The U.S. State of Minnesota has sworn in Somali-American Nadia Mohamed as mayor of its St. Louis Park city council.
Mohamed becomes the first Somali-American mayor to be elected as mayor by votes and the youngest to be sworn in as city mayor.
In November, last year, Nadia Mohamed won the mayoral election with 58% of the vote.
The swearing-in makes her the city’s youngest elected mayor and the first Black and Muslim woman to be voted in.
The Minnesota mayor has stated that she wants to be recognised for more than just her identity.
“Well, my identity is one part of my story, right? I am proud of everything that I am, but I don’t want that to be the only story. I don’t want that to [be] where people stop their conversation,” Nadia Mohamed told Minneapolis’ KARE TV station after she was elected.
Among the major concerns she plans to address as mayor are affordable housing and public safety.
Who is Nadia Mohamed?
Mohamed was elected to the city council in 2019 at the age of 23. At the age of ten, her family fled the war in Somalia and relocated to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya before relocating to Minnesota.
The council members of South Portland, Maine, named Deqa Dhalac as the city’s first Somali-American mayor in 2021.
However, Nadia Mohamed is the first mayor of Somalia-American descent to be chosen by the general population.
