Mahdi was born in Ixelles, Brussels, to an Iraqi refugee father and a Flemish mother.[1] He studied political science at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and later obtained a master's degree in international and European law. From 2014 to 2017, he worked as a parliamentary assistant to Flemish Member of Parliament Joris Poschet. Since 2016, he has also contributed as a regular columnist for the newspaper De Morgen.
Mahdi became active in politics at an early stage. He served as a board member of Jong CD&V from 2015 and was elected chair of the youth section in 2017, a position to which he was re-elected in 2019.[2][3] Between 2015 and 2017, he was chairman of the CD&V section in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. After moving to Vilvoorde in 2017,[4] he joined the local CD&V board. Since January 2019, he has been a municipal councillor in Vilvoorde, where he also chairs the CD&V faction on the city council.
In October 2019, Mahdi contested the leadership of CD&V following the resignation of Wouter Beke.[5] The race narrowed to Mahdi and Joachim Coens, with Coens ultimately winning the final round due to broader support in West Flanders and among older party members.[6]
Mahdi was elected as a reserve member of the Chamber of Representatives for the Flemish Brabant constituency in the 2019 Belgian federal election. In March 2020, he took his seat in parliament after Koen Geens joined the Wilmès II Government.[7] Upon assuming his parliamentary role, Mahdi stepped down as chair of Jong CD&V.
On 1 October 2020, Mahdi was appointed Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration in the government of Alexander De Croo.[8] He stated that his policy would focus on increasing deportations of asylum seekers without legal grounds to remain in Belgium.[9] In August 2021, during the Taliban’s rapid advance and shortly before the fall of Kabul, Mahdi rejected calls from the Afghan government, the European Union, and Amnesty International to impose a moratorium on deportations to Afghanistan, citing his commitment to Belgium’s existing migration policy despite the deteriorating humanitarian situation.[10]
In November 2021, four representatives of the hunger strikers of the Béguinage Church accused Mahdi of "unprecedented betrayal." The accusation came after the Belgian authorities rejected the requests for residence permits filed by hunger strikers. The strikers had halted their two-months long hunger strike in July 2021 after representatives of Mahdi promised them that their individual files will be accepted for regularization. Mahdi defended himself against the accusation by referring to his past objections to group amnesties for undocumented workers.[11]
In May 2022, following an early election due to a significant drop in the party's standing in the polls, he ran again for the presidency of the CD&V. He was then the only candidate. In June 2022, with 97%, he became president of the party.[12][13]
In September 2023, he competed on Belgium Drag Queen TV show Make Up Your Mind (Belgium) Season 1, which he came first.
In the 2024 Belgian federal election, he was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives.
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