This is a list of

Arab Americans Arab Americans ( ar, عَرَبٌ أَمْرِيكِا or ) are Americans of Arab ancestry. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World. According to the Arab American Ins ...

and

Middle Eastern Americans Middle Eastern Americans are Americans of Middle Eastern background. According to the United States Census Bureau, the term "Middle Eastern American" applies to anyone of West Asian or North African origin. This includes people whose background is ...

in the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

. This list would include

North Africans in the United States North African Americans are Americans with origins in the region of North Africa. This group includes Americans of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. People from North Africa have been in the United States since the sixteenth century ...

who identify as Arab as well as non-Arab Middle Eastern Americans. The first Arab American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives was George A. Kasem in 1959, and the first Arab-American U.S. Senator was

James Abourezk James George Abourezk (born February 24, 1931) is an American attorney and Democratic politician who served as a United States senator and United States representative from South Dakota. He did not seek re-election to the US Senate in 1978. He w ...

in 1973. In the

115th Congress The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2017, to January ...

, there were six U.S. Representatives and no U.S. Senators of Arab-American descent serving in Congress. On November 6, 2018, four additional Arab Americans, all of whom are female, were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives:

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell Debbie Jessika Mucarsel-Powell (born January 18, 1971) is an Ecuadorian-born American politician and academic administrator who served as a U.S. representative for from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, her district covered the w ...

, Ilhan Omar,

Donna Shalala Donna Edna Shalala ( ; born February 14, 1941) is an American politician and academic who served in the Carter and Clinton administrations, as well as in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021. Shalala is a recipient of the Presid ...

and

Rashida Tlaib Rashida Harbi Tlaib (, ; born July 24, 1976) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. The district includes the western half of Detroit, along with several of its western suburbs and much of the ...

. Tlaib and Omar were also the first Muslim women in Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives currently has five Arab-American members. The first

Assyrian American Assyrian Americans ( syr, ܣܘܼܖ̈ܵܝܹܐ ܐܲܡܪ̈ܝܼܟܵܝܹܐ) refers to individuals of ethnic Assyrian ancestry born in or residing within the United States of America. Assyrians are an indigenous Middle-Eastern ethnic group native to ...

to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives was Adam Benjamin in 1977, and the first Iranian-American U.S. Representative was

Stephanie Bice Stephanie Irene Bice (née Asady; born November 11, 1973) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 5th congressional district since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she is the first Iranian American to ...

in 2021. There currently is one Assyrian-American and one Iranian-American U.S. Representative serving in Congress.

Senate

House of Representatives

References

;Notes ;References {{DEFAULTSORT:Arab and Middle Eastern Americans in the United States Congress

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

Lists of American politicians Lists of American people by ethnic or national origin Lists of members of the United States Congress