Cara Hunter MLA (born 8 November 1995[1]) is an Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician, currently serving as a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for East Londonderry, a position she has held since 18 May 2020.[2]

Early life

Hunter grew up in the Causeway Coast and Tyrone area[3] and then moved to the United States at nine years old, attending Simi Valley High School in California and studying broadcast journalism at California State University, Northridge.[4] She completed her degree at Liverpool John Moores University.[3]

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 died by suicide at the age of 20. As pageant titleholder, she served as an ambassador for Me4Mental, a mental health charity in Derry.[5]

Career

Hunter was elected to Derry City and Strabane District Council on 2 May 2019 and was elected Deputy Mayor of Derry.[6]

Hunter stood in East Londonderry at the December 2019 general election, finishing second with 6,158 votes (15.7%) to Gregory Campbell of the Democratic Unionist Party.[7] She was co-opted to the Northern Ireland Assembly after the death of John Dallat in May 2020.[8][9][10][11] She is the SDLP's mental health spokesperson.[12]

Hunter was the target of a harassment campaign during the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, 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.[13] She described them as an "intimidation tactic" to make her feel embarrassed and humiliated.[14]

She stood again in East Londonderry at the 2024 general election, though was pushed into third place by Sinn Féin's Kathleen McGurk. Hunter polled 5,260 votes (12.7%), a decrease of 3.7%.[15][16]

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".[17]

References

  1. ^ "Birthday tweet". Twitter. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Cara Hunter MLA | People". SDLP.
  3. ^ a b Pow, Jamie (27 April 2019). "Meet the candidate: Cara Hunter". Northern Slant. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  4. ^ Stewart, Linda (7 October 2020). "The Big Ask with SDLP MLA Cara Hunter: 'Mum gave me a great work ethic... she is an inspiration'". Belfast Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  5. ^ Corr, Shauna (18 September 2017). "Chance to fight suicide inspired NI's first Miss Continental to crown". BelfastLive. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  6. ^ Pow, Jamie (27 April 2019). "Meet the candidate: Cara Hunter". Archived from the original on 25 May 2020.
  7. ^ "No surprises in East Londonderry as Gregory Campbell retains his seat". www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk.
  8. ^ "SDLP co-opt Cara Hunter as East Londonderry MLA". BBC News. 18 May 2020.
  9. ^ McConville, Marie Louise (18 May 2020). "Cara Hunter selected as new East Derry assembly member following passing of John Dallat". The Irish News.
  10. ^ "Derry Deputy Mayor Cara Hunter selected by SDLP to replace late East Derry MLA John Dallat". www.derryjournal.com.
  11. ^ "Cara Hunter is new East Derry SDLP MLA following sad passing of John Dallat". www.derryjournal.com.
  12. ^ "Hunter welcomes Executive task force on mental health | 2020 | News". SDLP.
  13. ^ Morris, Allison (9 May 2022). "Cara Hunter MLA: Stress of fake clip made my life absolutely horrific in election run-up". Belfast Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  14. ^ "'Cruel and malicious': sexist attacks dampen joy for Stormont's new female members". the Guardian. 15 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  15. ^ "East Londonderry - General election results 2024 - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  16. ^ "East Londonderry results - General Election 2024". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  17. ^ "SDLP MLA Cara Hunter: I found out I had a brain tumour on my first day at Stormont". belfasttelegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
Civic offices
Preceded by MLA for East Londonderry
18 May 2020–present 		Incumbent
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cara_Hunter
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