Omar Fateh

Omar Mahmood Fateh (/ˈfɑːteɪ/ FAH-tay; Somali: Cumar Faatax), is a Minnesota politician and a member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), he represents District 62, which includes parts of south Minneapolis in Hennepin County. Fateh is the first Somali American and Muslim to serve in the Minnesota Senate.

Fateh was born in Washington, D.C., and is the son of immigrants from Somalia. He graduated from Falls Church High School and earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from George Mason University.

Fateh was an unsuccessful candidate for District 62A of the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018. In 2020, he announced a primary challenge to incumbent Senator Jeff Hayden. A self-declared democratic socialist, Fateh received support from groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America and the Sunrise Movement. He also received the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party's endorsement. Fateh defeated Hayden in the August primary, 54% to 45%, and was elected to the Minnesota Senate with 88.99% of the vote in the general election.

Fateh was sworn into the Minnesota legislature on Jan 5, 2021. During his first term, the Senate was under Republican control, while the DFL controlled the House and governor's office. Fateh authored 54 bills during the 2021-22 session, including a bill to exempt fentanyl test strips from being considered drug paraphernalia, which was passed and signed into law despite the divided government. In January 2023, the Star Tribune reported that since legalization, community organizations and nonprofits have given away more than 100,000 strips, and cited evidence from surveys demonstrating that the use of the strips changed user behavior, including that 89% of users "took overdose-prevention measures once they discovered fentanyl".

In 2022, Fateh defeated a challenger in the August 9 DFL primary, winning every precinct. He then defeated Republican nominee Andrew Schmitz in the November general election with over 90% of the vote. In 2022, Democrats won a "trifecta", taking control of the Senate, House, and governor's office. Fateh was appointed chair of the Senate Higher Education committee and vice-chair of the Senate Human Services Committee.

Fateh's higher education bill included tuition-free public colleges and universities and tribal colleges for students from families whose income is less than $80,000 a year. It also included an increase to Hunger Free Campus grants, emergency assistance grants.

Fateh was chief author in the Senate of a bill to provide minimum wages and worker protections for drivers for rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft. The Minnesota Uber and Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA) supported the bill. It had bipartisan support, and passed the House and Senate, but was vetoed by Governor Walz. The veto sparked outrage from MULDA drivers, union groups, and progressive activists nationwide.

Since Fateh took office, local media have reported his ties to two controversies. The first occurred when it was revealed that Feeding Our Future and its subsidiaries were stealing money from federal nutrition programs. When the scandal broke, Fateh condemned the fraudulent activities and returned $11,000 in contributions from cultural restaurant owners and employees connected to Feeding Our Future programs.

The second incident stemmed from a State Senate Ethics investigation. Fateh failed to disclose $1,000 his campaign paid to Somali TV Minnesota, which he corrected once he was made aware of the mistake. A second complaint was related to the perjury conviction of Muse Mohamed, Fateh’s brother-in-law and a volunteer on his 2020 campaign. A federal jury convicted Muse in May of lying to a federal grand jury about his handling of three absentee ballots for Fateh’s campaign. The ethics committee dismissed all the allegations against Fateh, with the exception of the undisclosed advertising expense, which was deemed outside the scope of the Senate ethics committee and referred to the campaign finance board.

Fateh lives in Minneapolis's Phillips neighborhood.