The father of Somalia-born U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) died from complications of the CCP virus, the congresswoman announced in a statement late on Monday.
“It is with tremendous sadness and pain that I share that my father, Nur Omar Mohamed, passed away due to complications from COVID-19,” Omar said in the statement. “No words can describe what he meant to me and all who knew him.”
Omar paid tribute to her father and shared a picture on Twitter of her standing next to him.
Mohamed came to the United States together with her daughter as a refugee in 1995 during the Somalia civil war and they eventually settled in Minneapolis.
Omar was elected along with Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib in November 2018, making them among the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress. She has been at the forefront of promoting progressive policies, including the defunding and reconstruction of the Minneapolis Police Department.
The Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed a veto-proof resolution last Friday to pursue replacing its police department with a “community-led public safety system.”
So far, at least two other members of Congress have lost a family member due to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. On April 21, the oldest brother of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Donald Reed Herring, died from the virus. He was 86.
Several weeks later in early May, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said her sister, Velma Moody also 86-years-old, died from the disease.
The CCP virus has infected more than 2.1 million people in the United States and claimed the lives of more than 118,300 people as of June 16, according to statistics from WorldoMeter.
Reuters contributed to this report.