MINNESOTA LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 65A already made electoral history once. in 2002, Cy Thao became just the second Hmong state legislator in the country, hot on the heels of Mee Moua's special election to the state Senate earlier the same year. At the time, Thao's election was seen as a reflection of the new political realities in the district. He won largely by mobilizing the large Hmong population, which had up until then mostly stayed away from state politics. His victory was a validation that the Hmong had truly arrived in St. Paul, and it was hoped that he could continue the revitalization of the district that Hmong businessmen had started. Unfortunately for his supporters and the district, Thao's election didn't yield the results they were hoping for. Though he was reelected for three subsequent terms, Thao quickly developed a reputation for being inaccessible to his constituents and doing little for the district at the statehouse.
"Cy's heart wasn't really in it," says Roy Magnuson, a teacher at Como High School who chairs the teachers' PAC and is active in local DFL politics. "When you're trying to establish a career in your middle age, and at the same time you're a legislator dealing with constituent affairs, something's got to give."
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Thao declined to comment, but several of his confidantes said that as this last legislative term wound down, he thought about running for one more cycle and then letting it go. Even in the Hmong community, there was a growing perception that his service as a representative was listless and lackluster.
"The Hmong have a saying: Your lips may be red, but you'd better be walking," says Kia Moua, a consultant on Hmong issues. "It means you can talk the talk, but you've got to actually be doing something or it doesn't count for anything. Cy Thao's lips were red, but no one really thought he was walking."
THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY of Minnesota, St. Paul has never sent a black legislator to the statehouse. That's all but certain to change this year. In the overwhelmingly Democratic 65A, both candidates vying for the DFL nomination are African American. In a district with one of the state's highest black populations, and which encompasses the remains of the historic Rondo neighborhood, many see the prospect of a black legislator as long overdue.
But the coming election is more than just a racial milestone. It's also a bare-knuckle fight between two candidates with radically different backgrounds and philosophies. The stakes are high: unemployment, poverty, and a full-blown housing crisis have already rocked the district, and many worry that the coming of the Central Corridor light rail project could add to residents' burden.
Campaigning in this district isn't easy—winning requires building a coalition of black, white, and Hmong. So with just weeks to go before the August 10 primary, both candidates are in a full sprint, working phones late into the night and criss-crossing the neighborhood knocking on doors.
State legislative district 65A lies square at the center of St. Paul. The statehouse is just blocks from its eastern edge, its shining white dome looming over the battered storefronts of University Avenue, the district's main corridor. North of University, the district extends through the modest single-family homes of Frogtown to Front and Maryland Avenues. In the northern neighborhoods of the district, like South Como and the North End, more of the yards feature Madonna statues, and many of the residents are descended from an earlier wave of European immigration. To the west, Lexington Parkway separates 65A from Hamline Midway. South of University, the howling traffic of Interstate 94 slices through the middle of the district. On the far side, 65A extends down past Selby Avenue to West Laurel, the heart of old Rondo and what is now referred to as the Summit-University neighborhood.
All told, 65A counts about 36,000 people and is one of the most diverse districts in the whole state. About a third of the residents are white, many of them young and drawn to the neighborhood by its affordable homes.
Another quarter of the residents are Asian—mainly Hmong and Vietnamese, who moved into the neighborhood in the 1980s. More recently, Latin American and African immigrants have begun to put down roots.
The district is also one of the state's poorest, and the recession has hit it particularly hard. University Avenue is littered with vacant spaces, and among the well-tended lawns and daylilies of the residential neighborhoods are some of the highest concentrations of foreclosed and vacant homes in the Twin Cities.
"This neighborhood is really hurting," said Patty Lammers, who manages home loans at the Greater Frogtown Community Development Corporation. "People here are having a hard time, and we need some strong leadership to help turn things around."
WHERE MANY SAW despair, Jeremiah Ellis saw an opportunity. The St. Paul school official had spent the past seven years building the kind of connections among local Democrats and the district's black establishment that would position him well to challenge Thao for the 65A seat.
Ellis looks much younger than his 29 years. Even with his trim goatee and stylish eyeglasses, he could easily pass for 19. He favors dark jeans and button-downs, and exudes a bouncy, agreeable energy that his supporters find infectious and his detractors regard as gratingly naive.
