Richardson is a suburb of Dallas with a population of about 100,000.
Omar is the sole Iranian-American currently holding elective office in the United States outside of California. Eight Iranian-Americans hold elective office in California and two Iranian-Canadians hold elective office in the Ontario and Quebec provincial legislatures.
Omar was first elected in 2009. On May 14 he won re-election to a second term on the seven-member council with 64 percent of the vote, defeating two challengers, Diana Clawson, a psychotherapist, who took 31 percent, and Alan North, a business executive, who received 5 percent.
A slate of incumbents faced a slate of challengers who said the incumbents were fiscally irresponsible. The incumbents all won.
The City Council elections are non-partisan, but Omar previously ran for a partisan office as a Republican.
Omar’s mother is Iranian-born and his father is Palestinian. Omar was born in South Texas.
