% African-American, 30% white, and only 2% Arab American. Tlaib faced a crowded primary that included several Latinos, including former State Representative Belda Garza. Tlaib emerged victorious, carrying 44% of the vote in the eight-way Democratic primary. The 12th District is overwhelmingly Democratic, and Tlaib won the general election with over 90% of the vote.

Tlaib is one of only ten Muslims serving in state legislatures across the United States. She is the second Muslim to serve in the Michigan State House of Representatives, after James Karoub. Born in Highland Park to an imam and his wife who came from what now is Lebanon, Karoub served three terms in the state House in the 1960s. Tlaib is the second Muslim woman to serve in a state legislature nationwide, after Jamilah Nasheed of Missouri.

Electoral history

• 2008 campaign for State House
  • Rashida Tlaib (D), 90%
  • Darrin Daigle (R), 10%

• 2008 campaign for State House, Democratic Primary
  • Rashida Tlaib (D), 44%
  • Carl Ramsey (D), 26%
  • Belda Garza (D), 9%
  • Daniel Solano (D), 7%
  • Lisa Randon (D), 7%
  • Denise Hearn (D), 5%
  • Rochelle Smith (D), 1%
  • Nellie Saenz (D), 1%

References

External links

• Homepage
• Campaign Site
• House Democrats Page

• 1976 births
• Muslim American politicians
• American politicians of Arab descent
• Living people
• People from Detroit, Michigan
• Members of the Michigan House of Representatives
• Women state legislators in Michigan
• Thomas M. Cooley Law School alumni