Lewiston Makes History With Its First Somali-American on the City Council

Safiya Khalid defeated a fellow Democrat on Tuesday to win a seat on the Lewiston City Council.

According to the Bangor Daily News, not only is Safiya the first Somali-American to hold a city council position, but she is also the youngest at 23.

She won almost 70% of the vote, too, the newspaper stated.

She has had her hand in politics for a while running for school committee when she was only 20, the BDN reported. She didn't get elected. But when the Ward 1 seat became open, she was all in.

As you can imagine, her run was not without controversy.

There was infighting among democrats and unfortunately, it became public. It was about Democrat Walter Hill running against Khalid. Audio was captured of the democratic party yelling at him for running against her.

I fear the controversy is not over, but it's not stopping Safiya! She ran on topics that mean something to Lewiston residents, not infighting or internet trolls.

I think Safiya is a role model and I hope she has a long career helping Mainers.