How did Minnesota's Somali community impact election results?

ST. CLOUD — Anecdotal evidence, exit polls and overall turnout rates indicate Minnesota Somalis voted in high numbers last week. 

To leaders and experts, it was a demonstration of political enthusiasm as well as a glimpse of the community's potential elective power. 

The Somali community is getting more politically active and more Somalis are running for public office and winning, including Ilhan Omar, who will be one of the first Muslim women to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

It remains to be seen whether the community can influence statewide elections, said Larry Jacobs a politics professor at the University of Minnesota — Twin Cities. 

He is the director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

"The Somali community has become a politically astute and effective part of our community here in Minnesota," Jacobs said. "These elections have been a result of very shrewd community organizing and ... an understanding about how democracy works."

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The community now has representation in the Minneapolis City Council, the Minnesota Legislature and U.S. Congress. 

"Frankly, it's impressive. It's something that we've seen other groups struggle ... to do as effectively," Jacobs said, referring to other refugee and immigrant groups. 

A culture that values collective action

It's been a long journey to electoral significance for the Somali community, said Cawo Abdi, a sociology professor at the University of Minnesota — Twin Cities who has studied the Somali community since 2000. 

But the community has now been in Minnesota for nearly three decades, so it makes sense they are starting to get a political foothold, Abdi said. 

Somalis as a group tend to be politically oriented, and certainly community oriented, Abdi said. They have a tradition of passing along information to one another by word of mouth. The Somali language was only written down in the 1970s, meaning its oral traditions have continued, she said. 

Another factor is that for so long, Somalis have been denied the opportunity to participate in government by civil war, a failed state and decades spent in refugee camps. 

"They are beginning to embrace the opportunity to be able to make a difference with the vote," Abdi said. 

Many families also have a vested interest in the outcome. They have families in the refugee resettlement or immigration pipeline, waiting to come to the U.S. 

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The Muslim faith also pushes followers to be engaged with their community, helping neighbors of every faith, Abdi said. 

"There's the idea that you should also fight evil, fight injustice," Abdi said. "Leaders would frame it as an Islamic obligation to counter that injustice." 

Motivated by Trump, against hate

The negative rhetoric around immigration and refugees by Trump and other politicians has motivated the community, Abdi said.

"It's so shocking and so horrifying. It defies the hope they experienced with the hope of Obama," Abdi said. "It's inspiring people to say we have to stand up and we have to defy the network of hate. We have to refuse to be villainized or to be called criminals." 

The Somali community was just as surprised over Trump's election as much of the country, said Abdi Daisane, a local business owner who ran for St. Cloud City Council in 2016. 

"Two years of Donald Trump ... has changed a lot how people think about ... public office," Daisane said. "There's more energy now than there was last election." 

He said he got more calls this year, asking how and where to vote, than he did in 2016. 

More diverse leaders means a more inclusive democracy

Somali and Muslim candidates were among many other diverse "firsts" for the country. 

However, it's not that more candidates were elected, said Sayu Bhojwani, founder and president of New American Leaders, a national organization dedicated to preparing first- and second- generation immigrants to run for political office.

The group is still tallying the total of first- and second-generation immigrants elected to office this cycle, Bhojwani said. 

But the ones who were represented a wider spectrum of people, Bhojwani said, which included communities that have long histories in the U.S. such as American Indian women and Latinos. 

"The reason that we're seeing increasing diversity is both in response to an anti-immigrant and xenophobic culture, but also as political maturation occurs," Bhojwani said. 

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First- and second-generation candidates expand the electorate, she said, by inspiring people to vote who never have before. 

"It matters to a fair and just democracy that it is a representation of all communities," Bhojwani said. "It also matters in that people are able to look at those leaders in Congress or state legislatures and be inspired that they too can run."

Jacobs agrees. 

"It gives them power to represent themselves. It also confirms their place as a full member ... a full citizen of country," Jacobs said. 

Jacobs pointed to countries like France, which he says have struggled to welcome and provide political access to new citizens. 

"It's created all sorts of havoc, including some violent outbursts," Jacobs said. "Voting is a regular, peaceful means to express political impact." 

Bhojwani said diverse leaders can change the conversation. 

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"They have the lived experience, not just as immigrants, but also of having struggled economically, struggled to get access to health care and education," Bhojwani said. "They are bringing those experiences to policy making."

Immigrants also tend to have deep passion for their new country, she said. 

"Immigrants and refugees are the most optimistic and committed Americans," Bhojwani said. "They fought to come here and fought to stay here." 

She said that shows both optimism and determination. 

"That's reflected in the candidates, who have overcome a lot of obstacles," Bhojwani said. She specifically cited Omar, who had to overcome obstacles to get to Congress. 

Moving toward statewide influence

Jacobs says it's yet to be seen whether the Somali community can be a driving force in statewide elections. Right now, it's effective because it has concentrated numbers in the Twin Cities, he said. 

"As the Somali community becomes more powerful at the state capitol and in Washington, they have the opportunity to translate that into statewide power," he said. 

The Somali community isn't yet on the campaign checklist for most candidates, Jacobs said, but he's been encouraging friends in the Republican party to spend more time campaigning for Somali votes. 

"I think it would be great for the Somali community to be competed over," Jacobs said, much like the Catholic vote and senior vote. 

"That's good for the Somali community. It improves their leverage," Jacobs said. 

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He also said not to forget the Somali community is not a monolith. 

"There are parts of the community that are pro-business, hostile to taxes. They're quite socially conservative. Doesn't that sound like a Republican voter to you?" Jacobs said.

One exit poll found 95 percent of eligible Muslim voters turned out at the polls, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.

Of those, 78 percent of Muslim voters cast ballots for Democratic Party candidates and 17 percent for Republican Party candidates.

Some politicians have been reaching out to the community, Jacobs said, including Steve Sviggum, long-time Republican house representative in Minnesota legislature, Kurt Daudt, current Republican speaker of the Minnesota house, and Tom Emmer, current representative for the 6th District. 

Jacobs called Emmer a "model for other Republicans." 

"Tom has been another outstanding voice of tolerance and welcoming," Jacobs said. "And he has faced criticism among some pretty uninformed ... members of his constituency that just don’t appreciate what’s going on."