Tipsheet

Lawmaker Under Fire for Representing Somalia Instead of Her Constituents

Jeff Charles
Jeff Charles  |  December 05, 2025 3:30 PM

Maine State Rep. Deqa Dhalac (D-South Portland) is coming under fire over past video clips in which she appears to be using her position to advocate for her home country of Somalia.

In one clip that resurfaced after Somali candidate Omar Fateh won the Democratic primary for Minneapolis’ mayoral race, Dhalac appears to be insinuating that the United States can help Somalians improve their country.

“How can the politics in Somalia can, you know, resonate what we have here in the United States the democracy that we have,” Dhalac said. “How can you help us…be a better country and build back what we used to have back in a long time ago. So hopefully we will be able to help our country, our former country, Somalia.”

Dhalac made the comments shortly after becoming Portland, Maine’s first Somali-American and first Muslim mayor in 2021. She later became a state lawmaker after Democratic Rep. Victoria Morales withdrew from the race for Maine House District 120.

As mayor, Dhalac championed climate and environmental issues, housing affordability, diversity in city hiring, and services for asylum seekers.

Born in 1968, Dhalac fled Somalia’s civil war and arrived in the United States in the early 1990s, where she settled in Atlanta. She moved to Maine in 2005 and became involved in community organizing and immigrant rights work.

She has consistently affirmed her loyalty to her home country while serving in Maine’s legislature. She referred to the country as her land during her 2024 visit. 

“I’m very happy to be with my country, my people, my elected members of parliament and ministers, my state of SSC Khatuma, State of Somalia. We’re going to defend our land,” she said while speaking in Somali.