Nehemiah Garley of Brooklyn Park has entered the race for Minnesota Senate District 38, launching a campaign focused on supporting small business, infrastructure, education, and affordable housing. He will challenge incumbent Senator Susan Pha in the 2026 DFL primary.

The district leans heavily DFL, and the incumbent Pha is serving her first term in the Minnesota Senate. She was the second Hmong woman elected to the body when she took office in 2023. She won with 64% of the vote against Republican Brad Kohler’s 29% and Legal Marijuana Now Party’s Mary O’Connor’s 7%. She also vastly outraised her opponents, hauling in over $100,000 in contributions while Kohler brought in just over $3,500. No financial data was available for O’Connor. Pha succeeded Chris Eaton who had served for about 10 years. Eaton, in her decade of service as a state senator for the area faced a primary challenger only once – in the 2012 DFL primary for the newly redistricted Senate District 40. She was first elected in 2011 in a required DFL special primary to determine the party’s candidate in a special election that year  following the death of Senator Linda Scheid.

Senate District 38 includes all of Brooklyn Center and Osseo, and about half of Brooklyn Park. The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data as of 2023 shows a population of over 86,000 with Blacks comprising 36% of the population, whites at 31% and Asians at 17%. Latinos make up 10% of the district.

26% of the district’s residents are foreign-born, with Africans comprising the majority at 53%.

Garley is a longtime Brooklyn Park resident and if elected will be the first Liberian-born state senator in Minnesota.

He came to the United States when he was 15, as his family fled the Liberian civil war.  He brings a background in nonprofit work and small business. He is the executive director of Rise Beyond Hate, a youth mentoring and violence prevention nonprofit. He currently serves on the board of the Minneapolis-based music education nonprofit Chops, Inc. He graduated from Edison High School in Minneapolis, and is also a graduate of Hennepin Technical College and the University of Minnesota.

In an interview with Mshale, Garley said a formal launch of his campaign is planned for later, but highlighted his background in business and blue-collar work in his early years, along with his leadership role serving on the Brooklyn Park Human Rights Commission. He joined the commission in 2024 and his term will expire in April 2027.

Garley said one of the reasons he is running is because Pha has been too slow in bringing needed change, and that he’ll fight more aggressively for the district’s interests.

Reached for comment, the incumbent Pha disputed that characterization of her tenure.

“My focus remains exactly where it belongs in delivering real, lasting results for the people I serve,” Pha said in a statement. “In just the past three years, I’ve secured over $80 million in direct investments for our district. That includes funding for public safety, both the Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center Community Centers, Osseo’s lift station, funding for in-district nonprofits and food shelves who directly serves our residents, significant investments in affordable housing- including Huntington Apartments, improvements to our parks and trails, and Highway 610. These critical investments are transforming daily life for families in Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, and Osseo.”

On policy, Garley pledged to work with local officials to attract new industries to the district, invest in infrastructure improvements that will prepare the area for the planned blue line extension, and support law enforcement.

His work in violence prevention and support for law enforcement is a result of personal tragedy. He became a widower with three young children in 2006 after his wife was killed in Brooklyn Park, a victim of gun violence. He said he understands firsthand the struggles of single parent households after his own experience.

He also cited plans to address affordable housing targeted specifically at teachers that will enable them live in the district, and issues affecting youth, especially those in high school.

He decried the declining business environment pointing to Brooklyn Center “where businesses are closing down all the time.”  He said his business administration background will be a plus in helping revitalize the business climate.

Contrasting himself with Sen. Pha, he accused her of not taking a “big picture approach” to issues such as the blue line extension, and the negative effects it might bring if not addressed upfront in the planning stages.

He affirmed his support for the blue line but said he has some concerns.

“We do not have the infrastructure in place for the blue line,” Garley said. “It is a great idea and I’m not against it. But do you see what the blue line has done to Minneapolis? It houses homeless people, people that are on drugs. We don’t have the security measures in place, and we need to have that before we can have it, as we can’t have it come through at the detriment of the district’s residents. We also need to work on the attractions that will bring people to our district using the blue line.”

“Susan has done the best she could but we need a shift of direction and she does not have what it takes to do that,” Garley said.

The 2026 election cycle will start in earnest on February 26 when precinct caucuses are held, followed by party conventions. The DFL Senate District 38 convention – which will decide who to endorse – was held in March when Pha was seeking the endorsement in her first run for the seat. In that 2022 run, DFL delegates deadlocked and did not make an endorsement, allowing the two that were seeking the endorsement – Susan Pha and Huldah Hiltsley – to move on to the August primary.

If on March 2026, the convention decides to endorse either Garley or Pha, one of them will have to decide whether to abide with the endorsement and dropout, or proceed to the primary and challenge the party endorsed candidate. While those who have sought the endorsement and failed have the right to proceed to the primary against the endorsed candidate, it is a move that is frowned upon by party stalwarts.

The candidate filing period will open on May 19 and close on June 2. The withdrawal deadline is June 4.

If there will be a contested DFL primary, it will be held on August 11.