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Oballa Oballa, a former refugee from Ethiopia who became a naturalized citizen less than a year ago, made history in this election by winning a seat on the city council in the city of Austin, southeastern Minnesota.
On Wednesday afternoon, Oballa, 27, had a 14% lead over candidate Helen Jahr and declared victory. Oballa, who has been campaigning for the seat since the beginning of the year, said he was the first black person to win an elective office in Austin.
During the election campaign and in interviews, Oballa described a dramatic personal story. His family fled Gambella, Ethiopia, in 2003 following what he describes as a genocidal attack on his community. They spent the next 10 years living in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. In 2013, the family moved to the United States, and in 2015 Oballa settled in Austin.
Oballa is just one example of how immigrant communities are shaping Minnesota politics far beyond the Twin Cities, and are now starting to win seats for public office. Oballa said his record of civic engagement earned him the support of voters.
“This makes me feel great, it makes me feel really happy and proud,” he said. “My work, I believe, will still give hope to refugees who think the American dream is dead.”
He added: “Just seven years ago, [I] used to live in a refugee camp and am now officially elected. I think this will give them hope that one day when they come here to America they will accomplish whatever they want to do.
A man walks into the mayor’s office
Oballa, who works as the health unit coordinator at the Mayo Clinic, told the Sahan Journal on election night that he ran for office after receiving encouragement from the city mayor and some members of his city council. His civic engagement with the community began shortly after he moved to Austin, Oballa recalled, when he went to the mayor’s office, announced he was a new resident and asked if there was anything he could do for the city.
“He said, ‘Who are you?’” Oballa remembers, laughing.
This would lead to his appointment to the city’s Human Rights Commission; there, he established relations with elected officials of the city.
Austin, a meat-packing town nationally known for a grueling and unsuccessful Hormel strike in the mid-1980s, has seen its population change rapidly over the past 30 years. Once heavily white, the city’s population of 25,000 has seen an increase in immigrants from countries like Ethiopia, South Sudan and Guatemala. Many have moved to Austin for jobs in the area’s food processing industry.
Yet, says Oballa, no black person had been elected to local office in more than 150 years of the city. (A call to the Mower County Historical Society did not immediately detect any previous black appointees.)
Oballa won in a city that saw a much closer contest in this year’s presidential election than the state in general. According to voter data from the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, as of Wednesday afternoon, Austin voters slightly favored Democrat Joe Biden over President Donald J. Trump with fewer than 200 votes.
At first, Oballa said he was nervous about the announcement of a candidacy because he didn’t see other immigrants or people of color running in the elections. But that nervousness quickly went away when the campaign began.
At the city council, Oballa said his priorities would focus on developing more housing, introducing more “21st century jobs” to the city, and finding ways to expand affordable childcare. accessible.
“It’s all about the job,” he said. “America is a great country so if you come with a great dream, you can make your dream come true.”
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