Brooklyn Park mayor, Jeff Lunde, right, administers the oath of office on Wynfred Russell to serve on the Brooklyn Park City Council on Monday, January 7, 2019 at the council's chambers. Russell who was born and raised in Liberia becomes the first black person to ever serve on the council. Photo: Bethel Gessesse/Mshale
Brooklyn Park mayor, Jeff Lunde, right, administers the oath of office on Wynfred Russell to serve on the Brooklyn Park City Council on Monday, January 7, 2019 at the council's chambers. Russell who was born and raised in Liberia becomes the first black person to ever serve on the council. Photo: Bethel Gessesse/Mshale
Dozens of Brooklyn Park residents last evening crammed into city council chambers to witness history being made in Minnesota’s sixth largest city, the swearing in of the city’s first black council member, Wynfred Russell, who was born and raised in Liberia.
Russell, a former instructor at the University of Minnesota, defeated former council member Bob Mata by garnering a convincing 55% of the vote in November’s midterm elections to make him the second person of color elected to the council after that of his now fellow council member, Susan Pha, two years ago. In 2012, Russell, who at the time served on the city’s planning commission, ran for a seat on the same council and lost by just five votes. This time, it was a joyous occasion as friends and family cheered and recorded the historic event.
Minnesota is home to the largest population of Liberians in the United States with Brooklyn Park home to most of them. Many of them were present last night to witness the brief yet monumental event as one of their own placed his hand on his late father’s bible to take the oath of office. The bible had been sent over from Liberia a few days ago in time for the swearing in.
In an interview with Mshale shortly after being elected in November, he said he looks forward to working with others to improve the economic well being of the city’s residents.
“I also intend to focus on the small businesses of which many are run by people of color and do not get the same tax breaks or incentives other big companies get from our city,” he said. “But if we can get some grants to support them, the small business is the backbone of the economy and it will benefit our city if they thrive.”
International student enrollment at US colleges and universities declined as schools opened for the fall 2018/2019 school year, new number show. Photo: Wikimedia
International student enrollment at US colleges and universities declined as schools opened for the fall 2018/2019 school year, new number show. Photo: WikimediaInternational student enrollment at US colleges and universities declined as schools opened for the fall 2018/2019 school year, new number show. Photo: Wikimedia
New enrollments of international students fell by 6.6 percent at American universities in academic year 2017-18 compared to the year before, marking the second straight year in declines in new enrollments, according to new data from the annual Open Doors survey.
New enrollments fell 6.3 percent at the undergraduate level, 5.5 percent at the graduate level and 9.7 percent at the nondegree level from 2016-17 to 2017-18.
A separate survey of institutions found that the decline in new international enrollments is continuing this fall, though the drop was less severe than that reported last year.
Institutions that responded to this fall’s enrollment survey reported on average a 1.5 percent continuing drop in new international enrollments, a drop that comes on top of last year’s declines. However, while about half (49 percent) of respondents reported declines in new international enrollments this fall, another 44 percent reported increases, and 7 percent said their numbers were stable.
“This is very much a mixed picture,” said Rajika Bhandari, a senior adviser for research and strategy and director of the Center for Academic Mobility Research & Impact at the Institute of International Education, which conducts the survey with funding from the Department of State. “We’re seeing those new enrollment numbers really vary based on institutional characteristics.”
Unlike in past years, IIE did not release the full findings of the current fall enrollment survey to reporters in advance along with the Open Doors data, but Bhandari and Peggy Blumenthal, a senior counselor to the president at IIE, shared several top-line findings in an interview last week with Inside Higher Ed. Among the findings, institutions in the center of the country — specifically the South Central region, which includes Texas, and the West North Central region — are seeing sharper declines than are institutions on the coasts. Less selective institutions are also seeing steeper declines.
“The large research institutions, many of them are seeing growth,” Blumenthal said. “The less well-known abroad schools and the schools giving associate degrees are seeing much sharper declines.”
Over all (as opposed to new) international enrollments did increase by 1.5 percent from 2016-17 to 2017-18, according to the Open Doors survey, which collected data from 2,075 institutions. But that growth is being driven by a boom in the number of students participating in the optional practical training program, OPT, which enables graduates of U.S. colleges to stay in the country and work for up to three years after graduating while remaining on their student visas. A change in 2016 to the duration of OPT for students studying STEM fields means that students are staying in the OPT pipeline for longer after they graduate from their program.
The increases in OPT participation by recent international graduates can mask declines in the number of international students who are currently enrolled in degree programs — the number that really matters to colleges when it comes both to their financial bottom lines and their goals of building diverse campuses. The total number of students participating in OPT grew by 15.8 percent from 2016-17 to 2017-18, while the total number of enrolled international students increased by 0.8 percent at the undergraduate level and decreased by 2.1 percent at the graduate level. The number of nondegree students — a category that includes students in intensive English programs — fell for the third year in a row, by 10.1 percent.
Among the big changes in the Open Doors data for academic year 2017-18 was an 8.8 percent drop from the prior year in the number of graduate and professional students from India, the second-largest country of origin for international students in the U.S. after China.
Another notable shift was a 6.4 percent drop in the number of international graduate students studying engineering, the most popular field of study for international students in the U.S.
Universities also saw a 15.5 percent overall decline in the number of students from the No. 4 sending country, Saudi Arabia. The number of Saudi students declined at all academic levels, a change that’s largely attributable to the Saudi government scaling back a foreign scholarship program that has sent thousands of Saudi students to study at U.S. universities.
At the undergraduate level, higher education institutions reported double-digit year-over-year increases in students from the No. 6 sending country, Vietnam, No. 10 Brazil and No. 11 Nepal.
The number of students from the No. 1 sending country, China, continued to increase at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, by 4 and 2 percent respectively, but declined at the nondegree level. Chinese students account for 33.2 percent of international students in the U.S.; together with India, students from the two countries account for more than half (51.1 percent) of all international students.
Among other notable shifts involving top sending countries, the numbers of students from the No. 3 sending country, South Korea, fell for the seventh straight year, by 7 percent, a trend that Blumenthal attributes to the changing demographics of South Korea and to the improving quality of the Korean higher education system.
There were also declines in the overall number of students coming from America’s neighbors, Canada and Mexico, two countries where President Trump is deeply unpopular. While there were drops at all academic levels for Canadian and Mexican students — except for the OPT level — the steepest decline was in the number of Mexican students coming for nondegree study, including intensive English, which fell by 39.1 percent.
This year’s Open Doors data also provide a first glimpse of the impact on international enrollments of President Trump’s various travel bans barring entry to the U.S. for citizens of a group of mostly Muslim-majority countries.
Iran, the No. 12 sending country, is the only country affected by Trump’s travel ban that sends substantial numbers of students to the U.S. Although an Inside Higher Ed analysis of State Department data showed a sharp drop in the number of student visas awarded to Iranians in the year after the first iteration of the ban went into place in January 2017, the Open Doors data do not suggest there was a big effect on Iranian student enrollments that fall. On the contrary, the Open Doors data show a 1.2 percent increase in the number of Iranian students at the graduate level — significant, since about three-quarters of all Iranian students in the U.S. study at the graduate level. The number of Iranian students did decline at the undergraduate (-16.8 percent) and nondegree levels (-35.7 percent), but from a much smaller base.
Among other countries covered by the first and second versions of Trump’s travel ban — which were in effect for parts of the application cycle of the 2017-18 year — there were drops in the total numbers of students from Iraq (-15.3 percent), Libya (-18.8 percent), Syria (-12.2 percent) and Yemen (-21.4 percent), and increases in the number of students from Somalia (+34 percent) and Sudan (+2.2 percent).
A third and current version of the ban bars all students from North Korea and Syria from applying for student visas unless they obtain a waiver. Nationals of the other affected countries are eligible to apply for student visas, though in practice they may have difficulty obtaining them.
Political and Social Factors?
International educators have been deeply concerned that international students could be deterred by more restrictive policies on visas coupled with the Trump administration’s rhetoric on immigration. The president reportedly described most Chinese students in the U.S. as spies and entertained a proposal from a senior adviser to stop awarding student visas to Chinese nationals. The Trump administration has introduced new, enhanced visa questionnaires for certain applicants and has introduced a controversial new policy making it easier for international students to accrue what’s known as “unlawful presence” in the U.S., a determination that can subject them to future three- or 10-year bars on re-entry.
There is also continuing uncertainty about what future changes may be in the offing to visa programs that let students stay in the U.S. and work, including the OPT program and the H-1B visa program.
“Institutions are reporting that the social and political environment continues to be a challenge for international recruitment,” Bhandari said in relation to the survey of institutions conducted this fall. “Institutions are also reporting that they’re concerned about recruitment from Asia.”
She added, “We have about 43 percent of institutions saying that cost continues to be a challenge and that they are trying to ameliorate the situation through approaches like providing more tuition waivers and scholarships and waiving the application fee.”
In a press call with reporters, officials at IIE and the State Department seemed to want to downplay the degree to which political and social factors — including a rise in mass shootings — might be deterring international students. In the call IIE officials emphasized a number of other factors for the drop in new students, including the rising cost of U.S. higher education, increased competition for students from other countries and changes to foreign government scholarship programs, including Saudi Arabia’s.
“It’ll always be a very, very mixed picture, and the international education consumer is always concerned about access, diversity, quality, cost, safety, but in the past couple of years for me the biggest new development is that there are real competitor countries out there that we’ve never had before,” said Allan E. Goodman, IIE’s president.
“This flattening started in 2015-2016, when applications were being filled out in 2014, so it’s quite frankly unwarranted to say that it is completely the result of a political environment,” Caroline Casagrande, the deputy assistant secretary for academic programs at the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, said during the press call. The Open Doors data show that new international enrollments at U.S. colleges increased in 2015-16, but by a slower rate (2.4 percent) compared to the prior year (8.8 percent). The first recorded drop in new enrollments came in academic year 2016-17.
Rahul Choudaha, the executive vice president of global engagement and research at StudyPortals, a company that offers an online international student recruitment platform, said it’s difficult to gauge just how much of an effect political factors have had, but he believes the political climate has dampened growth potential from certain source countries. “It’s a scenario of lost opportunity, because from the institution’s side there is clearly an interest to internationalize and attract more international students for a variety of reasons,” Choudaha said.
Choudaha added that another phenomenon to note is “the big getting bigger.”
“There are institutions in the Midwest that are facing a much sharper decline — and a bigger effect of this Trump effect, you might say — but then on the other side there are institutions in California, New York and Massachusetts, and if they are higher in the Carnegie classification, which means they are highly ranked, they are not seeing any effect.”
Among the top 10 states hosting international students, there were increases in the total number of international students (including OPT participants) in No. 1 destination California (+3.2 percent), No. 2 New York (+2.4 percent), No. 4 Massachusetts (+8.4 percent), No. 5 Illinois (+2.2 percent), No. 6 Pennsylvania (+1.3 percent) and No. 7 Florida (+1.7 percent), and declines in No. 3 Texas (-0.9 percent), No. 8 Ohio (-2.8 percent), No. 9 Michigan (-0.7 percent) and No. 10 Indiana (-2 percent).
Detailed tables from Open Doors showing changes in international enrollment by country of origin and field of study from 2016-17 to 2017-18 are below. Another table shows percent changes in total international enrollment in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, and notes which candidate the state went for in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton or Trump.
Percent Change in Total International Enrollments from 2016-17 to 2017-18 From Top 15 Countries of Origin by Academic Level
Undergraduate
Graduate
Nondegree
OPT
Overall
World Total
+0.8%
-2.1%
-10.1%
+15.8%
+1.5%
1. China
+4%
+2%
-7.7%
+9.8%
+3.6%
2. India
+6.2%
-8.8%
-16.6%
+32%
+5.4%
3. South Korea
-8.1%
-5.5%
-16.1%
-0.9%
-7%
4. Saudi Arabia
-15%
-10.2%
-34%
-2.4%
-15.5%
5. Canada
-4.6%
-5.9%
-5.8%
+2.7%
-4.3%
6. Vietnam
+10.9%
+5.7%
-3%
+3.4%
+8.4%
7. Taiwan
+7%
+3.2%
-4.4%
+6.5%
+4.4%
8. Japan
+1%
-1.7%
-2.4%
+3.7%
-0.1%
9. Mexico
-6.3%
-6.5%
-39.1%
+15.3%
-8.1%
10. Brazil
+16.6%
+5.8%
+17.1%
+3.6%
+11.7%
11. Nepal
+17.9%
+13.7%
-50%
+7.6%
+14.3%
12. Iran
-16.8%
+1.2%
-35.7%
+14.3%
+1.1%
13. Nigeria
+1.5%
+12.3%
-23.5%
+29.8%
+8.4%
14. United Kingdom
-1.5%
-4.1%
+1.9%
+12.3%
-0.3%
15. Turkey
-1.3%
-0.3%
-33.1%
+18.3%
-0.6%
Enrolled International Students by Field of Study and Academic Level
2016-17 Undergraduates
2017-18 Undergraduates
Percent Change
2016-17 Graduates
2017-18 Graduates
Percent Change
Agriculture
4,026
4,151
+3.1%
6,281
5,852
-6.8%
Business and Management
106,669
101,755
-4.6%
57,167
57,506
+0.6%
Communications and Journalism
12,395
12,460
+0.5%
5,759
5,691
-1.2%
Education
4,503
4,166
-7.5%
10,867
10,735
-1.2%
Engineering
71,622
71,151
-0.7%
105,060
98,307
-6.4%
Fine and Applied Arts
29,955
31,999
+6.8%
20,196
19,894
-1.5%
Health Professions
12,331
12,410
+0.6%
16,454
16,475
+0.1%
Humanities
5,037
5,077
+0.8%
9,877
9,555
-3.3%
Legal Studies and Law Enforcement
2,321
2,226
-4.1%
9,053
10,092
+11.5%
Math and Computer Science
43,847
49,566
+13%
76,113
76,352
+0.3%
Physical and Life Sciences
26,965
27,902
+3.5%
37,056
37,098
+0.1%
Social Sciences
42,761
43,579
+1.9%
28,188
27,734
-1.6%
Change in International Enrollments by State, Ranked by International Enrollments
Candidate Supported in 2016 Presidential Election
Percent Change in International Enrollments from 2016-17 to 2017-18
Republican gubernatorial nominee Lisa Demuth, left, and DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison received the two largest public campaign subsidies among Black candidates in Minnesota’s 2026 post-primary distribution. Demuth received $1.29 million and Ellison received $294,603, together accounting for 91.5% of the nearly $1.74 million received by 13 Black candidates in a Mshale analysis. | Photos by Michele Jokinen/Minnesota House and Richard Ooga/Mshale
Republican gubernatorial nominee Lisa Demuth, left, and DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison received the two largest public campaign subsidies among Black candidates in Minnesota’s 2026 post-primary distribution. Demuth received $1.29 million and Ellison received $294,603, together accounting for 91.5% of the nearly $1.74 million received by 13 Black candidates in a Mshale analysis. | Photos by Michele Jokinen/Minnesota House and Richard Ooga/MshaleST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota distributed a record $5.28 million in public campaign subsidies to candidates this year, with Republican gubernatorial nominee Lisa Demuth becoming the first candidate in state history to receive more than $1 million from the program. A Mshale analysis found that Demuth was among 13 Black candidates who together received nearly $1.74 million in the post-primary distribution.
The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board distributed $5,278,145 to 347 candidates running for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor, state Senate and state House in the Nov. 3 general election.
The Board said the total was the largest disbursement in the history of Minnesota’s public subsidy program and marked the first time an individual candidate received more than $1 million.
Demuth received $1,293,702.93 — nearly one-quarter of all the money distributed statewide.
Her payment also heavily influenced the amount received by Black candidates. The 13 Black recipients identified in Mshale’s analysis received a combined $1,735,916.18, or 32.9% of the statewide total, but Demuth alone accounted for nearly three-quarters of that amount.
Demuth, who is biracial and has publicly identified herself as a Black woman, became the first Black speaker of the Minnesota House in 2025. She is one of two Black Republican candidates among the 13 recipients identified by Mshale.
Attorney General Keith Ellison, a DFLer seeking reelection, received the second-largest payment among Black candidates at $294,603.39.
Together, Demuth and Ellison — the two Black candidates running for constitutional offices who received subsidies — accounted for 91.5% of the public subsidy dollars received by Black candidates.
Black legislative candidates receive $147,610
The remaining 11 Black recipients are candidates for the Minnesota Legislature and received a combined $147,609.86.
Four are running for the state Senate and seven for the House. Ten are DFL candidates and one, Rep. Walter Hudson of Albertville, is a Republican.
Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, a Minneapolis DFLer, received $27,219.79, the largest payment among Black legislative candidates. Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten of St. Paul received $23,292.42, followed by Sen. Omar Fateh of Minneapolis at $21,007.83 and Sen. Erin Maye Quade of Apple Valley at $18,688.64.
Among House candidates, Rep. Esther Agbaje of Minneapolis received $9,442.57; Rep. Anquam Mahamoud of Minneapolis received $9,362.62; Rep. Athena Hollins of St. Paul received $8,566.90; Rep. Mary Frances Clardy of Inver Grove Heights received $8,202.57; Rep. Mohamud Noor of Minneapolis received $8,036.85; Rep. Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley of Brooklyn Park received $7,589.45; and Hudson received $6,200.22.
The 11 Black legislative candidates received about 4.35% of the approximately $3.39 million distributed to all state House and Senate candidates.
The group also reflects the growing diversity of Black political representation in Minnesota. It includes African immigrants as well as U.S.-born members of the African diaspora alongside other Black Minnesotans. Mahamoud, for example, was born in California to Somali parents, while Verbeten was born in Minnesota and is the daughter of a Senegalese immigrant.
How the public subsidy works
Minnesota’s public subsidy payments consist of two components that can produce substantially different payments even among candidates seeking the same type of office.
The general account portion comes from an appropriation from the state’s general fund. The party account portion comes from taxpayers who designate money to political parties through the State Elections Campaign Fund checkoff on Minnesota income and property tax returns.
The amount ultimately distributed from party accounts depends on several factors, including the office a candidate is seeking and, in part, the county where taxpayers making the designation reside.
For the 2026 post-primary distribution, House candidates receiving subsidies generally received $5,278.94 from the general account, while Senate candidates received $11,460.17. Differences in their total payments therefore largely resulted from the party account portion.
Mohamed, for example, received $15,759.62 from the DFL party account in addition to her $11,460.17 general account payment, bringing her total to $27,219.79.
Verbeten received $11,832.25 from the party account, Fateh received $9,547.66 and Maye Quade received $7,228.47.
Among the Black House candidates, party account payments ranged from $4,163.63 for Agbaje to $921.28 for Hudson.
Overall, DFL candidates received about $2.24 million in post-primary subsidies while Republican Party of Minnesota candidates received about $3.04 million.
That Republican advantage was largely attributable to Demuth’s nearly $1.3 million gubernatorial payment. Looking only at legislative races, DFL candidates received approximately $1.94 million compared with about $1.45 million for Republican candidates.
Why some candidates received no payment
Participation in Minnesota’s public subsidy program is voluntary, and not every candidate appearing on the November ballot received a payment.
To qualify, candidates must be opposed in either the primary or general election, appear on the general-election ballot, sign a public subsidy agreement accepting campaign expenditure limits and other conditions, and timely file an affidavit showing they raised a required amount in qualifying contributions from individuals eligible to vote in Minnesota.
That helps explain several conspicuous gaps among candidates for statewide constitutional offices.
DFL gubernatorial nominee Amy Klobuchar, DFL Secretary of State Steve Simon and DFL state auditor candidate Ronald Schutz did not sign public subsidy agreements and chose not to participate in the program, Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board Executive Director Jeff Sigurdson told Mshale.
DFL candidate for state auditor, Zack Filipovich, signed the agreement but did not file his affidavit of contributions by the July 27 deadline, Sigurdson said. His campaign therefore did not meet all the requirements necessary to receive a payment.
Demuth consequently was the only gubernatorial candidate receiving a post-primary subsidy, while Ellison was the only attorney general candidate receiving one. Republican secretary of state candidate Tad Jude and Republican state auditor candidate Scott Jensen each received $147,851.75.
Prominent Black candidates also can be absent from the subsidy list for other reasons.
Senate President Bobby Joe Champion, a Minneapolis DFLer and the first Black person to serve as president of the Minnesota Senate, is not among the recipients. Champion is unopposed for reelection. Candidates must face an opponent in either the primary or general election to qualify for a public subsidy.
The Board said 406 of the 437 candidates who filed for constitutional or legislative office this year and registered campaign committees — about 93% — signed voluntary public subsidy agreements.
No minor-party candidates qualified for a post-primary public subsidy payment in 2026.
People gather in the common area of the Brooklyn Park Small Business Center before the launch of BUILD in Brooklyn Park on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. The city is seeking to raise the profile of the center and connect more entrepreneurs with business resources, technical assistance and networking opportunities. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/Mshale
People gather in the common area of the Brooklyn Park Small Business Center before the launch of BUILD in Brooklyn Park on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. The city is seeking to raise the profile of the center and connect more entrepreneurs with business resources, technical assistance and networking opportunities. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/MshaleBROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — For years, technology entrepreneur Cindy Hill has described the Brooklyn Park Small Business Center as a “hidden secret” — a place that impresses people once they walk through its doors but remains unknown to many of the entrepreneurs it was created to serve.
“I’ve been telling people for a long time, we have this hidden secret in Brooklyn Park,” Hill told Mshale on Thursday. “And we just need to start sharing it.”
The City of Brooklyn Park is now trying to do just that.
City officials on Thursday formally launched BUILD in Brooklyn Park, a new partnership with the Small Business Center aimed at raising its visibility and making it easier for entrepreneurs to find technical assistance, capital, business education, mentorship, networking and other resources.
The initiative comes as the taxpayer-supported center, which opened in 2023 at 7970 Brooklyn Blvd., seeks to increase occupancy and revenue after a bumpy start that has required continued financial support from the city.
Community Development Director Tim Gladhill said Thursday that the idea for BUILD grew directly from the realization that many people simply did not know the Small Business Center existed.
Brooklyn Park Community Development Director Tim Gladhill speaks during the launch of BUILD in Brooklyn Park at the Brooklyn Park Small Business Center on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. Gladhill said the initiative grew out of the city’s realization that the center remained largely unknown within the community. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/Mshale
“This actually started as a realization that this space that we’re in right now, the Brooklyn Park Small Business Center, was really unknown in our own community,” Gladhill said.
He said city officials heard stories of people traveling from communities west of Brooklyn Park, driving through the city on their way to coworking spaces in south Minneapolis. When operators of those facilities asked why they weren’t using the Brooklyn Park center instead, Gladhill said the response was often: “What is the Brooklyn Park Small Business Center?”
“We aim to really change that,” he said.
The 25,000-square-foot center occupies part of Northwinds Plaza, which the city purchased in 2021. It offers coworking desks, offices, conference and training rooms, wellness space and retail suites where entrepreneurs can test brick-and-mortar businesses.
In April, the center had about 118 members and was roughly half occupied, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. The city was covering an annual funding gap of about $100,000 to $200,000, and officials said they wanted to raise occupancy to at least 80% and eventually make the center self-sustaining. The city spent about $4.5 million building out the center using grants, tax-increment financing revenue, $1 million in federal funding and other city dollars.
Gladhill did not provide updated occupancy or revenue figures Thursday, but said the center has made progress even before the formal launch of BUILD.
“We are already at an all-time high for occupancy and revenue growth in this center,” he said.
Gladhill also acknowledged the public investment required to operate the center, saying the city is using public dollars to support its operations and buildout even though running such a facility is not traditionally considered a core municipal service.
But he said city officials view the investment as important to Brooklyn Park’s residents, businesses and tax base.
The city said it will invest in staffing and other support for the Small Business Center as part of the new BUILD partnership.
‘Once I came through the doors’
For Hill, who has lived in Brooklyn Park for 37 years, the center’s potential was apparent before it opened.
Hill said she knew about the project from its inception and attended the center’s grand opening intending only to purchase a basic membership. Seeing the facility changed her mind.
“Once I came through the doors, I said, I need to move one of my businesses in here,” she said.
Minnesota Rep. Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley, left, talks with technology entrepreneur Cindy Hill during the launch of BUILD in Brooklyn Park at the Brooklyn Park Small Business Center on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. Hill, who operates PSI Tech Support from the center, describes the facility as a “hidden secret” that more entrepreneurs need to discover. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/Mshale
Hill moved PSI Tech Support, a five-year-old technology company she founded and majority owns, into the center. She and her husband also founded Programming Solutions 37 years ago, a technology company that develops customized systems for state and federal government clients.
Hill said decades of running businesses made her want to use her presence at the center to help entrepreneurs just starting out.
“I knew that I had something to give back to the people that were just starting out from the bottom,” she said.
That has included advising other entrepreneurs on business plans, forecasting, certifications, insurance, licensing and marketing.
Hill recalled helping a woman who operated a tea business a few offices away and sought her advice about marketing and online sales. Within about six or seven months, Hill said, the entrepreneur had gotten her products into her first grocery store.
“It helps when you see people that look like us, especially a Black woman that has been in business so long, to let them know, don’t give up on it,” Hill said.
She said people she brings to the center are often surprised by how much exists beyond the lobby and training area.
“Once you bring them on the other side of the wall, that’s when their eyes light up,” Hill said. “I didn’t know that this was here. Tell me more.”
A newcomer finds visibility
For Jannie Seibure, the Small Business Center’s appeal is much newer.
Seibure, who is originally from Liberia, moved her business, Cavala Travel and Tour, from Brooklyn Center to the Small Business Center about a month ago.
The travel agency provides travel services and sells luggage and other travel-related products. Seibure said the Brooklyn Park location has given the business something particularly important to a small company: visibility.
“It’s a strategic area,” she said. “As you can see, it’s highly populated and it draws traffic.”
Jannie Seibure, owner of Cavala Travel and Tour, hands out business cards during the BUILD in Brooklyn Park launch at the Brooklyn Park Small Business Center on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. Seibure moved her travel agency from Brooklyn Center to the center last month and says the location and interaction with other businesses have increased her visibility. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/Mshale
Seibure said being surrounded by other entrepreneurs also exposes her business to people coming into the center to visit other companies.
“I see it as a networking collaboration of businesses that are in here,” she said. “So my business becomes more visible to all the clients that come in to meet their businesses.”
She said she is also discovering resources available to small businesses through the city.
“I’m loving it so far,” Seibure said.
That type of awareness is precisely what state Rep. Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said the new initiative needs to create.
“Bringing resources home is only half of the question,” Hiltsley said during Thursday’s launch. “Because if somebody doesn’t know that those resources exist, they won’t even tap into those resources.”
Hiltsley, whose district includes the Small Business Center, said entrepreneurs need trusted community leaders who can tell residents that the center is a place where they belong and where their voices matter. She said BUILD could strengthen connections among entrepreneurs, community organizations, government, nonprofits and the private sector.
‘When our entrepreneurs succeed, Brooklyn Park succeeds’
Mayor Hollies Winston said the initiative is built around what he called a simple idea: “When our entrepreneurs succeed, Brooklyn Park succeeds.”
Starting and growing a business, Winston said, requires entrepreneurs to navigate financing, permitting, marketing, technology, workforce issues and finding customers.
“Through this partnership between the City of Brooklyn Park and the Small Business Center, we are working to bring resources, connections, technical assistance and opportunities closer to the entrepreneurs who need them,” Winston said.
Brooklyn Park Councilmember Christian Eriksen, from left, City Manager Jay Stroebel, LS2group partner Corey Day and Mayor Hollies Winston talk during the launch of BUILD in Brooklyn Park at the Brooklyn Park Small Business Center on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/Mshale
He said strengthening small businesses is also part of the city’s effort to address economic disparities and position local entrepreneurs to benefit from future development, including Brooklyn Park’s planned BioTech Innovation District.
The city expects that development to bring thousands of jobs and significant construction activity, and Winston said Brooklyn Park needs a foundation of local businesses capable of participating in those opportunities and bringing the benefits back into the community.
Winston acknowledged that establishing the Small Business Center and other new economic-development efforts has not always been smooth.
“I know it’s been a little bit of a road and sometimes it’s bumpy,” he said.
But he said the ultimate measure of BUILD will not be how many programs the city offers.
It will be “the businesses we help grow, the jobs we help create and the opportunities we help open for the people who call Brooklyn Park home.”
Brooklyn Park City Hall. The city is accepting applications through Sept. 18 for an at-large opening on the Brooklyn Park Charter Commission. Unlike other city commissions, Charter Commission members are appointed by the chief judge of Hennepin County District Court. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/Mshale
Brooklyn Park City Hall. The city is accepting applications through Sept. 18 for an at-large opening on the Brooklyn Park Charter Commission. Unlike other city commissions, Charter Commission members are appointed by the chief judge of Hennepin County District Court. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/MshaleBROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — The City of Brooklyn Park is accepting applications through Sept. 18 for an opening on its Charter Commission following the resignation of Commissioner Shamara Freeman.
The Charter Commission is an independent body that reviews the city’s governing charter and recommends changes to how municipal government operates. Unlike Brooklyn Park’s other city commissions, whose members are appointed by the City Council, members of the Charter Commission are appointed by the chief judge of Hennepin County District Court.
The person appointed to replace Freeman will serve the balance of her term, which expires May 31, 2028. Applicants must be qualified voters and residents of Brooklyn Park. No previous experience is required.
As a home-rule charter city, Brooklyn Park operates under a charter that establishes the framework for its municipal government. The Charter Commission is responsible for reviewing that governing document and recommending changes when needed.
The 11-member commission monitors and periodically reviews the charter and recommends amendments when necessary. Its work can involve elections, the powers and procedures of the mayor and City Council, taxation and finance, and other provisions governing city operations. The commission also has authority to propose charter amendments for consideration by voters.
The commission has recently been considering several issues involving city government, including compensation for the mayor and City Council and proposed amendments to the city charter. At its Aug. 12 meeting, commissioners received a recommendation from a workgroup to increase the mayor’s annual salary from $21,995 to $36,000 and council member salaries from $12,578 to $13,500.
Charter commissioners serve four-year terms and represent the city at large. The commission generally meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m., and the city estimates the time commitment at about three hours per month.
Applications are available through the City of Brooklyn Park’s website or may be picked up at City Hall.
For questions, residents may contact City Clerk Devin Montero at [email protected].
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, left, speaks with attendees alongside U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, in blue with her back to the camera, following a news conference outside the Fred Wells Tennis & Education Center in Minneapolis on July 24, 2026. The center is across the street from the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which the two lawmakers had visited as part of their congressional oversight of immigration detention conditions. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/Mshale
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, left, speaks with attendees alongside U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, in blue with her back to the camera, following a news conference outside the Fred Wells Tennis & Education Center in Minneapolis on July 24, 2026. The center is across the street from the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which the two lawmakers had visited as part of their congressional oversight of immigration detention conditions. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/MshaleMINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge has cleared the way for the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Somalia, ending deportation protections for nearly 1,100 Somali nationals across the United States, as federal immigration data show enforcement against Somalis had already increased sharply before the court action.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston on Friday lifted an administrative stay that had temporarily prevented the Department of Homeland Security from ending Somalia’s TPS designation. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says the termination became effective Aug. 14.
Temporary Protected Status allows eligible nationals of countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions to remain and work legally in the United States for limited periods. Somalia was first designated for TPS in 1991 amid civil war and has remained covered through a series of extensions and redesignations for nearly 35 years.
The termination affects a relatively small share of the Somali population living in the United States. Reuters reported that nearly 1,100 Somalis held TPS when the court allowed the termination to proceed. Many other Somali immigrants are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, refugees, asylees or hold other immigration statuses and are not affected by the termination.
Losing TPS also does not automatically mean that every former beneficiary will be deported. Some may have another immigration status or separate applications for relief that allow them to remain in the country. But those whose only protection against removal came through TPS no longer have that protection.
The ruling could have particular significance in Minnesota, home to the largest Somali population in the United States.
ICE removals had already increased
The termination comes as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data show immigration enforcement against Somali nationals had already increased sharply before TPS protections were lifted.
During the first six months of fiscal year 2026, from Oct. 1, 2025, through March 31, ICE recorded 221 administrative arrests of Somali nationals, 237 detention book-ins and 133 removals, according to agency detention statistics published in July.
The 133 removals during the six-month period were already more than twice the 63 Somali nationals ICE reported removing during the entire 2024 fiscal year.
ICE also reported 82 detention book-ins involving Somali nationals during all of fiscal 2024, compared with 237 during the first half of fiscal 2026. Administrative arrests increased from 68 during fiscal 2024 to 221 during the first six months of fiscal 2026.
The figures are nationwide and do not show how many of those arrested, detained or removed lived in Minnesota. They also cover Somali nationals generally and do not identify how many, if any, were TPS holders.
Court challenge continues
The court ruling does not end the legal challenge to the administration’s decision.
African Communities Together, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans and Somali TPS holders sued the administration earlier this year, arguing that the termination was improperly motivated by discrimination based on race and national origin.
The plaintiffs later amended their complaint to add due process claims and challenge whether the government official who terminated Somalia’s designation had the legal authority to do so.
Burroughs had previously blocked the termination while the case proceeded. But the judge lifted that stay Friday following a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited lower courts’ ability to review DHS decisions terminating TPS designations.
The Somalia action is part of a broader Trump administration effort to dismantle TPS protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries around the world. The administration has moved to terminate TPS for every country whose designation has come up for review since President Donald Trump returned to office, although court challenges have delayed some terminations.
Court filings in one of the TPS cases show that 13 countries had come up for periodic review since Trump returned to office and the administration moved to terminate the designation for all 13, including Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
Other TPS designations remain in effect for now, including protections covering nationals of El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine.
The administration has argued that TPS was intended to provide temporary rather than permanent immigration protection and that conditions in countries whose designations it has terminated no longer justify continuing the program.
Immigrant-rights groups have challenged the administration’s decisions in federal courts, arguing in several cases that conditions remain dangerous and that the terminations were unlawful or discriminatory.
On Tuesday, Aug. 18, another federal judge in Boston cleared the way for the Trump administration to terminate TPS for more than 5,000 Ethiopians. The ruling came after the same Supreme Court decision that affected the Somalia case.
Somalia continues to face armed conflict and attacks by al-Shabaab, an Islamist militant organization that has waged an insurgency against the Somali government for nearly two decades.
For Somali TPS holders, however, USCIS now lists the country’s designation as terminated effective Aug. 14.
Campaign signs for Brooklyn Park mayoral candidates Shelle Page, left, and incumbent Mayor Hollies Winston are displayed near the intersection of 85th Avenue North and Xerxes Avenue on primary Election Day, Aug. 11, 2026. Page and Winston advanced from the four-way primary and will appear on the November general election ballot. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/Mshale
Campaign signs for Brooklyn Park mayoral candidates Shelle Page, left, and incumbent Mayor Hollies Winston are displayed near the intersection of 85th Avenue North and Xerxes Avenue on primary Election Day, Aug. 11, 2026. Page and Winston advanced from the four-way primary and will appear on the November general election ballot. | Photo by Tom Gitaa/MshaleBROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — After last week’s primary elections, attention now shifts to the November general election, with candidates for Brooklyn Park mayor and three City Council seats invited to participate in an Aug. 27 candidate forum.
The League of Women Voters of Brooklyn Park, Osseo and Maple Grove will host the forum beginning at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, in the Brooklyn Park City Council chambers, 5200 85th Ave. N.
Incumbent Mayor Hollies Winston and Councilmember Shelle Page advanced from last week’s four-way mayoral primary. Winston led the field with 48.58% of the vote, while Page finished second with 27.29%.
Page is serving her first term on the City Council, and her current council term runs through 2028.
Three council seats will also be decided in November, although only the East District race appeared on the primary ballot last week.
In the East District, incumbent Councilmember Christian Eriksen finished first with more than 52% of the vote. Allen Miskowiec finished second with 17.65%, advancing with Eriksen to the general election.
In the Central District, Councilmember Nichole Klonowski, who is finishing her first term, will face Ashyante Shantell Gill.
The West District is an open seat, with Bernice Cooper and Tonja West-Hafner competing to succeed Councilmember Maria Tran. Tran opted to run for mayor this year but finished fourth in last week’s primary with 9.83% of the vote.
The forum is free and open to the public. Questions for the candidates may be submitted to the League ahead of the forum at [email protected].
New U.S. citizens participate in a naturalization ceremony in Minnesota. The Justice Department is seeking to revoke the citizenship of 25 naturalized Americans, including seven people from Africa and a Liberian man whose case was filed in Minnesota. | Photo courtesy of U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota
New U.S. citizens participate in a naturalization ceremony in Minnesota. The Justice Department is seeking to revoke the citizenship of 25 naturalized Americans, including seven people from Africa and a Liberian man whose case was filed in Minnesota. | Photo courtesy of U.S. District Court, District of MinnesotaWASHINGTON — The Justice Department has filed civil actions seeking to revoke the U.S. citizenship of 25 naturalized Americans, including seven people from Africa, in what federal officials are calling the largest denaturalization effort of its kind.
The cases, filed in recent weeks in federal courts across the country, include three naturalized citizens from Nigeria, two from Ghana and one each from Liberia and Cameroon.
One of the cases was filed in Minnesota against Enos Fong Korti, a 51-year-old Liberian-born naturalized citizen whom the government accuses of concealing his marital status during the immigration process and later making false statements while applying for U.S. citizenship.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Korti immigrated to the United States as the unmarried child of a U.S. citizen but was actually married at the time, which would have made him ineligible to immigrate under that category. The government alleges he lied about his marital status during the visa process and later falsely stated during naturalization that he had never lied to U.S. officials.
The Justice Department filed the case in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.
The six other African-born defendants are Jonathan Omorogieva Obasohan, 56, of Nigeria; Yetunde Folake Olaniyi, 56, of Nigeria; Esther Quayle, 50, of Ghana; Eddie Jones Appah, 66 or 67, of Ghana; Vivian Chike Obichere, 72, of Nigeria; and Francois Nguessi Dame, 65, of Cameroon.
The allegations against them vary widely.
Federal prosecutors accuse Obasohan of obtaining citizenship under a false identity after previously being ordered deported under another name. Olaniyi is accused of assuming another person’s identity and entering into a sham marriage after being ordered removed from the United States.
Quayle obtained permanent residency through her husband, who the government says had stolen the identity of a U.S. citizen. Prosecutors allege she later naturalized without disclosing his true identity and citizenship.
Appah is accused of failing to disclose that he had previously entered the United States and been deported under another identity.
Obichere, who naturalized in 2013, is accused of making false statements during her naturalization proceedings, including concealing that she had previously applied for and used a U.S. passport bearing another person’s name and identifying information. She later pleaded guilty to passport-related offenses.
Dame, the Cameroon-born defendant, is accused of sexually abusing his minor stepdaughter for years, including during the period before he naturalized in 2014, and failing to disclose the conduct during the naturalization process. He was later convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse of a minor.
USCIS said Tuesday that the 25 complaints filed since July represent the largest denaturalization effort yet. The agency said the Justice Department has filed 123 civil denaturalization complaints since President Donald Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, 2025, which it described as the most in recorded history.
The latest cases come amid growing attention to the Trump administration’s use of denaturalization, the legal process through which the government can seek to revoke citizenship from someone who became a U.S. citizen through naturalization.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, citizenship can be revoked if a federal court determines that naturalization was illegally obtained, or was obtained through concealment of a material fact or willful misrepresentation.
The latest cases do not mean the 25 individuals have lost their U.S. citizenship. The Justice Department has filed civil complaints asking federal courts to revoke their citizenship, and the allegations have not yet been adjudicated.
USCIS said the cases involve allegations ranging from immigration and identity fraud to violent crimes and sexual abuse. In several cases, the government alleges that defendants committed crimes or other disqualifying conduct before becoming citizens and concealed that information during the naturalization process.
The 25 defendants come from countries including Pakistan, Moldova, India, Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria, Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, Haiti, El Salvador, Peru and others.
The administration’s expanding use of denaturalization has drawn national attention and raised questions about how aggressively the government intends to scrutinize naturalized Americans. PBS News Hour on Thursday examined the Justice Department’s increased use of the rarely used legal process to revoke citizenship.
The Justice Department maintains that its efforts are aimed at people who were not legally entitled to naturalize or who obtained citizenship by concealing material facts or making false statements.
USCIS emphasized that the government’s allegations in the 25 newly filed complaints have not been proven in court.
“The claims made in the complaints are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability,” the agency said.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar celebrates her Democratic primary victory Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, at Icehouse in Minneapolis. Omar won more than 80% of the vote as she seeks a fifth term representing Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District. | Photo courtesy of the Ilhan Omar campaign
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar celebrates her Democratic primary victory Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, at Icehouse in Minneapolis. Omar won more than 80% of the vote as she seeks a fifth term representing Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District. | Photo courtesy of the Ilhan Omar campaignMINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar cruised to victory in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District, capturing more than 80% of the vote and easily defeating four challengers as she seeks a fifth term in Congress.
Omar received 122,640 votes, or 80.71%, according to unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State, with all 217 precincts reporting.
Julie Trang Le finished a distant second with 10,201 votes, or 6.71%, followed by Latonya T. Reeves with 9,131 votes, or 6.01%. Nate Schluter received 8,016 votes, or 5.28%, and Abena A. McKenzie received 1,961 votes, or 1.29%.
Omar will face Republican John Nagel in the Nov. 3 general election. Nagel won a four-way Republican primary Tuesday with 52.16% of the vote.
“I am honored that the people of Minnesota’s Fifth District have trusted me to continue to be their voice in Congress,” Omar said in a statement following her victory.
The decisive victory marked a departure from some of Omar’s previous reelection campaigns, when challengers mounted more competitive efforts to unseat one of the most nationally prominent members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation.
Omar has faced a Democratic primary challenge in every reelection campaign since she was first elected to Congress in 2018. Former Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels challenged her in both 2022 and 2024.
The 2022 contest was particularly close, with Omar narrowly defeating Samuels with just over 50% of the vote. Their 2024 rematch was less competitive, with Omar winning 56.2% to Samuels’ 42.9%.
This year, none of Omar’s four challengers emerged as a comparable threat.
Omar used her victory statement to lay out a progressive agenda that included Medicare for All, universal school meals, affordable rent, reproductive rights and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We are tired of being told that it’s not possible to achieve things that would fundamentally make our lives better,” Omar said. “Instead, we are ready to work to make them a reality.”
Omar also placed immigration enforcement and the Trump administration at the center of her remarks, praising Minnesotans who she said organized to protect their neighbors when ICE targeted communities in the district.
“Our district has shown the country what it means to be Minnesotan: we look out for our neighbors, stand up for our rights, and show up when it matters most,” she said.
She pledged to continue serving as a check on the Trump administration and also pointed to gun violence, calling for what she described as “commonsense gun reforms” while invoking the victims of the Annunciation School shooting.
Omar, who was born in Somalia and came to the United States as a refugee, made history when she was elected to Congress in 2018. She became the first Somali American elected to Congress and, along with Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of the first two Muslim women elected to the U.S. House.
Omar is currently the only member of Congress who was born on the African continent.
The Fifth District includes Minneapolis and several surrounding communities, including Brooklyn Center, Columbia Heights, Crystal, Edina, Fridley, Golden Valley, New Hope, Richfield, Robbinsdale, Spring Lake Park, St. Anthony and St. Louis Park.
Omar closed her victory statement by thanking voters throughout the district and urging supporters to turn their attention toward November.
“I am grateful that the Fifth District has my back, and I will always have yours,” Omar said. “Together as Minnesotans, we need to come together so we can win big in November.”
Minnesota Sen. Susan Pha raises her hand as she takes the oath of office at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul on Jan. 3, 2023. Pha easily defeated challenger Nehemiah Garley in Tuesday’s DFL primary for Senate District 38, winning nearly 75% of the vote. | Mshale Staff Photo by Richard Ooga
Minnesota Sen. Susan Pha raises her hand as she takes the oath of office at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul on Jan. 3, 2023. Pha easily defeated challenger Nehemiah Garley in Tuesday’s DFL primary for Senate District 38, winning nearly 75% of the vote. | Mshale Staff Photo by Richard OogaBROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — State Sen. Susan Pha easily defeated challenger Nehemiah Garley in Tuesday’s DFL primary for Minnesota Senate District 38, winning nearly three-quarters of the vote and advancing to the November general election.
Pha received 5,623 votes, or 74.89%, compared with 1,885 votes, or 25.11%, for Garley, according to unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State.
Pha will face Republican Brad Olson in the Nov. 3 general election. Olson did not have a primary opponent. State filings show Olson, Pha and Garley as the three candidates who filed for the District 38 seat this year.
District 38 covers Brooklyn Center and portions of Brooklyn Park and Osseo, communities that include significant immigrant populations and some of the Twin Cities’ largest African and Asian communities.
Pha, who was first elected to the Senate in 2022, thanked voters across the district for what she described as overwhelming support.
“I am deeply humbled by the overwhelming support we received, 74.89% of the vote,” Pha said in a statement Wednesday. “More than anything, I am grateful for every person who made their voice heard in this primary.”
Pha also credited her campaign team and volunteers, saying they knocked thousands of doors, made phone calls, delivered campaign signs and organized throughout the district. She said her campaign coordinated with several other candidates in the area, including House District 38A candidate Wynfred Russell and Brooklyn Center mayoral candidate Teneshia Kragness.
“Now we carry this incredible energy forward to November,” Pha said.
Garley, a Liberian-born Brooklyn Park resident, conceded the race Wednesday and congratulated Pha.
“I congratulate Senator Susan Pha on her victory and thank her for her continued service to our district,” Garley said. “I wish her well as she moves forward.”
Garley said that despite the loss, he believed his campaign succeeded in drawing people who have often been overlooked in politics into the electoral process, including immigrant families, first-time voters and young people.
He particularly highlighted participation by young Liberian Americans and members of the broader African immigrant community, saying that for many it was their first time becoming actively involved in a political campaign.
“They volunteered, organized, knocked on doors, made calls, spoke confidently about the issues, and discovered the power of their voices,” he said.
Minnesota Senate District 38 candidate Nehemiah Garley, center, joins members of the Liberian community during the Liberian Independence Day parade in Brooklyn Park on July 26, 2026. Following his loss to Sen. Susan Pha in Tuesday’s DFL primary, Garley said his campaign helped engage young Liberian Americans and other African immigrants in the political process. | Mshale Staff Photo by Tom Gitaa
Garley had sought to become the first Liberian-born member of the Minnesota Senate. During the campaign, he emphasized affordability, education, health care, small-business development and public safety.
The primary also exposed differences between the two DFL candidates over government spending, taxation and approaches to public safety.
During a July candidate forum covered by Mshale, Pha pointed to steps taken by the Legislature to combat fraud and argued that wealthy residents and corporations should bear a greater share of the tax burden. Garley called for stronger oversight of government spending and said lawmakers should focus on eliminating waste and easing the property-tax burden on residents.
The candidates also differed somewhat on gun violence. Pha backed additional gun restrictions, including a ban on high-capacity assault-style weapons, while Garley emphasized getting illegal guns off the streets and investing in education, mentorship and efforts addressing the root causes of violence.
Pha won her first Senate term in 2022 with 63.91% of the general election vote.
Garley said Wednesday that his involvement in public life would continue despite the primary loss, saying he plans to remain involved in community service, developing leaders and organizing residents.
“This will not be the last you see or hear from me,” he said.
Brooklyn Center mayoral candidates Alexander Koenig, left, and City Council member Teneshia Kragness advanced from Tuesday’s four-way primary and will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election. Kragness received 52.86% of the vote, while Koenig narrowly secured the second spot by seven votes. | Photos courtesy of Alexander Koenig and Teneshia Kragness
Brooklyn Center mayoral candidates Alexander Koenig, left, and City Council member Teneshia Kragness advanced from Tuesday’s four-way primary and will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election. Kragness received 52.86% of the vote, while Koenig narrowly secured the second spot by seven votes. | Photos courtesy of Alexander Koenig and Teneshia KragnessBROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — Brooklyn Center City Council member Teneshia Kragness easily won Tuesday’s four-way mayoral primary, while Alexander Koenig narrowly secured the second spot on the November ballot by just seven votes.
Kragness received 1,832 votes, or 52.86%, according to unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State. Koenig finished a distant second with 683 votes, or 19.71%.
City Council member Laurie Ann Moore came within seven votes of advancing, finishing third with 676 votes, or 19.50%. Latrecia J. Mayo received 275 votes, or 7.93%.
All six Brooklyn Center precincts had reported.
Kragness and Koenig will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election to succeed Mayor April Graves, who is not seeking reelection.
Kragness, who has served on the City Council since 2023, entered the race with Graves’ endorsement. Tuesday’s result gave her a commanding advantage heading into the general election, with more than 2½ times as many votes as Koenig.
Koenig’s narrow advancement came days after Mshale reported that Citizens for Safer Cities, a political committee funded primarily by apartment-owning companies, spent $5,589.60 on independent print advertising supporting his candidacy.
The committee’s spending supporting Koenig exceeded the fundraising reported by Kragness and Moore ahead of the primary. Kragness reported raising $1,249.83, including $300 she loaned her campaign, while Moore reported raising $100. Koenig told Mshale last week that he had requested an extension for his campaign finance report and described his campaign as largely self-funded.
Koenig said at the time that he did not solicit the committee’s support and had no involvement in its spending. Independent expenditures are made without coordination with the candidate or campaign they are intended to benefit.
Citizens for Safer Cities also spent $2,824 each in independent expenditures supporting City Council candidates Gretchen Enger and incumbent Dan Jerzak.
Four advance in City Council race
Brooklyn Center voters also narrowed a nine-candidate field to four candidates who will compete in November for two at-large City Council seats.
Enger led the field with 1,060 votes, or 17.72%, followed closely by Jerzak with 1,030 votes, or 17.22%.
Nahid Khan finished third with 815 votes, or 13.62%, while Mark Viste claimed the fourth and final spot on the November ballot with 657 votes, or 10.98%.
Justin McGuire finished fifth with 568 votes, or 9.49%, followed by Ebonie L. McMillan with 564 votes, or 9.43%; Aniya White with 533 votes, or 8.91%; Jacob Carter with 491 votes, or 8.21%; and Georgette Byers with 265 votes, or 4.43%.
Enger serves on the Brooklyn Center Finance Commission, while Jerzak has served on the City Council since January 2023. Khan chairs the city’s Arts and Beautification Commission and serves on the Sister Cities Commission, while Viste serves on the Planning Commission.
The four candidates will compete for the two council seats in the Nov. 3 general election, with the two highest vote-getters winning four-year terms.
Brooklyn Park Mayor Hollies Winston, left, speaks with U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Harlem Bromell after delivering his State of the City address at Edinburgh USA on April 7, 2026, while City Council member Shelle Page talks with residents during a National Night Out gathering on Aug. 4, 2026. Winston and Page advanced from Tuesday’s four-way mayoral primary and will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election. | Mshale Staff Photos by Tom Gitaa
Brooklyn Park Mayor Hollies Winston, left, speaks with U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Harlem Bromell after delivering his State of the City address at Edinburgh USA on April 7, 2026, while City Council member Shelle Page talks with residents during a National Night Out gathering on Aug. 4, 2026. Winston and Page advanced from Tuesday’s four-way mayoral primary and will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election. | Mshale Staff Photos by Tom GitaaBROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — Brooklyn Park Mayor Hollies Winston and City Council member Shelle Page advanced from Tuesday’s four-way mayoral primary, setting up a November contest between the incumbent and one of his council colleagues.
Winston easily led the field with 5,639 votes, or 48.58%, while Page finished second with 3,167 votes, or 27.29%, according to unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State. All 25 Brooklyn Park precincts had reported.
Former City Council member Boyd Morson finished third with 1,660 votes, or 14.30%, while City Council member Maria Tran received 1,141 votes, or 9.83%.
The top two finishers advance to the Nov. 3 general election.
The result sets up a head-to-head contest between Winston, Brooklyn Park’s first Black mayor, and Page, who is midway through her first term representing the council’s Central District.
Winston is seeking a second term after first winning the mayor’s office in 2022. Page joined the City Council in January 2025 after narrowly defeating Teshite Wako by 341 votes in the 2024 general election.
Page announced her challenge to Winston in May, saying she wanted to bring a different leadership approach to City Hall.
The two entered Tuesday’s primary with a significant fundraising advantage over Morson and Tran. Campaign finance reports provided by the city last week showed Winston and Page had raised substantially more money than their two rivals as the primary approached.
Tuesday’s results confirmed their position as the race’s two leading candidates, although Winston enters the general election campaign with a sizable advantage from the primary. His 48.58% share was more than 21 percentage points higher than Page’s 27.29%.
Page has overcome a primary deficit before. In her successful 2024 campaign for the Central District seat, she finished second to Teshite Wako in the primary before defeating him by 341 votes in the November general election.
Eriksen easily advances in East District
In Brooklyn Park’s only City Council primary Tuesday, incumbent East District Council member Christian Eriksen easily finished first in a four-candidate field.
Eriksen received 2,068 votes, or 52.43%, according to unofficial results. Allen Miskowiec finished second with 696 votes, or 17.65%, earning the other spot on the November ballot.
Liberian-born Philip Seton Gaye-Bai finished third with 591 votes, or 14.98%, while Aaron Endris received 589 votes, or 14.93%. Just two votes separated Gaye-Bai and Endris.
Eriksen and Miskowiec will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election for the East District seat.
Minnesota state Rep. Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley speaks on the House floor at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. Momanyi-Hiltsley won the DFL primary for House District 38A on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, defeating former Brooklyn Park City Council member Wynfred Russell. | Photo courtesy of Session Daily/Minnesota House of Representatives
Minnesota state Rep. Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley speaks on the House floor at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. Momanyi-Hiltsley won the DFL primary for House District 38A on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, defeating former Brooklyn Park City Council member Wynfred Russell. | Photo courtesy of Session Daily/Minnesota House of RepresentativesBROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — Minnesota state Rep. Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley has won the DFL nomination for House District 38A, defeating former Brooklyn Park City Council member Wynfred Russell in a rematch of a primary she won by just 50 votes two years ago.
Momanyi-Hiltsley received 1,822 votes, or 48.79% of the vote, compared with Russell’s 1,561 votes, or 41.81%, with 100% of precincts reporting Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the Minnesota Secretary of State. Richard A. Klatte finished third with 351 votes, or 9.40%.
The 261-vote victory puts Momanyi-Hiltsley, a first-term lawmaker who became the first Kenyan-born person elected to a state legislature in the United States in 2024, one step closer to a second term.
Momanyi-Hiltsley was one of only two DFL House incumbents seeking reelection this year who drew a primary challenger, making the District 38A contest an unusual intraparty fight for a sitting Democratic lawmaker.
Tuesday’s election was the second primary battle between Momanyi-Hiltsley and Russell in two years.
The two first faced each other in 2024 after longtime DFL Rep. Mike Nelson retired following 22 years in the Legislature. Neither candidate secured the 60% of delegate votes required for the DFL endorsement at the party convention, sending the decision to primary voters.
Momanyi-Hiltsley prevailed by just 50 votes in that contest, receiving 1,005 votes to Russell’s 955. She went on to win the November general election with nearly 65% of the vote, making history as the first Kenyan-born state legislator in the country.
Both candidates substantially increased their vote totals in Tuesday’s rematch. Russell grew his support from 955 votes in 2024 to 1,561 this year, while Momanyi-Hiltsley increased hers from 1,005 to 1,822 and widened her margin of victory from 50 votes to 261.
This year, Momanyi-Hiltsley and Russell agreed before the Senate District 38 DFL convention not to seek the party endorsement, saying they wanted to avoid the division within the African immigrant community that accompanied their 2024 endorsement battle. Both instead took their campaigns directly to primary voters.
Despite not seeking the local party endorsement, Momanyi-Hiltsley entered Tuesday’s primary with substantial support from organizations and elected officials traditionally aligned with the DFL.
Her endorsements included AFSCME Council 5, the Minnesota AFL-CIO and the Minnesota Nurses Association. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison headlined a fundraiser for her campaign, while state Sen. John Hoffman, who survived an assassination attempt in June 2025 on the same night former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed, also backed Momanyi-Hiltsley.
Momanyi-Hiltsley, a data privacy and protection professional, had pointed to her first-term legislative record as she made the case for reelection. When Russell announced his challenge in January, she told Mshale that she would let that record speak for itself.
She cited legislation she authored providing $80,000 for Osseo’s sesquicentennial celebration and an $8 million homelessness prevention assistance program, as well as legislation she co-authored strengthening renter protections in Minnesota. She was also the chief author of legislation that provided $400,000 for the Liberian Community Center in Brooklyn Park.
In a video posted on Facebook shortly after polls closed but before results were known, Momanyi-Hiltsley thanked her campaign supporters and District 38A voters for turning out.
“No matter what happens tonight, it has truly been an honor to represent you these last two years, and I pray and hope that I will get that honor to continue working for each and every one of you,” she said.
Momanyi-Hiltsley ended the message by telling supporters that “no matter what happens tonight, we are truly stronger together.”
House District 38A includes parts of Brooklyn Park and the city of Osseo.
In the Republican primary, GOP-endorsed Charlie Kistler easily defeated Yelena S. Kurdyumova, receiving 979 votes, or 90.23%, to Kurdyumova’s 106 votes, or 9.77%. Kistler will face Momanyi-Hiltsley in the Nov. 3 general election.
Russell conceded the race in a statement to Mshale early Wednesday, congratulating Momanyi Hiltsley on her victory.
“The voters of House District 38A have spoken. I congratulate Rep. Huldah Momanyi Hiltsley on her victory in the DFL primary,” Russell said.
Russell said he was proud of the campaign despite falling 261 votes short, pointing to more than 5,000 doors knocked and what he described as countless conversations with residents.
“We built a campaign rooted in community, knocked over five thousand doors, had countless conversations, and stood firmly for food access, affordability, health care, public safety, childcare, and opportunity for all,” he said.
UPDATE: This story was updated Aug. 12, 2026, to include comments from Wynfred Russell following the election.
