Following the retirement of a longtime Ramsey County board member representing the East Side of St. Paul, the race between the two candidates vying to take his place has proven competitive.
Jim McDonough served as Ramsey County commissioner for District 6 for almost 22 years, leaving a vacancy that one of two Hmong-American candidates will fill.
Seven candidates competed in the primary election, with Ying Vang-Pao and Mai Chong Xiong advancing to the Nov. 8 general election. Xiong won about 40 percent of the votes and Vang-Pao won about 29 percent.
McDonough has thrown his support to Vang-Pao, as has Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher and former state representative Tim Mahoney. Xiong, who won the influential Democratic-Farmer-Labor endorsement this summer, has been endorsed by Congresswoman Betty McCollum, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and City Council Members Jane Prince and Nelsie Yang.
District 6 traditionally has the lowest voter turnout in Ramsey County, according to Ramsey County Elections Manager David Triplett. During the last midterm election in 2018, 14,767 ballots were cast in the district’s county commissioner race, 34 percent lower than the district with the second lowest turnout.
However, Triplett said the district has changed, and because McDonough ran unopposed in 2018, this year’s turnout should be higher. Vang-Pao and Xiong are each hoping to inspire more people to come out and choose her to represent that change at the county level.
“Candidates for that office have been very active in getting voters to our downtown voting location” for early voting, Triplett said.
Mai Chong Xiong
Xiong is the longtime legislative aide to St. Paul Council Member Dai Thao, who recently stepped down to move to another state, and serves as co-chair of the board for progressive political organization TakeAction Minnesota.
“I am ready in the sense that I put in the time and the work,” Xiong said. “Every legislative policy that I’ve been a part of, folks who have worked with me can say that I’m the one who gets things done.”
Xiong said over the course of McDonough’s tenure as commissioner, District 6 has changed demographically, and she is equipped to bring about change meaningful to a younger, more racially diverse population.
Increasing affordable housing is Xiong’s top priority as commissioner.
“It’s near and dear to me,” Xiong said. “I’ve experienced housing instability most of my life, and I want to make sure we get targeted funds to the East side.”
Xiong said she plans to make more loans and grants available for people looking to make improvements to their homes, preserve current affordable housing and invest in the construction of new housing. She said she also plans to prioritize environmental conservation and improve road and transportation safety.
“We have so much at stake,” Xiong said. “I want to make sure the county is going to be competitive in terms of retaining our people, the wealth and the talents that we have here currently, making it a place where people want to be.”
Ying Vang-Pao
Vang-Pao said she came to the U.S. as a nine-year-old refugee from the civil war in Laos, married early, raised four children and then went back to school at age 42 for her business degree.
She uses the county’s social services for her daughter, who has a rare illness — Bardet Biedl Syndrome — that caused her to develop blindness as an adult. She said she was inspired to seek office in part to improve the resources available to people with disabilities.
“I want to create resources, look at the workforce, maybe more training,” Vang-Pao said. “There’s not enough resources to help them and also transportation is not very efficient because it sometimes takes hours to go to school.”
Vang-Pao’s father, General Vang Pao, was a well-known figure in Minnesota’s Hmong community for his work commanding Hmong military officers in Laos following the Vietnam War.
Vang-Pao said as county commissioner, she plans to increase transparency in county government by instituting an “open-door policy,” so District 6 residents feel comfortable coming to her to voice feedback or ask questions.
“Residents are just really concerned about what’s happening, whether their opinion counts,” Vang-Pao said.
She said she plans to hold regular meetings and town halls in the community to connect with residents.
“I’m a people person,” she said, “and I like to talk to all the residents and just get their input because I feel as a county commissioner, the residents are voting to represent their interests at the county level and I would be a really good asset to bring people closer to the county and bring in transparency.”
Outside perspective
John Yang, chair of the Minnesota Hmong Chamber of Commerce, said his advocacy work with Hmong residents in District 6 has revealed similar levels of support for both candidates within the population.
“It’s kind of divided,” he said. “Mai Chong and Ying both have strong state and city leaders and the community supporting and endorsing them, so it’s going to be an interesting race.”
He said each candidate brings her own strengths to the position, with some residents favoring Xiong’s experience in public service and others attracted to Vang-Pao’s commitment to community engagement.
“Regardless of who wins, it’s a win for the Hmong and Ramsey county community,” he said. “Having a person of color in office, I think they can see it from a different lens and be able to work for everyone, especially the underserved communities.”
St. Paul’s Ward 6 Council Member Nelsie Yang, Xiong’s campaign co-chair, said Xiong’s role in efforts such as TakeAction’s campaign to raise the minimum wage in St. Paul to $15 per hour demonstrates her ability to accomplish change.
“She’s someone who has a big vision for how our community can transform, to really work for people across race, class, gender, age and disability,” Nelsie Yang said. “The county seat is not just about having someone at the county who will vote the right way, it’s having someone at the county who will be able to see their relationships and build relationships within our communities to make sure that we’re able to move funding where it needs to be so that it is invested in communities that have been left out and marginalized for way too long.”
McDonough, the sitting county commissioner, said his own experience in the position led him to endorse Vang-Pao because she has demonstrated a strong commitment to building relationships with residents and a genuine interest in their lives, which he said is essential to good governance.
“You can’t just say, ‘I’m transparent;’ you have to earn it,” McDonough said. “Door-knocking with her, there are times when Ying asks more questions of the resident than they ask of her because she wants to know what they think.”
“I never forgot why I was in that chair, why I ran in the first place and who put me there, and I see those are things that Ying understands, appreciates and values,” McDonough said.
Other Ramsey County races
Meanwhile, in the Ramsey County District 3 race incumbent Trista MatasCastillo will face challenger David Singleton. In District 4 former state Rep. Rena Moran will face Darryl Spence. And, in District 5 incumbent Rafael Ortega will face Bill Hosko.
For more information on candidates for Ramsey County Board go to: https://www.twincities.com/2022/10/19/minnesota-elections-2022-ramsey-county-commission-races.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher are each running unopposed.
