Sen. Moua will not run for reelection

State Sen. Mee Moua of St. Paul, who became the first Hmong member of a U.S. Legislature in 2002, surprised her colleagues today by announcing she will not run for re-election this fall.

Moua, 40 and the mother of three children, said she wants to devote more time to her family.

"My family has made sacrifices in support of my commitment to public service," she said in a speech on the Senate floor. "Their love, their support and sacrifices made these (nearly) 10 years possible, and all I want to do is to dedicate the next decade to be about my family and my children's future."

Moua's retirement creates a rare opening for a safe Democratic-Farmer-Labor Senate seat on St. Paul's East Side.

Sen. Debbie Johnson, R-Ham Lake, also announced she would not seek a fourth term after 10 years in the Legislature.

So far, 21 legislators — 13 House members and 8 senators — have announced their retirements.

Among them are Moua and Rep. Cy Thao, DFL-St. Paul, the only Hmong-Americans in the Legislature.

"It is an incredibly amazing thing for a refugee girl from the mountains of Laos to come to this country and be able to get a good education, do the right thing and get elected to the Minnesota state Senate," Moua told her colleagues. "There can be no greater symbolism of what the American dream represents or what American democracy stands for than the story that you've all helped me write."

In her absence next year, she asked senators to keep


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in mind "people who may not be here but who may look like me."
But Moua has prided herself on representing all her constituents. "The greatest honor of my life is serving the people of St. Paul's East Side in the state of Minnesota," she said.

Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, called Moua "a great American story, coming from such difficult origins and rising to success."

After emigrating to the United States as a child, she earned a bachelor's degree from Brown University, master's degree from the University of Texas and law degree from the University of Minnesota.

A lawyer, she launched her political career in 2002 by winning a surprise victory in a five-way DFL primary for the seat vacated by Sen. Randy Kelly after he was elected mayor.

"That was fantastic. She won not because she was a Hmong woman but she also was very smart, gutsy and funny," said Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul.

In the Senate, her colleagues showed their trust by naming her chair of the prestigious Senate Judiciary Committee. In that post, Pappas and Anderson said, she made her mark by championing juvenile justice, civil rights, revamping family laws and child protection.

"She's very fair, organized, thorough and, for a little girl (5-foot even), not afraid to take on the big guys," Pappas said.

Anderson compared her to the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, "a short person with a giant personality."

Here are the legislators who have announced their retirements:

HOUSE

Rep. Karla Bigham, DFL -Cottage Grove

Rep. Laura Brod, R-New Prague

Rep. Randy Demmer, R-Hayfield, running for Congress in the 1st District

Rep. Rob Eastlund, R-Isanti

Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, running for governor

Rep. Larry Haws, DFL-St. Cloud

Rep. Jeremy Kalin, DFL-North Branch

Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, running for governor

Rep. Paul Kohls, R-Victoria

Rep. Doug Magnus, R-Slayton, running for state Senate

Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall

Rep. Dan Severson, R-Sauk Rapids, running for secretary of state

Rep. Cy Thao, DFL-St. Paul

SENATE

Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, running for Congress in the 6th District

Sen. Steve Dille, R-Dassel

Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R-New Ulm

Sen. Debbie Johnson, R-Ham Lake

Sen. Mee Moua, DFL-St. Paul

Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing

Sen. Pat Pariseau, R-Farmington

Sen. Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy

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