WASHINGTON – US voters are poised to elect two Muslim women to Congress inthe midterm election next week, marking a historic first even asanti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric has been on the rise.

Ilhan Omar, a Somali refugee, is all but certain to be elected to the USHouse of Representatives in a heavily-Democratic district in the Midwesternstate of Minnesota, where she is the party’s nominee.

Rashida Tlaib, a social worker born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrantparents, will win a House seat in a district where she is running unopposed.

The two will be the first Muslim women to serve in the US Congress. Theywill increase the total number of Muslims in Congress to three.

Congressman Andre Carson, who is Muslim and African American, is likely towin reelection in his safely-Democratic district in the state of Indiana.

The expected electoral milestone is in stark contrast to the rise inanti-Muslim sentiment around the country. The Council on American-IslamicRelations (CAIR) reported a 21 percent increase in anti-Muslim hate crimesin the first six months of 2018.

Both Tlaib and Omar have positioned themselves as polar opposites ofPresident Donald Trump and his Republican Party.

They oppose Trump’s restrictive immigration policies, support a universalhealth care system which Republicans oppose, and want to abolish USImmigration and Customs Enforcement.

ICE has conducted raids throughout the country, leaving immigrantcommunities terrified of deportations — including longtime Iraqi refugeesin Michigan.

“The election of Donald Trump was a wake-up call,” Colin Christopher of theIslamic Society of North America told AFP.

“Now we’re seeing communities that were once absent from publicconversations… all of a sudden are really engaged.”

The two women are part of a historically diverse crop of candidates — byrace, gender, and sexuality — challenging Republican incumbents.

They reflect a Trump era in which race and women’s rights and empowermenthave emerged as flashpoint issues for Democrats, and identity politics areincreasingly important.

Polls indicate next week’s election will likely hand Democrats control ofthe lower house of Congress in a rebuke of Trump’s administration. TheSenate is seen as more likely to stay in Republican majority control.

Tlaib was born and raised in Detroit — the eldest of 14 children. In 2008,she became the first Muslim woman to serve in the Michigan statelegislature.

The 42-year-old has positioned herself as a champion of the working classand strongly anti-Trump. During the 2016 presidential campaign, she heckledthen-candidate Trump during a speech in Detroit.

Tlaib won the Democratic party’s primary election in August in apredominantly African American district.

“Her district does not have many Muslims in it,” said Dawud Walid,executive director of CAIR’s Michigan chapter.

“I don’t believe that her ethnic or religious identity has had much of apart to play in her victory nor any opposition against her.”

Tlaib has been mindful of the historic nature of her candidacy. During hertearful primary election victory speech in August, with her mother by herside, she said relatives in the West Bank were watching her success.

“It just shows how incredibly wonderful our country can be,” she said. “Allthe ugliness and the hatred that you hear out there, it’s not who we are.”

With no Republican opposing Tlaib, she will be elected next week to atwo-year term to replace longtime Congressman John Conyers who stepped downin December amid sexual harassment allegations and failing health.

Ilhan Omar also has forged a progressive political identity. She supportsfree college education, housing for all, and criminal justice reform.

The hijab-wearing Minnesota state lawmaker’s personal identity has played abig role in her campaign. She is the first Somali-American legislator inthe US.

Omar fled her native country’s civil war at the age of eight and laterimmigrated with her family to the US.

She was inspired by politics early on when accompanying her grandfather tohis first election vote.

“I just fell in love with politics and with what it could do,” she toldElle magazine in September.

“I decided to run because I was one of many people I knew who really wantedto demonstrate what representative democracies are supposed to be.”

In 2016, the 36-year-old won an uncontested seat in the legislature of herMidwestern home state, where there is a sizable Somali population.

Running for a congressional seat in a heavily-Democratic district thatincludes the city of Minneapolis, she is expected to easily defeat herRepublican challenger.

She would replace Keith Ellison, who was the first Muslim elected toCongress in 2006. He gave up his seat to run for the state’s attorneygeneral’s office.