From Somalia to Lewiston city council

Safia Khalid , A Somali American wins a seat at Lewiston City council in Maine.

Khalid defeated her fellow Democrat and won by a landslide of 69.6 of the votes cast making her the first Somali and the youngest person to hold an office on the city council.

On Tuesday , when she was announced the winner , she thanked her community organizers for their resilience and their ability to beat the racist trolls against her during the campaign period .

In 2017, Khalid unsuccessfully ran for a school committee member , khalid said she was encouraged to run for city council by the lack of diversity in lewiston city at the time .

Khalid is a senior physiology student at the university of southern Maine.