She's one of the youngest legislators in a state with the oldest population
Democratic State Rep. Mana Abdi of Maine talks with Zivvy News about the biases she encounters as one of the youngest members of the Maine House of Representatives.
Zivvy News is committed to highlighting the work of young changemakers who are tackling key issues and making a difference in their communities and beyond. Ahead of Election Day, Zivvy News has spoken to several Gen Z politicians from both sides of the aisle. View our Gen Z Spotlight series here.
Until a seat opened up in the Maine House of Representatives in 2022, Mana Abdi did not envision herself running for public office, despite being politically active in her community and majoring in Political Science and Global Studies at the University of Maine at Farmington.
This changed when she received encouragement from peers.
“Initially, I thought, ‘I don't know, it seems like a lot,’” Abdi, a 28-year-old Democrat, tells Zivvy News. “Politics nowadays—it’s a lot. Maybe it’s always been that way, but after some time, I decided to give it a shot and see what happens.”
Abdi is one of the first Somali-Americans elected to her state’s legislature. In addition to her political career, she works at Bates College’s Office of Intercultural Education. This role has taught her about outreach to younger voters and communities.
“Gen Z-ers are absolutely [politically] engaging to their own degree,” she explains, “Our job, responsibility, as elected officials is to meet them where they are. So, if they invite us to their spaces, go there. And instead of getting upset over the fact that they are on TikTok or whatever the case may be, I think meeting people where they are - and that sounds very generic - when you put that into action of doing the heavy lift, the intellectual heavy lift with them, it makes it easy to have a conversation that doesn't feel very adversarial. Rather, it feels collective and sustainable in a way.”
Housing and the economy are major concerns across different age groups, whether nationwide or in a state with an aging population like Maine. However, Maine’s older residents face a different housing challenge that Abdi aims to address.
Living in the heart of downtown Lewiston, Maine, Abdi has found the unhoused population getting younger and younger.
“And that is not by mistake,” she says. ”That is by design, and by the fact that we don't have opportunities for young people to - forget about even owning a home, potentially finding a place to rent because the rent is so high.”
The main obstacle to these post-retirement wishes is that the Maine legislature’s definition of real estate excludes mobile homes unless they are permanently attached to land owned by the same person. Despite the legislature’s generally favorable stance toward mobile homes, this definition can complicate home loan applications.
Abdi hopes to tackle this issue, but above all, she desires a more streamlined state legislature, particularly regarding the state’s education budget, which has failed to reach the Maine State Senate multiple times.
Something Abdi frequently hears from colleagues is that they’ve been in office as long as she’s been alive.
“I don't know if that's something to brag about, but okay,” she says. She understands that those colleagues aren’t trying to age themselves, but to communicate, ‘I have had more time here, therefore, follow my lead.’ And that, she says, discounts the potential of their younger co-workers.
“In my opinion, it's unfortunate for that individual, or for society, to think that young people have nothing to offer when in fact, young people are often the people who are making the changes that are necessary.”