How many Muslim Americans have served in Congress and how has that number changed since 2005?
Executive summary
As of the sources collected, a small but growing number of Muslim Americans have served in the U.S. Congress: the milestone began with Keith Ellison’s 2006 election (sworn in 2007), and by 2025 multiple sources report that five individuals have been elected overall while contemporary membership counts vary between three (Pew for the 118th Congress) and four (Wikipedia/Justice For All for the 119th Congress) — reflecting recent turnover and discrepancies in public tallies [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. The starting line: zero in 2005 and the first breakthrough in 2006–2007
In 2005 there were no members of Congress who identified as Muslim, and that changed when Keith Ellison won election in November 2006 and was sworn into the House in January 2007, becoming the first Muslim member of Congress [1] [5].
2. A gradual rise: who joined next and when
André Carson joined the small cohort after winning a 2008 special election, bringing the total to two Muslim members in Congress by the end of that election cycle [1] [5].
3. A bigger jump in 2018: two women make history
The 2018 midterms produced another leap: Ilhan Omar (Minnesota) and Rashida Tlaib (Michigan) were both elected that year, becoming the first Muslim women to serve in Congress and expanding the total number of Muslim individuals elected to federal office to four by 2019 [1] [5].
4. Turnover and the mid-decade picture: departures and the 118th Congress
Keith Ellison left the House after being elected Minnesota attorney general in 2018 and vacating his House seat at the start of 2019, which reduced the count of sitting Muslim members even as the cumulative number of people ever elected continued to rise; by the 118th Congress (2023–2025) Pew Research counted three sitting Muslim members — André Carson, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib — reflecting that Ellison was no longer serving in the House [1] [2].
5. Cumulative totals vs. sitting membership: why tallies differ
Public tallies diverge because sources distinguish between “have ever served” and “currently serving.” Multiple compiled lists and encyclopedic pages state that as of updates in 2025 five Muslims have been elected to Congress overall (naming Ellison, Carson, Omar, Tlaib and a fifth figure in some lists), while Pew’s 2023 profile plainly reported three sitting Muslim members in the 118th Congress [3] [6] [2]. Justice For All’s 2025 profile and Wikipedia entries indicate four Muslims serving in the 119th Congress, showing how membership can shift between congresses and how secondary sources may update at different speeds [4] [3].
6. What changed since 2005: the arc in plain numbers
Measured from 2005 (zero Muslim members) to the post-2018 period, the arc is: zero in 2005; one after Ellison’s 2006 victory (sworn 2007); two after André Carson’s 2008 special election; four after Omar and Tlaib’s 2018 victories; and a present picture (2023–2025) in which cumulative “ever-elected” totals reach five according to some compilations while contemporaneous sitting membership is reported as three by Pew for the 118th Congress and as four by other updates for the 119th — a rise from zero to a small but visible representation in two decades [1] [5] [2] [3] [4].
7. Caveats, disagreements and what reporting misses
The discrepancies among sources stem from different cut-off dates, whether they count only those who explicitly identify as Muslim while in office, and the lag in updating membership after special elections or party switches; the available reporting documents the timing of key elections and current counts but does not fully reconcile every roster discrepancy, and it is not possible from these sources alone to definitively resolve which named individual accounts for the “fifth” electee referenced in some 2025 lists without cross-checking additional contemporary records [3] [6] [2].