Ilhan Omar, 34, has made history by becoming the first Somali legislator in the United States.<\/p>\n
A former refugee, the Somali-born activist has been elected to serve as an MP in the US state of Minnesota.<\/p>\n
The Muslim Somali-American woman becomes the highest-ranking Somali elected to office in the US.<\/p>\n
Her election comes just days after US President-elect Donald Trump accused Somali immigrants in Minnesota of “spreading their extremist views”.<\/p>\n
Minnesota has the nation’s largest Somali community – about 50,000 according to the US census.<\/p>\n
Celebrating her victory, Ms Omar said she would be the “voice for the marginalised” in the state parliament.<\/p>\n
“I think I bring the voice of young people. I think I bring the voice of women in the East African community. I bring the voice of Muslims. I bring the voice of young mothers looking for opportunities,” Minnesota Public Radio quoted her as saying.<\/p>\n
Ms Omar escaped from Somalia with her family at the start of the civil war when she was eight years old.<\/p>\n
They lived in a Kenyan refugee camp for four years, before moving to the US and settling in a Somali-American neighbourhood in Minnesota.<\/p>\n
‘Proudly wears the hijab’<\/strong><\/p>\n Standing for the DFL coalition, which is affiliated to the Democratic Party, Ms Omar won a seat to represent District 60B in the state legislature.<\/p>\n She faced nominal opposition after her Republican opponent who had withdrawn from the race for family reasons.<\/p>\n During a primary in August she unseated one of the longest-serving members of the Minnesota legislature.<\/p>\n Minneapolis’s Star Tribune newspaper described her as a “Muslim-American woman who proudly wears the hijab”, saying she had been “suddenly thrust into leadership of a rapidly emerging DFL coalition that is younger, more urban and more racially and ethnically diverse than at any time in its history”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ilhan Omar, 34, has made history by becoming the first Somali legislator in the United States. A former refugee, the Somali-born activist has been elected to serve as an MP in the US state of Minnesota. The Muslim Somali-American woman becomes the highest-ranking Somali elected to office in the US. Her election comes just days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":266851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n