Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar will become the first Muslim women to be elected to the US Congress after securing their respective seats in Michigan and Minnesota.
State Rep. Ilhan Omar has won Minnesota's 5th District race to become the first Somali-American and one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress.
Omar will succeed US Rep. Keith Ellison, who gave up the safe seat in a heavily Democratic Minneapolis-area district to run for state attorney general. Ellison himself was the first Muslim elected to Congress more than a decade ago.
Omar defeated Republican activist Jennifer Zielinski.
Rashida Tlaib, Democratic candidate for the Michigan's 13th Congressional District, smiles during a rally in Dearborn, Mich. (AP)
Former Michigan state Rep. Rashida Tlaib won the Democratic nomination to run unopposed for the House seat long held by former Rep. John Conyers and likely to become the first Muslim female elected to Congress.
No Republicans ran in Tuesday's District 13 primary race, meaning Tlaib was set to win the seat the election and begin serving a full two-year term in January.
Tlaib defeated five other candidates to win the nomination. She also ran in Tuesday's special primary election to complete the final two months of Conyers' final term.
