Cara Hunter MLA (born 8 November 1995) is an Irish

Social Democratic and Labour Party The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland ...

(SDLP) politician, currently serving as a

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs; ga, Comhaltaí den Tionól Reachtach; sco-ulster, Laa-Makkan Forgaitherars) are representatives elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly. About The Northern Ireland Assembly has 90 ...

(MLA) for East Londonderry, a position she has held since 18 May 2020.

Early life

Hunter grew up in the Causeway Coast and Tyrone area and then moved to the United States at nine years old, attending

Simi Valley High School Simi Valley High School (SVHS) is a public high school in Simi Valley, California. The school is part of the Simi Valley Unified School District and is located on the east side of the city. History Simi Valley High School was established in 1920 ...

in California and studying broadcast journalism at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

. She completed her degree at Liverpool John Moores University. Hunter was crowned Miss Intercontinental 2017, becoming the first contestant from Northern Ireland to win the beauty pageant, after entering it to honour a close friend who committed suicide at the age of 20. As pageant titleholder, she served as an ambassador for Me4Mental, a mental health charity in Derry.

Career

Hunter was elected to Derry City and Strabane District Council on 2 May 2019 and was elected Deputy Mayor of Derry. Hunter stood unsuccessfully in East Londonderry at the December 2019 general election. She was coopted to the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

after the death of

John Dallat John Dallat (24 March 1947 – 5 May 2020) was an Irish politician in the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) who represented East Londonderry in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 1998 to 2016, and then from 2017 until his death in 20 ...

in May 2020. She is the SDLP's mental health spokesperson. Hunter was the target of a harassment campaign during the

2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months ...

, in which a pornographic clip, falsely claimed as featuring Hunter, was circulated on social media. Hunter received abusive and sexually explicit messages from men as a result. She described the as an "intimidation tactic" to make her feel embarrassed and humiliated.

Personal life

In October 2021, Hunter revealed that she had been diagnosed with a brain tumour on her first day at Stormont, saying that her condition was not "life-threatening" but "life-altering".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Cara 1995 births Living people Social Democratic and Labour Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2017–2022 Politicians from County Londonderry Members of Derry City and Strabane District Council Social Democratic and Labour Party councillors California State University, Northridge alumni Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University Women councillors in Northern Ireland Irish beauty pageant winners