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Ilhan Omar is a Minnesota politician. She is a refugee from Somalia. On August 9, 2016, she defeated Phyllis Kahn and Mohamud Noor in the DFL primary to become the DFL nominee for the Minnesota House of Representatives 2016 election for district 60B. Given the demographics of the district, she is expected to win in November to become the first ever Somali American legislator in the United States, and the first Muslim woman to hold office in Minnesota. In 2015, she was awarded the Community Leadership Award at the African Awards. The awards are organized by an African immigrant focused newspaper called Mshale in Minneapolis. The paper claims in its promotional materials that the winners are chosen by its readers.

Early life

Omar was born in Somalia. At the age of eight, she fled the Somali Civil War with her family and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp. She has lived in Minneapolis since 1997.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).

References

1. ^ Prakash, Nidhi (March 1, 2016). "Meet Ilhan Omar, who could be the first Somali-American Muslim woman elected to public office". Fusion. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
2. ^ Coolican, J. Patrick (August 9, 2016). "Next Minnesota Legislature won't have Reps. Phyllis Kahn or Tom Hackbarth". Star Tribune. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
3. Durian, Tom (August 10, 2016). "Somali Community Reacts to Ilhan Omar's Historic Win". KSTP-TV. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
4. ^ Holpuch, Amanda (February 29, 2016). "'This is my country': Muslim candidate aims to break boundaries in Minnesota". The Guardian. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
5. http://mshale.com/2015/10/23/african-diaspora-shines-african-awards-gala/
6. ^ "Ilhan's Story". Ilhan Omar for State Representative. Retrieved August 10, 2016.

External links

• Official website

• Living people
• Minnesota Democrats
• Somalian emigrants to the United States
• People from Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Ethnic Somali people
• American people of Somali descent