Yaphett El-Amin

Yaphett El-Amin (born March 30, 1971) is an American politician who, until 2006, represented a portion of St. Louis in the Missouri House of Representatives. She is a Democrat.
El-Amin is a native of St. Louis. She graduated from the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff with a BA in political science and is pursuing a master's degree in public administration at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.
El-Amin, who is African-American, entered politics in 1997, when she became Democratic Committeewoman for the 1st Ward. In 2002, she was a successful candidate for the Democratic nomination for State Representative in the 57th District [1]. She was elected without opposition in the general election [2] and was re-elected without opposition in 2004 [3] [4].
In 2006, El-Amin was an unsuccessful candidate to replace Pat Dougherty in the Missouri State Senate. She finished second in a heavily contested Democratic primary election behind political science instructor Jeff Smith. [5] Other candidates in the race were fellow state representative Amber Boykins, former State Representative Derio Gambaro, and former St. Louis Alderman Kenny Jones [6]. Her husband Talibdan (TD) El-Amin won a contentious primary to become the Democratic party nominee to replace his wife in the Missouri House of Representatives. [7] He was elected without opposition in the 2006 general election. [8]