For close to three hours on Saturday, DFL delegates in District 38A met in a Brooklyn Park Middle School gym to endorse a candidate to carry the party’s banner in the seat being vacated by Rep. Michael Nelson (DFL) in the Minnesota House of Representatives. The district includes a portion of Brooklyn Park and all of Osseo.
After two rounds of voting, the delegates could not come to a consensus: none of the two candidates seeking the party’s endorsement, Ms. Huldah Hiltsley and Mr. Wynfred Russell, were able to reach the 60% threshold required to receive it.
Ms. Hiltsley won the first round of voting, receiving 49% to Mr. Russell’s 44%. The first round of voting had 109 credentialed delegates present to vote.
In the second round of voting, more delegates had arrived and the credentials committee announced that there were now 126 credentialed delegates that could vote. Most of the new arrivals were in favor of Mr. Russell – he won that round 53% to Ms. Huldah’s 48%.
As delegates pondered on whether to go to a third and final round, things took a dramatic turn when the floor manager announced the two candidates wished to address the delegates together. With Ms. Hiltsley speaking first, and then Mr. Russell, the two asked delegates not to proceed with another round of balloting and to instead allow them to proceed to the August 13 primary.
A motion was then moved that no further voting take place, which carried, sending the decision on who will be the DFL standard bearer to primary voters in the state Primary on August 13.
As the two exited the convention venue they told Mshale they chose not to prolong the process as it was clear none of them was going to receive the required 60%, and also to “protect the unity of the community.”
A super majority of the 126 credentialed delegates were African immigrants, many of them attending their first convention.
“As you know many of our people work on weekends and some have to go to work this afternoon,” Mr. Russell told Mshale. “There is no need to keep them here when we can see no one is going to get 60%.”
“It is about community, unifying the African immigrant population in our district and allowing them to stay here longer is not constructive,” Ms. Hiltsley said.
The strong show of support for both candidates foreshadow a strong campaign season and both promised to deliver on that expectation, with Mr. Russell promising what he called a “robust door to door campaign,” and Ms. Hiltsley promising the same, adding that anyone not familiar with her “by August 13 you will know who Huldah is.”
African-born state legislator
The August 13 primary is the defacto election for this reliably Democratic district, as whichever Democrat wins the primary is a shoo-in to win the general election in November. The district is so reliably Democratic that the Republican Party did not even bother to field a candidate in the last election.
The candidate filing period will start on May 21 through June 4. Barring any unexpected development – like one of them dropping out, or not filing by June 4 – the state Primary Election will be on August 13. There will be no Democratic Party primary if only one DFLer files to run.
Regardless of the outcome of the race, the district will be represented by someone born in Africa, an outcome that became apparent as the candidate announcement period closed, and only Liberian-born Mr. Russell and Kenyan-born Ms. Hiltsley had launched their campaigns.
Dr. Charles Shaw, an athlete and former member of the Liberian national athletics team who now lives in Minneapolis, likened the race to the many international events he participated in for his country.
“You have to be very focused and work very hard, nothing comes easy,” Dr. Shaw said.
Dr. Shaw was not a delegate but was invited to come and observe the process by the Russell campaign. This was his first time attending a convention but he noticed many of the delegates didn’t seem to understand the process, and termed it “a bit confusing.”
“It is actually a very good process and I have learnt a lot just being here,” Dr. Shaw said. “I think we need to train our people more on how these conventions work, and maybe attending them like I did today might be a way to start.”
Another first-timer at the convention was Mr. Thomas Tinega, a delegate supporting Ms. Hiltsley. When Mshale caught up with him it was after the first round of voting, and delegates had taken a short break as votes were being counted.
Mr. Tinega was hoping his candidate would win the endorsement in the first ballot and he would not have to stick around for another round. He was among the delegates Mr. Russell was referring to that needed to clock in at work that afternoon.
“Otherwise, I have enjoyed the experience, my aunt encouraged and recruited me to be a delegate, but the (pointing to his watch),” Mr. Tinega said. He did stick around for the second round of voting.
District 38B: Samantha Vang easily bags DFL endorsement in reelection bid
The endorsement exercise for neighboring 38B ran concurrently with that of 38A in the same gym. It is one of two Minnesota House seats in Senate District 38. There wasn’t as much drama and suspense. Rep. Samantha Vang easily winning the endorsement of the DFL party in her bid to win re-election for a fourth term.
Of the 43 credentialed delegates for 38B, Rep. Vang got near unanimous support in the first round, with forty of the delegates voting for her, and two for newcomer Ms. Tekoa Cochran, who joined the race within the last week. Many convention attendees Mshale spoke to were learning of her candidacy for the first time on Saturday.
Federal office candidates
Senate District 38 is in both Congressional Districts 3 and 5. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who represents the Fifth District in Congress was there as was her challenger Mr. Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis City Council member. All of Brooklyn Center is Minnesota House District 38B and the entire city is also in the Fifth Congressional District.
In the Third Congressional District, DFL State Sen. Kelly Morrison, is the sole Democratic candidate still standing seeking to succeed Democrat Dean Phillips who is not seeking reelection. Rep. Philips had chosen not to seek reelection and instead challenged President Biden unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination.
All three candidates were given a few minutes to address the convention with the Brooklyn Center Mayor April Graves, who has endorsed Rep. Omar, introducing her.
Key Dates:
June 28: Vote by mail or in person starts and runs through August 12 for the primary.
July 23: The last day to register in advance to be able to vote on Primary Election Day on August 13 and save time at the polls (you can still register on Primary Election Day at the polling site, just plan on extra time).
About Tom Gitaa Gitaa, Editor-in-Chief
Born and raised in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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