CHAMPLIN, Minn. — Samuel Mwangi has run for the Champlin City Council before. Twice, in fact.
But as the longtime Champlin resident makes a third bid for a seat on the council, he says something feels different this time.
People are calling him asking for campaign yard signs.
“They know me, they know the name, I’ve met them before, and they know my signature hat,” Mwangi said in a July interview with Mshale.
For Mwangi, who has spent years in community and nonprofit work and serves on Champlin’s Environmental Resources Commission, the growing familiarity is the product of persistence.
“People tend to remember you,” he said. “They say I’m so resilient, you know, and that really pushes me, because it’s not about my ambition. It’s about connecting with the community.”
That persistence is being tested again this fall.
Mwangi is one of four candidates seeking the Ward 4 seat in a Nov. 3 special election. Charles A. Boakai, Lorraine Coan and Ryan Reider are also on the ballot. The winner will serve the final two years of a term that ends Dec. 31, 2028.
The race follows Mwangi’s closest City Council campaign yet.
In 2024, he received 1,294 votes, or 43.75%, finishing just 47 votes behind then-Ward 4 Councilmember Tim LaCroix, who received 1,341 votes, or 45.33%. Benjamin Schmid finished third with 306 votes.
Four years earlier, Mwangi received 36.18% of the vote in a two-candidate race against Ryan Sabas, who is now Champlin’s mayor.
Nearly 25 years in Champlin
Mwangi’s connection to Champlin predates his campaigns for elected office.
He told Mshale he has lived in the city for nearly 25 years, raising his family there. His oldest child is now working and living independently, while his 20-year-old twins are in college.
That has left Mwangi, who spent years focused on raising children while building his community work, entering another stage of family life: that of an empty nester.
His involvement in Champlin civic affairs also stretches back more than a decade.
Mshale first reported on Mwangi in 2013 when he joined the city’s Environmental Resources Commission. He remains a member of the commission, which advises the city and community on conservation, natural resources and solid waste issues.
It is that combination of civic involvement and familiarity with the community that Mwangi says he would bring to the City Council.
His vision, he said, is for Champlin to be a city where “families feel safe, youth have opportunities to succeed and neighbors are connected.” He also said city tax dollars should be spent responsibly.
A changing Champlin
Mwangi also sees a city that has changed during the decades he has lived there.
One of his priorities is increasing engagement with Champlin’s increasingly diverse communities, including immigrant residents, and making city-sponsored activities more reflective of the people who now call the city home.
He pointed to summer music and cultural events as one opportunity.
Mwangi said community engagement should help determine which cultures are represented at city events. “When you engage the communities together, they’ll tell you basically what they want and what they need.”
Mwangi said the goal should not be for every culture to be represented at every event, but for the city to intentionally create opportunities for different communities to participate.
“Everybody feels that, you know, his culture or his activity is celebrated,” he said.
He also wants more informal interaction between residents and elected officials, proposing quarterly coffee gatherings or community conversations where residents could ask council members about subjects ranging from street repairs to city spending.
For Mwangi, those conversations are part of a broader effort to strengthen relationships among neighbors.
“Know your neighbor,” he said, describing inexpensive neighborhood gatherings where residents could meet one another away from the formalities of government and politics.
Safety, youth and small businesses
Public safety is another focus of Mwangi’s campaign, particularly speeding and pedestrian safety.
He cited West River Road and other heavily traveled streets where he said speeding has become a concern and called for the city to work with residents, law enforcement and staff on measures including signage, crosswalks and speed-feedback signs.
Mwangi also called for more education around e-bikes and traffic safety involving young riders, parents, schools and police.
For young residents, Mwangi proposes creating a Champlin Youth Advisory Council that would give young people a formal avenue to participate in local government.
“Instead of adults guessing what the youth need,” he said, “let’s ask them.”
He said the city could also work with schools, nonprofits and businesses to expand internships, leadership programs, volunteer opportunities and workforce experience.
On economic development, Mwangi said Champlin should do more to connect entrepreneurs and small businesses with resources already available through Hennepin County and other organizations.
He pointed to his nonprofit work in neighboring Brooklyn Park and his relationships with organizations and local governments elsewhere in the northwest suburbs as experience he believes could help Champlin identify programs that have worked in other cities.
Another route to the council
Mwangi had hoped to reach the City Council earlier this year without another election.
The Ward 4 seat became vacant March 11. The City Council solicited applications and held a special meeting April 20 to interview candidates and select an interim council member. Council members appointed Coan, who took office April 27 and will serve through the end of the year.
Mwangi, who also sought the appointment, told Mshale he believed his previous campaigns and years of civic involvement should have carried greater weight in the selection process.
He criticized leaving the decision solely to sitting council members and said he would have preferred a process that included additional community input.
Coan is now seeking the seat in her own right in the Nov. 3 election.
Mwangi’s route to the council, therefore, goes back through the voters.
Absentee voting for the election began Sept. 18, while in-person early voting at Champlin City Hall begins Oct. 16. Election Day polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
For Mwangi, another campaign means once again knocking on doors, putting out signs and asking Ward 4 voters to give him the opportunity he has sought for years.
This time, however, he says he is no longer introducing himself to many of them.
“They know me,” Mwangi said.
Author
About Tom 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 board of 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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