BY ED FELIEN
Against amazing odds, Ilhan Omar, Somali-American mother of three, won a difficult DFL Primary Tuesday, Aug. 9. She got 2,404 votes—almost 41 percent. Mohamud Noor, another Somali American, received 1,738 votes, or 29.6 percent, and long-time incumbent Phyllis Kahn got 1,726 votes, or 29.4 percent.
“We are uniting the diverse voices of our district—long-term residents, East African immigrants and students. I will make sure their voices are heard at the Capitol,” she said. In the 2014 primary, 4,281 people from District 60B voted compared to 5,868 this year, an increase of 37 percent in a primary that had light turnout throughout the rest of the state.
According to their campaign, more than 250 volunteers and 450 individual donors supported Ilhan. “I am so proud that the majority of contributions to my campaign are from members of the Somali community who believe in my leadership. As a woman of color, so many people told me that I would not be able to raise money and win this election. Those people were wrong, and I want every young woman of color out there to know that they have the power—and support—to run for office and win.”
A Somali-American, Muslim woman, Ilhan Omar is a progressive DFL activist, educator and policy analyst. She serves as the Director of Policy and Initiatives for the Women Organizing Women (WOW) Network, which works to engage and empower East African women to take civic leadership roles and see themselves as leaders within their communities. She lives in the West Bank neighborhood of Minneapolis with her husband and three children.
