Nida Allam (born December 15, 1993) is a Canadian-American politician, political activist, and data analyst. She currently serves on the Durham County Board of Commissioners, to which she was elected in 2020, making her the first Muslim woman to serve in public office in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. Allam is one of five women to serve on the Durham County Board of Commissioners; this is the first time the board has consisted entirely of women in its 139-year history. Since 2018, Allam has served as the Chair of the

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

Mayor's Council for Women. She was elected as the Third Vice-chair of the

North Carolina Democratic Party The North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) is the North Carolina affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. It is headquartered in the historic Goodwin House, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh. The party contr ...

and served from 2017 to 2021, becoming the first Muslim to serve on the party's executive board. On November 8, 2021, Allam announced that she would be seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for Congress in North Carolina's newly redrawn 4th Congressional District.

Early life and education

Allam was born on December 15, 1993, in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Canada. She is the daughter of immigrants, her father is from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and her mother is from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Allam has two older sisters. When she was five years old her family moved to Brier Creek, a suburb between

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

and

in North Carolina, after her father took a job with

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Research Triangle Park Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the largest research park in the United States; it occupies in North Carolina and hosts more than 300 companies and 65,000 workers. It is owned and managed by the Research Triangle Foundation, a private non-profi ...

. When she was six years old the family moved to the nearby town of Cary. She became a naturalized United States citizen as a teenager. Her mother, Iffat Allam, served as the Chair of the Women's Committee at their mosque. Allam and her mother volunteered at local food banks and helped set up homes for single mothers and refugees in the

Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Anchored by the cities of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh an ...

. A devout

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, she began wearing

hijab Hijab (, ) refers to head coverings worn by Women in Islam, Muslim women. Similar to the mitpaḥat/tichel or Snood (headgear), snood worn by religious married Jewish women, certain Christian head covering, headcoverings worn by some Christian w ...

full-time when she was in eighth grade. Allam graduated from

Needham B. Broughton High School Needham B. Broughton High School (commonly known as Broughton High School) is one of thirty-two high schools in the Wake County Public School System. It is located at 723 St. Mary's Street, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Broughton was ...

, a magnet school in downtown Raleigh, where she was a member of the varsity

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

team. As a high school student, she chaired the Triangle Health Fair, a Muslim student-led campaign to partner with local doctors, chiropractors, and dentists to provide free health care to low-income community members. She graduated from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

with a degree in sustainable materials and technology. While at university, she founded the NC State For Bernie Club and became co-chair of the Triangle For Bernie Club.

Political career

Allam was inspired to become politically involved after her best friend, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, was one of the three people killed in the 2015 Chapel Hill shooting. She had been a bridesmaid at Abu-Salha's wedding that December. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of Justice also launched their own investigations into the shooting. Federal authorities could not find sufficient evidence to charge Hicks with a hate crime. Allam became involved in the

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

movement and worked as a political director for U.S. Senator

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

' 2016

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

, as well as an organizing director for Justice

Cheri Beasley Cheri Lynn Beasley (born February 14, 1966) is an American attorney and jurist who served as the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 2019 to 2020 as well as an associate justice from 2012 to 2019. She was defeated by Paul Mar ...

's campaign for the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

. She was the 2016 Political Director in North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey and New York for Sanders' presidential campaign. In 2024, she was selected Chair of the body, and currently serves in the role. She is a 2019 alumna of Durham's chapter of the New Leaders Council.

Initial runs for office

Allam decided to run for public office after having worked behind the scenes in the progressive movement and with voter mobilization efforts because she believed there needed to be more progressive candidates representing the diversity of the American people. She was elected as the Third Vice Chair of the

in January 2017, becoming the first Muslim American to serve on the party's executive council, and was appointed as the Chair of the Durham Mayor's Council for Women in 2018. As a member of the Mayor's Council for Women, she advised Mayor

Steve Schewel Stephen M. Schewel (born 1951) is an American politician, businessman, and academic. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, he is the former List of mayors of Durham, North Carolina, Mayor of Durham, North Carolina and formerly served on t ...

on issues pertaining to the rights of women and

LGBTQIA LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

community members, especially

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

and

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

people. As Third Vice Chair of the Democratic Party in North Carolina, she served alongside Second Chair Matt Hughes, former First Chair Aisha Dew, Party Secretary Melvin Williams, and former State Party Chairman

Wayne Goodwin George Wayne Goodwin (born February 22, 1967) is an American politician. He was elected North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance in the 2008 election and re-elected in 2012. He was narrowly defeated in his bid for a third term in 2016. However, h ...

. She also served as a delegate at the

2016 Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 to 28, 2016. The convention gathered delegates of the Democratic Party, the maj ...

and the

2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtual ...

Durham County Board of Commissioners

Allam was elected to the Durham County Board of Commissioners in 2020 with endorsements from the Durham Association of Educators, Equality North Carolina, and the People's Alliance PAC. When Allam announced her candidacy for Durham County Commissioner, her family members received

Islamophobic Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

hate mail via social media platforms. She was elected to serve alongside Nimasheena Burns, Wendy Jacobs, Heidi Carter, and Brenda Howerton. This was the first time that Durham County has had an all-woman board of commissioners in its 139-year history. Upon her election, she became the first Muslim woman to hold an elected office in North Carolina. She received 39,523 votes in the primary election and 122,947 votes in the general election, finishing ahead of all other candidates. Her election was celebrated by the

Council on American–Islamic Relations A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

and Muslim Advocates.

Congressional candidacy

On November 8, 2021, Allam announced that she would be seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for Congress in North Carolina's newly redrawn 4th Congressional District. If she were elected, she would be the third Muslim woman to serve in Congress, after

Ilhan Omar Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (born October 4, 1982) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before her election to Congress, Omar served in the Minnesota House of Represen ...

and

Rashida Tlaib Rashida Harbi Tlaib ( ; born July 24, 1976) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a U.S. representative from Michigan since 2019, representing the state's 12th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, sh ...

, both of whom endorsed Allam's candidacy. Allam lost the primary to her more moderate opponent by 9 points.

Political views

Allam ran for Durham County Commissioner on a platform centered on addressing economic inequality. Campaign priorities included a $15 minimum wage for county workers, boosting mental health services in schools and investing in businesses run by women and people of color. She believes that

charter schools A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

have increased

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

in Durham schools. As a county commissioner, Allam stated she plans to increase the minimum wage of

Durham Public Schools The Durham Public Schools district is a public school district in Durham, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina. Formed in 1992 with the merger of Durham, North Carolina, Durham's previous two school districts, it is 8th largest school sys ...

classified staff to U.S. $15 an hour and enact property tax assistance programs. She has stated that evictions and lack of affordable housing opportunities are also a crisis in the county, and referenced the issue of

gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

misplacing Black families from their homes in Durham's historical African-American neighborhoods. Allam has also called for more funding and community investment into Durham Public Schools and Durham Technical Community College, saying that education is tied to economic and racial justice issues. Allam supports organized

labor unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. She blames the

North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina General Assembly is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Government of North Carolina, state government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the North Carolina Senate, Senate and the North Ca ...

for inadequate funding for public schools. Allam has been criticized for her past statements and tweets in regards to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

that some have seen as

Anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. In 2021, Allam apologized to the Jewish community for her past statements and committed to "a movement for justice and peace, in which anti-Semitism must have no home." While Allam received endorsements in her race from figures like

, who have been in the past accused of antisemitism,

Valerie Foushee Valerie Jean Foushee ( ; née Paige; born May 7, 1956) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 4th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the North ...

, her primary opponent, began to receive funds and assistance from pro-Israel groups such as

AIPAC The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC ) is a pro-Israel lobbying group that advocates its policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States. It is one of several pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the ...

and

Sam Bankman-Fried Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried (born March 5, 1992), commonly known as SBF, is an American entrepreneur who was convicted of fraud and related crimes in November 2023. Bankman-Fried founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and was celebrated as a ...

's Protect Our Future PAC, prompting allegations that Foushee's campaign had succeeded primarily due to support from

dark money In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public. In the United States, ...

as the race became "the most expensive Democratic congressional primary in North Carolina history".

Personal life

She lives in Durham with her husband, Towqir Aziz, and two dogs named Otis and Nala. She and Aziz met in a Muslim

Sunday school ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...

. Allam is a member of the Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality & Equality. In April 2022, Allam announced that she was pregnant. Allam had been pregnant in 2021, but had an abortion due to medical issues.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allam, Nida 1993 births 21st-century North Carolina politicians 21st-century American women scientists 21st-century American scientists Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign American left-wing activists American people of Indian descent American people of Pakistani descent American Muslim activists Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian people of Pakistani descent Candidates in the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections County commissioners in North Carolina Indian Muslim activists Living people Needham B. Broughton High School alumni North Carolina Democrats North Carolina State University alumni Pakistani Muslim activists People from Durham County, North Carolina Politicians from Ottawa Scientists from North Carolina Women data scientists American data scientists Women in North Carolina politics People from Cary, North Carolina 21st-century American women politicians