Pro-American, Iraqi, Secular Muslim, and Veteran Journalist Launches Challenge to Ilhan Omar for U.S. Congress in MN-5

Minneapolis, MN - Dalia Al-Aqidi announced today she is running as a Republican candidate for congress to serve the people of Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, an area comprising Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs. The district has been represented by the Progressive firebrand, Ilhan Omar, since 2018.

“We need leadership that is invested in its residents as individuals who have their own dreams for themselves and their children—not just as part of some ill-defined collective. We need someone focused on our communities rather than their own self-interest,” Dalia said.  

Dalia al-Aqidi is a born fighter, a freedom activist, geopolitical analyst, and award-winning journalist who has been proactive in fighting terrorism and oppression her entire adult life—whether it be through her reporting, often putting herself in danger to do so, or through her work with U.S. forces in Iraq.

Born in Iraq, Dalia and her family fled the country in 1988 and settled for a time in the UAE, where she launched her career in journalism. After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Dalia moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to take part in establishing the radio station, Voice of the Iraqi Opposition.

It was in Saudi Arabia where she met J. Christopher Stevens (the future U.S. Ambassador to Libya murdered in Benghazi on September 11, 2012), who was then serving as a consular and economic officer for the United States Foreign Service in Riyadh. He played an instrumental role in helping Dalia and her family immigrate legally to the U.S. in 1993. 

It didn’t take long for Dalia to surpass the dreams she held as a child. She continued her career as a journalist and five years later, Dalia became an anchor and writer for Voice of America—fulfilling the dream she had as a child when her grandmother would tune in to the station in secret over AM radio while living in Iraq.

When the U.S. invaded and toppled the Hussein regime in Iraq in 2003, she jumped at the opportunity to become an anchor for Al-Hurra TV, the U.S. government-owned Arabic language satellite TV channel that broadcasts news to audiences in the Middle East and North Africa. She worked from Washington from December 2003 until April 2005, including stints as a White House correspondent, and she continued her work for the U.S. network in Baghdad until March 2007.  

Hoping to further assist the U.S. in its efforts to turn full control of the country back to Iraqis, she began working with the U.S. Department of Defense-run Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq, in Baghdad as a Media Advisor in their Public Affairs Office. There she helped develop a new Iraqi news center and train Iraqi security ministries on how to develop and sustain professional media offices, modeled after the freedoms she came to enjoy in America. Dalia returned once again to her journalist roots at the end of 2007, reporting from Iraq, Lebanon, the United Kingdom, and eventually back in the U.S.

Grateful for the opportunities America had provided her, Dalia was puzzled to hear the divisive and hateful rhetoric coming from Ilhan Omar, who was newly elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018, representing Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District.

“I saw the direction so-called progressives were trying to take us and Ilhan Omar was one of their most outspoken leaders,” Dalia explained. “I have many titles—a journalist, an analyst, an activist, a woman, a refugee, a secular Muslim—but one title supersedes all else and it’s the one I’m most proud of: I’m an American.” 

“Ilhan Omar’s regressive view focuses on identity politics and grievances. But her brand of identity politics isn’t about respecting and understanding our differences. It is about punishing people for those differences. It pits neighbor against neighbor and tears at the very fabric of our country,” Dalia said.

As a journalist, Dalia began posing questions to Ilhan Omar in 2019 but they were never answered. She thought maybe if she came to Minneapolis—the heart of Omar’s district—she would at least better understand the people who voted for her, if not glean some answers from Ilhan Omar herself. Dalia fell in love with the Twin Cities, made fast friends with people from all walks of life, and decided to move to the North Loop in downtown Minneapolis in the summer of 2019.

Dalia is running as a Republican for U.S. Congress in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District because she takes her oath of U.S. citizenship seriously and believes in giving back to the country that allowed her to live the American dream. 

“This city welcomed me with open arms and I want to protect and nurture those values,” Dalia said. “​​I will focus on the key issues that matter to the residents of this district, such as lowering inflation, government spending, and taxes; making downtown Minneapolis a safe place to live, work, and visit by supporting law enforcement; and by working to promote school choice, increase graduation rates, and depoliticize our classrooms.” 

“It is also critical that America regains its position as a net total energy exporter to the rest of the world, since energy security is national security,” Dalia expanded on her platform. “I will work to secure our borders and strengthen our alliances. Put simply, we should reward our friends and punish our foes—not the other way around as Ilhan Omar consistently advocates.”

Dalia promises a welcome change of course: “This district should be represented by someone who believes in the politics of inclusion and attraction, not division based on identity politics. We need someone to better reflect our values in Washington. And I believe, at the end of the day, I will have the support of those who understand the simple truth: We deserve better.”

# # #

www.DaliaForCongress.org