New Barron councilman believed to be Wisconsin’s first Somali elected official

Twenty-five years after the first Somali refugees arrived in Barron, Isaak Mohamed has been elected to a seat on the City Council.

The 37-year-old native of Somalia earned 179 votes in Tuesday’s election to defeat incumbent Maureen “Mo” Tollman, who received 51 votes in the race to represent Barron’s District 3.

Mohamed’s victory makes him the first Somali American to win a seat on the Barron City Council and, he believes, the first Somali American elected official in Wisconsin history.

“It’s a big thing for our community,” Mohamed said. “It shows that we can do it, that we can give back.”

The groundbreaking victory didn’t come easily, however. Mohamed ran unsucessfully for a council seat in 2019 and 2020 before this week’s third time was finally the charm.

In addition to knocking on a lot of doors, making many calls and running an active campaign on Facebook, Mohamed never let his previous defeats dampen his desire to serve his adopted hometown. He works as Barron school district Somali liaison and serves as a northwest Wisconsin representative on Gov. Tony Evers’ Health Equity Council.

“Though I was a leader in my community, I still wanted to represent them in local government,” Mohamed said. “I still wanted to give back to my community and this great nation.”

Mohamed has been extremely involved in the community. Beyond working with children in the schools, he has served as a translator for the Barron Police Department and several other local agencies, aided recent refugees through the Barron Somali Community Association, worked in human resources at Jennie-O, led workshops to teach Somali language and culture to teachers and staff in Barron schools and volunteered to organize and coach multiple youth sports teams and tournaments in the city.

“Losing didn’t stop me from doing the work that my community needed,” Mohamed said. “I am a person who always wants to reach his dream, and my dream was one time to represent my community.”

Mohamed, who will be sworn into office April 19, lived in Somalia until 2006, when he fled the East African nation’s violence to live in a refugee camp in Uganda. He earned a social work degree in Uganda before spending several years there providing humanitarian aid for agencies including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He arrived in Barron in 2013 and became a U.S. citizen in 2018.

While Somalis gradually have integrated into the Barron community over time, their involvement had not extended to city government — until now.

Mohamed’s election has potential to further improve race relations that already have come a long way in the city.

“I do feel like (Somali Americans) are well integrated, but any step to bridge any remaining gap will be a big help for the city,” Rasmussen said.

While he is excited about his new role, Mohamed acknowledged he is disappointed it took so long for a Somali American to win elected office in Barron, where the roughly 850 Somali residents account for about a quarter of the city’s population.

“I would say it’s late. It should have happened a long time ago,” he said. “The state of Wisconsin needs more inclusion in government.”

The breakthrough is important for the city’s Somali American residents because it will give them more of a say in the community and offer them a representative who understands their language, culture and concerns, said Mohamud Farah of Barron.

Farah, a Somali American who works as an interpreter for Mayo Clinic Health System in Barron, said Mohamed has long been the Somali American community’s go-to person for information, and that role should only increase after he takes his seat on the council.

“It’s very exciting to have a voice for the community to help the community,” Farah said. “Isaak will inform people about things coming up and things we can participate in.”

Mohamed, whose top priorities include addressing Barron’s affordable housing shortage and creating more youth programs in the city, said the students he works with at school were excited to learn that a Somali person is going to hold public office. It was eye-opening for them to learn about the possibilities available to them, he added.

Though Mohamed looks forward to serving as a bridge to connect the Somali community with the rest of its Barron neighbors, he stressed that his commitment extends to the entire city.

“I’m a person who wants to represent and serve everybody who lives in Barron,” Mohamed said. “I’m for Barron.”