Deqa Dhalac is the new mayor of South Portland, Maine. She's making history as the city's first Black mayor, and she's believed to be the first Somali American mayor in the United States.
Some people, she says, seemed scared to open their doors when she knocked. Others saw her hijab and assumed she didn't speak English. But Dhalac kept knocking and telling her story. And she says a lot has changed since those days back in 2018, when she first ran for City Council in South Portland, Maine -- and won. On Monday she became the first Black mayor of the small city on the state's Southern Coast. And she's believed to be the first Somali American mayor in the United States.
In the past, she says, immigrants were more hesitant to run because they were focused on making ends meet and supporting their families."I think we were always kind of afraid to get involved. ... We were waiting on somebody to do something," she said.In 2018, Dhalac got tired of waiting.Trump's presidency helped convinced her to runDhalac fled Somalia in 1990, just before the country descended into civil war.
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