Rep. Phyllis Kahn, 60B opponents move to primary
MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - After 12 hours and no DFL endorsement, a key race for a seat in the Minnesota House is headed to a primary.
Longtime Rep. Phyllis Kahn and her opponent Ilhan Omar, who is hoping to become the first Somali-American representative at the State Capitol, each couldn’t gain a 60 percent majority to earn the party’s nomination at Saturday's convention at Northeast Middle School.
A third challenger, Mohamud Noor, who narrowly lost to Kahn in a 2014 primary, was forced to drop out after he couldn’t win enough support.
Kahn, known for her progressive feminism in state politics, was first elected to represent District 60B in Minneapolis in 1972 and has served continuously since that time.
Omar's campaign website says she and her family escaped Somalia's civil war when she was a child and she lived in a refugee camp in Kenya for four years. When she was 12, she moved to the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, and has lived there for 20 years.