Fifteen years after putting down roots in Bristol’s St Jude’s neighborhood, a former Somali refugee is poised to take on one of the city’s highest civic honors. Green Party councillor Yassin Mohamud, who has represented the Lawrence Hill ward since 2021, will be sworn in as Bristol’s new Lord Mayor in a ceremony at City Hall, succeeding outgoing Conservative incumbent Henry Michallat.
Mohamud’s journey to civic leadership began 20 years ago, when he left Somalia to reunite with family members who had already settled in Bristol. Recounting his early days as a new arrival, he reflected on the steep challenges of building a new life from scratch, navigating barriers to secure housing, employment and stable footing. What made the difference, he says, was the targeted guidance he received from local community members. That early support shaped his lifelong commitment to lifting up other new arrivals and marginalized residents.
After starting out as a volunteer, Mohamud went on to earn a degree from the University of Plymouth before holding multiple public sector roles, including a position with Bristol City Council. Today, he counts himself as a proud Bristolian, with a family that has grown up and put down roots in the city. “My children were born in Bristol. We are a Bristol family,” he emphasized.
His path into local politics grew directly out of his community and voluntary work, fueled by personal experience of the struggles that face many working-class and migrant residents in the city. As a councillor for Lawrence Hill, one of Bristol’s more deprived wards, Mohamud has already led high-profile response efforts for local residents. In November 2023, he was on the frontlines supporting hundreds of residents after Barton House was evacuated over dangerous major structural faults that threatened a building collapse. Even months later, many displaced families continue to live with the trauma of the displacement, Mohamud says. He hopes the incident will push the city to learn from technical and administrative missteps, and he has made improving local governance accountability a key personal priority.
Mohamud says his unique background as a refugee, a member of Bristol’s black and minority ethnic community, and a representative of a low-income ward will define his tenure in the ceremonial role of Lord Mayor, a post that rotates annually between the city’s four major political groups: the Greens, Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. While the role is mostly ceremonial, with responsibilities including chairing full council meetings and representing Bristol at major civic events such as the Remembrance Sunday parade and the annual Lord Mayor’s Christmas Appeal for Children, Mohamud plans to center his tenure on a core mission.
“Unity is the biggest priority for the city, working with all the parties and for all our communities,” he said. When he takes office, he aims to bring “unity, working together and helping each other” to the role, fulfilling the public service mission he set out when he first entered office: to listen, serve, and collaborate with Bristol residents to build a city where every person has the opportunity to thrive.
A core focus of his tenure will be lifting up residents in the city’s most deprived communities, many of whom are former refugees like himself. He wants to send a clear message that migrant residents are full, contributing members of the Bristol community, and that any path is open to them: “They are no longer refugees, they are Bristolians and are part of the city. They can be anyone they want to be: as doctors, engineers, Lord Mayor.”