May Lor Xiong, a former Hmong refugee and 20-year St. Paul Public Schools teacher, announced Thursday she will seek the Republican endorsement to challenge 11-term U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat, in Minnesota’s 4th Congressional District.
In her announcement, Xiong described herself as a “proud mother of four” and St. Paul resident who immigrated to America in 1987 at age 8 as a Hmong refugee. A former English Language teacher and a real estate broker for eight years, she holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Concordia University in St. Paul.
“While I am proud of my Hmong heritage, I am equally proud to be an American,” she said in a statement.
American dreams are under attack by the Left, she said. “I decided to run for Congress as a Republican to protect the dreams of each and every American.”
Her campaign manager, James Carson, said, “May exemplifies the values that Republicans hold close. Despite great adversity in her life, she survived and thrived. She is a great candidate to win the east metro Twin Cities congressional seat.”
That will be a stiff challenge. The 4th District, which covers Ramsey and most of Washington counties, is solidly Democratic. The DFL has held the seat without interruption since 1949. After first winning the seat in 2000, McCollum, the dean of the Minnesota Congressional delegation, has been easily re-elected 10 times, usually by more than 30 percentage points.
Xiong will face Mikki Murray in the Aug. 9 Republican primary election for the seat.
McCollum is being challenged in the DFL primary by Amane Badhasso, Evan Kail and Fasil Moghul.
