This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Sjrct (talk | contribs) at 13:00, 18 August 2016 (filled in bare refs; merged dup ref; fixed unclosed ref tag). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 13:00, 18 August 2016 by Sjrct (talk | contribs) (filled in bare refs; merged dup ref; fixed unclosed ref tag)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Ilhan Omar (born in 1982) 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.
References
- Duarte, Lorena (October 21, 2015). "'Done Wishing': Ilhan Omar on why she's running for House District 60B". Retrieved August 18, 2016.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Coolican, J. Patrick (August 9, 2016). "Next Minnesota Legislature won't have Reps. Phyllis Kahn or Tom Hackbarth". Star Tribune. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
- Durian, Tom (August 10, 2016). "Somali Community Reacts to Ilhan Omar's Historic Win". KSTP-TV. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
- ^ Holpuch, Amanda (February 29, 2016). "'This is my country': Muslim candidate aims to break boundaries in Minnesota". The Guardian. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
- ^ Mugo, Kari (October 23, 2015). "African diaspora shines at the African Awards Gala". Retrieved August 18, 2016.
- ^ "Ilhan's Story". Ilhan Omar for State Representative. Retrieved August 10, 2016.