Nadia Mohamed

I n 2019, 23-year-old Nadia Mohamed made history when she became the youngest person elected to the city council in the city of St. Louis Park. In November 2023, Mohamed made history again, this time as the first Somali immigrant elected as mayor of a U.S. city, and the first Black mayor of the suburban city in the Minneapolis in 170 years. She approximately secured 59% of the vote against Dale A. Anderson, a retired banker. In her victory speech, Nadia credited her mother for her win. “She gets to go and watch her daughter legislate in the same building where she used to go to pay her public housing rent,” said Mohamed. Nadia also represents a new generation of leadership in both the DemocraticFarmer-Labor Party and St. Louis Park. She’s just 27, though she had already been elected to a citywide at-large seat on the City Council in 2019. “This is not the destination,” she told supporters after the win. “As mayor, I want to ensure people see themselves reflected in our policies.”

She garnered endorsements from Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a St. Louis Park resident and former St. Louis Park Mayor Jake Spano, who commended her for her service on the St. Louis Park City Council. “One thing I’ve learned over the years is that to do the job of mayor, you have to love people, you have to love solving problems, and you have to believe in the people of your community to do good things. Council Member Mohamed and I agree on this,” Spano said. Nadia Mohamed attended Aquila Primary as a 4th grader, when she (at the age of 10) along with her mother and siblings joined her father in Minnesota. Mohamed continued in the St. Louis Park school system, graduating from the public high school in 2015.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in human resources management from Metropolitan State University and is presently pursuing her master’s in educational leadership at St. Thomas University. She works as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion specialist at a primary school in St. Louis Park. Because of the history she made, she instantly became the talk of everyone around the world. Many people have been seen on social media spreading her story to encourage other young people to make a difference in society