She was born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, moved to America when she was 12, and then grew up in Oregon.[8]
She came to public attention as a friend of the family of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, convicted for his attempt to bomb a Christmas tree lighting in Portland, Oregon. Ahmed was interviewed by the press.[6] She posited that he may have been "framed."[9][10]
In January 2011, she was in the local news because her family said she was missing, but she was actually safe in California.[11] At that time her family claimed she was diagnosed with a mental disorder, but Ahmed has denied that.[6] In 2011, she ran for U.S. Congress as a Democrat.[5][6]
In 2014, she published an essay in The Guardian, explaining that she had become a Republican in 2014 because she believes her Islamic pro-life, pro-traditional family, pro-business, pro-trade values are aligned with GOP.[4][5][7] In June 2014, at a panel hosted by The Heritage Foundation on the Benghazi attacks, activist Brigitte Gabriel taunted her after asking about their portrayal of all Muslims as bad.[8][12] In 2015, she made headlines for wearing an American flag hijab on Fox News. She was discussing Trump's comment that he would consider shutting down certain radical mosques after a series of terrorist attacks in Paris. She invited Trump to go to a mosque.[5][13][14][2][15][16][17][18][19]
Election history
Oregon 1st Congressional District Special Democratic Primary Election, 2011
