Abdi Daisane has won Minnesota House District 14A, becoming the first Somali American to represent central Minnesota in the state Legislature after defeating Republican Mike Conway, the president of the St. Cloud City Council. It is a seat Daisane fell short of capturing just two years ago, and his victory flips a district long held by Republicans.
According to MPR News, Daisane won the seat after previously losing it to then-state Rep. Bernie Perryman in 2024. The seat opened up this cycle after Perryman chose not to seek a third term, as reported by St. Cloud Live. District 14A covers portions of St. Cloud, Waite Park, St. Joseph and St. Augusta, per InForum.
The vote tallies differ slightly depending on the source. St. Cloud Live reported Daisane finished with 51.6% of the vote, or 9,164 votes, to Conway's 48.3%, or 8,570 votes, with all precincts reporting. InForum, meanwhile, put the margin at around 51.7% for Daisane, or roughly 9,200 votes, against about 48.3% for Conway, or nearly 8,600 votes. Either way, it marks a sharp turnaround from 2024, when Daisane lost the same seat to Perryman by about 13 percentage points, or more than 2,500 votes, the outlet noted.
A Second Run Pays Off
Daisane's path to the Legislature began with defeat. In the 2024 race, Perryman beat him 56% to 43%.
Daisane was born in Somalia and spent 18 years in a refugee camp in Kenya. He is the owner of a St. Cloud child care center.
A Changing St. Cloud
Daisane's win lands against the backdrop of a St. Cloud that looks demographically different than it did a generation ago. The share of St. Cloud residents identifying as Hispanic or nonwhite doubled to 32% between 2010 and 2020, according to the Star Tribune. Over that same decade, the city's population grew 5% to about 69,000 residents, and its diversity index climbed from 30 to 50, the newspaper reported.
St. Cloud's Black population grew from about 1,700 residents in 2000 to nearly 15,000 by 2020, according to an analysis of census data cited by MPR News. Statewide, an estimated 107,000 people of Somali descent lived in Minnesota in 2024, about 2% of the state's total population, and almost 58% of Minnesota's Somali residents were born in the United States, according to KTTC.
Part of a Broader Night for Democrats
Daisane's victory came the same night that U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, another prominent Somali American Democrat, won a fifth term representing Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, according to Hiiraan Online. Campaign finance filings reviewed by InForum show Daisane raised around $45,000 and spent about $42,000 between Jan. 1 and Oct. 19, while Conway raised about $48,000 and spent nearly $36,000 over the same period.
The race also fit into a wider statewide picture. The seat had been in Republican hands, and Daisane's win is part of what MPR News described as flipping a district that had been represented by a Republican. His win came amid other DFL wins in the St. Cloud area.
