Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Tlaib serves as the U.S. Representative for Michigan's 13th congressional district (2019-2023), and the 12th congressional district (2023 - ). Prior to being elected to Congress, she represented Michigan's 6th and 12th districts of the Michigan House of Representatives. She is the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress (alongside Representative Ilhan Omar).
Tlaib is a member of the Democratic Party and also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Tlaib's mother was born near Ramallah and her father in East Jerusalem. Tlaib is the first person in her family to graduate from high school and also college. In 1998, she graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and in 2004, she earned a Juris Doctor from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. Tlaib's political career began in 2004 when interning for State Representative Steve Tobocman. She was elected to his vacated seat in 2008, and won reelection in 2010 and 2012. She was the second Muslim woman to serve in American state legislature. She then worked as an attorney and advocate for the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice in Detroit. At the non-profit, Tlaib worked on campaigns aimed at fighting Arab and Muslim discrimination, as well as progressive economic and environmental issues.
In 2018, Tlaib announced her intent to run for Congress. After winning the general election, she was sworn in on January 3, 2019 wearing her grandmother's traditional Palestinian dress (thobe). The thobe she wore during the ceremony inspired the viral #TweetYourThobe campaign, motivating Palestinian women worldwide to share photographs of traditional Palestinian dress on social media.