Five Hmong lawmakers, two judges elected in metro area (St. Paul, MN)

[MineralMan]

The area around St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota has a growing Hmong population, as well as a growing Somali population. In this recent election, several Hmong candidates won their races for legislative and Judicial offices. In Minneapolis Ilhan Omar became the first Muslim, woman, Somali member of the US House of Representatives elected in Minnesota. Diversity grows. Progress!

https://www.twincities.com/2018/11/07/five-hmong-lawmakers-two-judges-elected-in-metro-area/

Five Hmong lawmakers, two judges elected in metro area

Hmong candidates notched impressive wins across the metro area on Election Day, winning two judicial and five legislative seats.

In January, Sophia Vuelo broke new ground in legal circles when she was sworn in as Minnesota’s first Hmong judge.

This coming January, she’ll be joined by two more Hmong judges on the bench in Ramsey County. Two Hmong attorneys — Adam Yang and P. Paul Yang — won contested races Tuesday in the 2nd Judicial District, in one case unseating a sitting judge.

Also in January, five Hmong candidates from the metro area will be sworn in as state lawmakers.

All ran as DFL (Democratic) candidates. Congratulations to all of them!

[Blue_true]

1. The republican party's attempts to keep itself heavily White dominated is now hurting it.

All the new races and ethnic groups that won on Tuesday ran as democrats (maybe not all, but very close). It will get worse for republicans because they are digging in on the racism.

[MineralMan]

2. Yes. I'm heartened by what I've observed in the past couple of elections.

However, I also recognize that this is happening in a very blue metropolitan area. A very diverse one, too. Those candidates wouldn't have done as well outside of the city, I have no doubt. Still...there's movement in the better direction, and that's a great thing.

[Blue_true]

5. True MM, but cities is where diverse populations typically develop.

The diversity is spreading to suburbs, and that is starting to show up in elections. We will never get rural areas, but there are blue voters there that our leaders must works better at maximizing their impact on red areas, even if it is just holding down the republican's margin.

[MineralMan]

6. That's true, too.

We flipped two suburban House districts this year. Angie Craig beat Jason Lewis and Dean Phillips beat Paulsen. Both districts are metro area suburbs that have elected Republicans for quite some time. Both have also seen their minority populations rise over the years.

The rural areas, though, are still conservative. I don't know if that will ever change.

[Hekate]

3. Kick!

[MineralMan]

4. Thanks. It's a bigger story that it appears to be.

One of the winners actually unseated a sitting judge, which is almost unheard of. There were something like 30 judicial elections on the ballot. As usual, most of them had no opponent. Many voters just skip that entire ballot page. Others just vote for whoever the incumbent is. That a Hmong attorney managed to unseat a sitting judge is extraordinary.

The reason is that the Hmong community here votes. Their turnout percentage is very, very high. I guarantee that every one of them voted for the Hmong candidates on that ballot, including the two judges who got elected. They are a minority community, even here, but are extremely active in elections.

We could all learn from them, I think.