With 18 months to go before the November 2022 election, political organizer Mai Chong Xiong announced Monday she will run for a seat on the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners representing District 6, which spans a broad swath of St. Paul’s East Side.
Xiong, a longtime policy aide to St. Paul City Council Member Dai Thao, serves as the co-chair of the board of TakeAction Minnesota, a liberal advocacy group, and the capital campaign co-chair for the Victoria Theater Arts Center in Frogtown. The District 6 seat is currently held by longtime County Commissioner Jim McDonough, a lifelong East Side resident who was first elected to the seat in 2000 but has not yet announced whether he will seek another term next year.
“He and I, we’ve spoken about it before,” said Xiong, who could not confirm whether McDonough will run for re-election in a brief interview. “(I) just feel a sense of urgency about the county role, to get folks engaged.”
McDonough said he had discussed the position with Xiong at her request two years ago but he has not yet announced his intentions for 2022.
Xiong said she grew up in Frogtown until her family went through a period of intense housing instability when she was starting high school, forcing them to move in with relatives on the East Side.
“I have worked in the community on the ground knocking on doors and having real and tough conversations,” said Xiong, in a written statement. “I have led strong initiatives in making both qualitative and quantitative data be the backbone of our decisions that impact people’s lives. This district is one of the most diverse districts, and my campaign platform will build a people-powered movement, with real stories, identities, and the collective good, towards a future rooted in racial, social, and gender justice for all.”
Xiong, who is Hmong, said her experiences as an immigrant and working mother feed into her support for affordable housing, earned sick time initiatives, a $15 minimum wage and protections for tenants rights.
Her written campaign statement also made note of a dispute she was active in between Hmong organizers and county leadership over how best to improve pedestrian safety near the Hmong Village Shopping Center at Johnson Parkway and Ames Avenue. To improve safety, the county installed a pedestrian median and a flashing yellow beacon activated by push-button.
She has been endorsed by Thao and St. Paul City Council Member Nelsie Yang, who is her campaign co-chair, as well as East Side community organizers Amin Omar and Pa Chua Vang, as well as state Rep. John Thompson, DFL-St. Paul and others.
Xiong, who holds a degree in political science from the College of St. Benedict, lives in Dayton’s Bluff with her husband, two small children and her elderly in-laws. More information is online at facebook.com/MCXforthePeople.
