Ilhan Omar, 34, has made history by becoming the first Somali legislator in the United States.
A former refugee, the Somali-born activist has been elected to serve as an MP in the US state of Minnesota.
The Muslim Somali-American woman becomes the highest-ranking Somali elected to office in the US.
Her election comes just days after US President-elect Donald Trump accused Somali immigrants in Minnesota of
.
Minnesota has the nation's largest Somali community - about 50,000 according to the US census.
Celebrating her victory, Ms Omar said she would be the "voice for the marginalised" in the state parliament.
"I think I bring the voice of young people. I think I bring the voice of women in the East African community. I bring the voice of Muslims. I bring the voice of young mothers looking for opportunities,"
.
Ms Omar escaped from Somalia with her family at the start of the civil war when she was eight years old.
They lived in a Kenyan refugee camp for four years, before moving to the US and settling in a Somali-American neighbourhood in Minnesota.
Standing for the DFL coalition, which is affiliated to the Democratic Party, Ms Omar won a seat to represent District 60B in the state legislature.
She faced nominal opposition after her Republican opponent who had withdrawn from the race for family reasons.
During a primary in August she unseated one of the longest-serving members of the Minnesota legislature.
Minneapolis's Star Tribune newspaper
as a "Muslim-American woman who proudly wears the hijab", saying she had been "suddenly thrust into leadership of a rapidly emerging DFL coalition that is younger, more urban and more racially and ethnically diverse than at any time in its history".