25-year-old Zaynab Mohamed became the first Black woman elected to the state Legislature’s upper chamber since Minnesota in the United States became a state 164 years ago.
She is one of three Black women elected to Minnesota’s state Senate on Tuesday. Zaynab Mohamed in District 63, Erin Maye Quade in District 56, and Clare Oumou Verbeten in District 66 all won their races, making them the first three Black women in the Minnesota Senate’s 164-year history.
Mohamed is also the youngest woman ever elected to the state Senate and the body’s first Gen Z member, according to The Trace.
The Somali-born organizer grew up in south Minneapolis. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2019.
“I’ve walked the halls of the Senate for the past year-and-a-half lobbying for bills, and I never saw myself in there. There’s not a single Black woman,” Zaynab told Sahan Journal before her election run. “We don’t have representation in the Senate.”
Mohamed will join a new Democratic majority in the state Senate, where Democrats could now push for long-sought gun reforms like a red flag law.
In her campaign, Mohamed supported universal background checks, a red flag law, and an assault weapons ban.
Many took to Twitter to express their happiness over Zaynab Mohamed’s win.
