Zaynab Mohamed has moved one step closer to her dream after winning Democratic primary elections last week.
With this victory, she is on the threshold to become first Black and youngest woman elected to the Minnesota Senate,
On Tuesday’s vote, Mohamed, a 25-year-old Minneapolis resident, beat Todd Scott by earning 68 percent of the vote.
“When I first thought about running for office, it was because I wanted to make people’s lives easier, not harder,” Mohamed said in a victory speech Tuesday night, Sahan Journal reported.
“It’s not just a campaign slogan; it’s a phrase that basically has meant a lot to us.”
“There are people sleeping outside at negative 20 degrees. That’s immoral in a country that prides itself in being the wealthiest nation in the world, and one of the best states that we live in there are people outside in negative 20 degree weather. That’s why I wanted to run.”
Mohamed will face Republican Shawn Holster in the November general election, but District 63 voters almost always elect Democratic candidates.
Working as a community advocate with the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, she is running to replace retiring state Senator Patricia Torres Ray.
Senator Ray, who served five terms in Senate District 63 and was the first Latina to serve in the Minnesota Senate, did not run for reelection and endorsed Zaynab.
Success Story
Born in Somalia, Mohamed grew up in south Minneapolis. From a young age, she helped provide for her family and help them navigate public services.
She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2019.
Running for office, she hopes to join a list of many Somalian American Muslim women who have achieved political success.
Elsewhere in District 95 in Maine, young Muslim woman Mana Abdi is campaigning to become Maine’s first Somali-American lawmaker.
Earlier this year, Hamse Warfa joined President’s Joe Biden administration as the first Somali American presidential appointee in US history.
Ilhan Omar made history in 2018 when she became the first Somali-American elected to the US Congress.