Nadia Mohamed, 23, makes history as first Somali Muslim St. Louis Park city council member

MINNEAPOLIS — Election day has come and gone and politics continues to make headlines. However, the politics of the day isn't about what's going on in Washington, but history made right here in the Twin Cities.

Author: Sharon Yoo |M Published: 6:45 PM CST November 6, 2019

St. Louis Park residents have elected the first Somali Muslim woman to their city council.

"I couldn't believe it," Mohamed said of her election. "I think it just hit me after my speech and I started bawling because I could not believe that I was a city council member. I woke up this morning and I was like okay, it doesn't feel different. Then I saw my phone, it was all over Twitter, Instagram."

Mohamed said she ran for the council spot because she saw something in her community.

"I had a vision for St. Louis Park," she said. "For the past four years, I've been doing a lot of community engagement. Making sure we're connecting and that people aren't feeling like visitors in their community."

When asked if she ever felt like a visitor in the community she grew up in, she nodded yes.

"I came when I was 10 years old," Mohamed said. "I went to the elementary school, middle school, high school. At times I'd go to school and come back home. I wouldn't be contributing to the community. I wasn't connecting with the community in a way I was just visiting. One of the ways I wanted to build my roots, it was maybe time to connect with the community members. Get to know them and what not."

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