Of all the local election victories decided in Tuesday’s vote, a Muslim Somali immigrant named Safiyah Khalid elected to a local office in Maine’s second largest city has gotten the royal treatment from the MSM. It reminds me of the primary victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in June 2018, which I wrote about here.  AOC was largely pooh-pooed at the time but she has gone on to quickly become the most influential politician in the country.

Khalid, 23, a covered Muslim Somali immigrant who came to the U.S. at age seven, was elected to a spot on the Lewiston, Maine city council in a race that was tailor made for immediate, major national exposure. As the AP reported:

The second-largest city in Maine, home to thousands of African newcomers, has elected a Somali American to its city council following a campaign that was marred by racists [sic] attacks and threats fueled by social media.

Safiya Khalid, 23, soundly defeated a fellow Democrat on Tuesday for a seat on the Lewiston City Council.

Shrugging off attacks on her skin color and faith, Khalid declared that “community organizers beat internet trolls.”

The attacks didn’t seem to faze voters. Khalid won with nearly 70% of the vote to make history in the former mill city.

Can national prominence and elevation to higher office for Khalid be far behind?

On Wednesday, flush with her victory, Khalid made the rounds of friendly cable news channels including a live Q&A with CNN’s Don Lemon, instantly expanding her national profile as a leftist Democrat up-and-comer.

Somali American pulls off a historic election victory in spite of online racists attacks and threats. Safiya Khalid joins CNN's @DonLemon to discuss. pic.twitter.com/FGutLHPL7o

— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) November 7, 2019

The gushing AP story about Khalid’s victory, typical of hundreds of stories in the MSM, continued:

Maine is the nation’s whitest state, but it is home to a growing population of Africans who’ve fled their homeland.

First- and second-generation candidates from four African countries — Somalia, Congo, Ghana and Nigeria — won seats on city councils and school committees across the state, continuing an established trend, said Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition.

This outcome is the result of the demographic transformation of the U.S. According to Wikipedia, the 2010 Census noted 5,000 Somali refugees were living in Lewiston, a city of only 30,000. The number of Somalis and other Africans who have made Lewiston their home since then has increased dramatically.

Articles in local Maine media have reported on tensions, include a major increase in crime, due to this influx of thousands of predominantly Muslims from Africa. Typical is this hyper PC article from June 2018, “Anti-immigrant sentiments run high after Knox Street brawl kills Lewiston man,” published in  the Lewiston Journal:

Thousands of Somali immigrants have moved into Lewiston. While Somali families remain the largest immigrant population in the city, families from other countries have joined them in recent years, including people from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Sudan, among others.

“I’m hearing 30 or more nationalities now that live in the community,” said Phil Nadeau, who retired last year after 18 years in city administration.

Newly elected Lewiston council member Khalid made much out of alleged social media racist attacks on her. For example, the Washington Post, in an article celebrating her victory, noted:

With just a week to go before the election, Safiya Khalid was in tears. She had spent the past six months knocking on hundreds of doors in Lewiston, Maine, the city where she arrived as a refugee more than a decade earlier, and where she hoped to be the first Somali immigrant to win a seat on the city council. Suddenly, online trolls from as far away as Alabama and Mississippi were hurling vile abuse at her, telling her that Muslims had no place in American government and she should go back to where she came from.

“I just couldn’t take it,” Khalid told The Washington Post on Tuesday night. “I was crying so bad. My eyes were completely red.”

Newly elected Lewiston, Maine City Council Member Safiyah Khalid in a social media post when she was a teenager

A social media photo of a teenaged Khalid giving the finger was ignored by voters.

“A teenager pointing a middle finger is not a big scandal,” [said] Abdifatah Afrah, of Lewiston. “That’s nothing compared to what we see in the news with politicians every day.”

Things are changing fast in the U.S.A. As Pat Buchanan (in 2011 in this case) and others warned us years ago, “Demography is destiny.”

Khalid wasn’t the only Muslim to claim electoral success on Tuesday. After the election, CAIR crowed:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said today it has counted 26 Muslims who won elections in local and statewide races across America on Tuesday.

“These electoral victories clearly indicate that American Muslims are stepping up and showing their commitment to public service,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “We congratulate these Muslim trailblazers who are creating a more inclusive democracy for everyone.”

Peter Barry Chowka writes about politics, media, popular culture, and health care for American Thinker and other publications.  Peter's website is http://peter.media.  Follow him on Twitter at @pchowka.