East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) Member Winnie Odinga has announced that she will run for the Nairobi County Senate seat in the 2027 General Election.
She announced her bid during the first anniversary commemoration of her father, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, at Migwena Grounds in Bondo, Siaya County, on Thursday, October 15, 2026.
“Let it not be a rumour. I will contest the Senate seat of Nairobi County,” she told the gathering.
The seat is currently held by Edwin Sifuna, who won it on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket in 2022. “Let it not be a rumour that as Edwin Sifuna searches for higher offices I see kuna space, kuna nafasi hapo Nairobi,” she said, adding, “and that is why I have decided that I will stand for the Senate seat of Nairobi County.”
Under electoral law, a candidate cannot be nominated for two elective posts in the same general election, so if Sifuna runs for the presidency or another seat, he will not be able to defend his Senate position. If he seeks re-election instead, the two could end up facing each other. Winnie did not say which party ticket she will seek.
Winnie framed her bid as part of a wider call for young Kenyans to take up leadership. “Lakini siendi peke yangu, I am going with young people,” she said.
“I want young people across this country to prepare to stand.” She encouraged young people to vie for every level of office, from Member of County Assembly (MCA) and Member of Parliament to senator and governor.
She said the past year had been hard. “I thought I would take just one month to grieve and then return. But grief does not read the calendar,” she said.
“There were days when I had words but no strength to say them. There were days when I had strength but no words.” She urged her father’s supporters to measure his legacy by its effect on ordinary people’s lives rather than by political positions.
“If Baba Raila Odinga was here today and he asked where we had been during the one year he had been away,” she said, “would we tell him how many positions we negotiated? How many photographs we took? Or would we show him people whose lives became better because we remembered what he stood for?”
She described her father’s vision as one of equal opportunity for all Kenyans. “Dad had a Kenyan dream: he believed that wherever you were born, whatever your surname, whatever your community, you deserved the opportunity to live a decent life,” she said.
Winnie has served in EALA since 2022. If elected, she would represent Nairobi in the Senate, which, under Article 96 of the Constitution, represents the interests of counties, makes laws on county matters, decides how national revenue is shared among counties, and oversees how counties use national funds.
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