Market Data 
- Rep. Ilhan Omar said she barely has “thousands let alone millions” in a X post about her net worth.
- The member of AOC’s “Squad” said she doesn’t own stocks or a house and still has student loans.
- Commenters on X reacted to Omar’s post with everything from skepticism to appreciation.
Rep. Ilhan Omar said she hardly has “thousands let alone millions,” doesn’t own stocks or a house, and is still repaying her student loans, sparking reactions from X users ranging from disbelief to reluctant respect.
Omar is perhaps best known as a member of the “Squad” of progressive House members along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC.
The Minnesota lawmaker emulated her New York colleague by publicly discussing her personal finances this week, after an X user claimed both Democratic congresswomen were worth tens of millions of dollars, and accused Ocasio-Cortez of taking bribes.
Ocasio-Cortez replied that she’s worth less than $500,000, doesn’t earn any income beside her government salary, and doesn’t own a house or trade individual stocks.
Omar said the user was lying about her net worth too. She pointed to her past financial disclosures as proof of her modest wealth, and added a facepalm emoji.
The Democratic legislator was born in Somalia, moved to the US as a refugee in 1995, and has been a House member since 2019. She earns the standard congressional salary of $174,000 a year.
Omar’s financial disclosure form last year showed up to $65,000 of assets, split across a congressional savings account and a Minnesota state retirement account. She also reported between $15,0001 and $50,000 of outstanding student loans dating back to 2005. Like Ocasio-Cortez, she might hold additional funds in accounts that don’t need to be disclosed.
The form also showed funds attributed to her spouse, a political consultant named Tim Mynett. He disclosed up to $143,000 of assets and up to about $54,000 of income, linked to various individual retirement accounts (IRA) and 401 (k) retirement savings plans, a winery, and a venture capital firm.
Omar didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
One X user, @beetle6000, said in response to her post: “How could you still be paying off student loans making that much money?”
Others said they disagreed with Omar’s politics but respected her integrity, echoing reactions to Ocasio-Cortez’s similar post.
“I usually don’t agree with you but on this, until they produce receipts I have to agree,” @adryenn wrote.
@AidenPerrin40 wrote: “You and I disagree on 99.9% of issues but … Major respect to you ma’am for not owning any stock. It’s important to give credit to those of which we disagree with when they get it right.”
@nrghound wrote: “I disagree with Omar politically, but I’m sure she’s telling the truth about her income. The Democrat Senators make a ton of money narrative is circulating right now. It feels like a hit piece to me.”
Some just seemed to enjoy what seemed like refreshing transparency.
@runningmoron wrote: “I kind of like this era of congress people talking about how broke they are.”
Politicians face fresh scrutiny as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency searches for fraud, waste, and abuse.
In a Wednesday press conference, the Tesla CEO and close advisor to President Donald Trump said it was “rather odd” that government employees earning salaries of a few hundred thousand dollars could grow their net worth into the tens of millions while in their roles, but didn’t offer any examples.
Musk said he thinks “the reality is that they’re getting wealthy at the taxpayers’ expense, that’s the honest truth of it.”
