Rep. Rashida Tlaib, known for her anti-Israel tirades and profanity-laced pledge to impeach then-President Donald Trump, is leaving her Detroit-based district to run for a more suburban seat.
The Michigan Democrat announced the shift on Wednesday, part of broader fallout from the state’s new congressional maps. Tlaib, a member of a group of far-left lawmakers known as “the Squad,” will move to the new Detroit-area district that neighbors her current one.
Tlaib is no stranger to controversy. The Palestinian American lawmaker once called Israel an apartheid state during remarks on the House floor, prompting accusations of antisemitism. And three years ago, on her first day in office, Tlaib told supporters about Trump, “We’re gonna go in and impeach the motherf*****.” That message was decidedly at odds with House Democratic leaders, though the chamber did end up impeaching Trump twice, with Senate acquittals coming in early 2020 and 2021, the second time after he was out of office.
Tlaib’s campaign announcement said communities in her current district “were unfortunately split up between the new 12th and 13th Congressional Districts” during Michigan’s redistricting process.
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“After much deliberation with her family, residents, and team, Rashida is excited to announce that she will be running for re-election in what will now be Michigan’s 12th Congressional District. The new 12th Congressional District contains nearly two-thirds of the people she currently serves,” Tlaib’s campaign website said.
In a statement, Tlaib said, “I’m excited to continue to serve those residents and meet residents in the new communities.”
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According to the Detroit News, in addition to some areas Tlaib already represents, the new district includes Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, towns that have large Arab American communities.
As one of the first two Muslim women elected to the House, Tlaib was sworn in to her first term in Congress with a copy of the Koran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson.
In late December, Michigan’s House districts were scrambled when the state’s independent redistricting commission released a binding set of maps. The Wolverine State lost one of its House seats due to the comparatively slow population growth of the past decade. The 13-seat map has led to several incumbents looking to move in the state, run against a fellow incumbent of the same party, or retire.
