Chonburi Lee grew up in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood but as a child visited Maplewood so much, swimming and playing at a community center, that he aspired to live there one day.
Today, Lee, 38, sits on the Maplewood City Council and in August gained the most primary votes for mayor. He could become the first Hmong leader of a city where 20% of the population is Hmong.
He is running for mayor of Maplewood focusing on a new leadership style, the rising cost of living and starting “a new chapter for families.” Lee said the city’s dynamics and demographics have changed, and officials must cater to those people.
Lee led in the August primary with 44% of the vote, followed by incumbent Mayor Marylee Abrams with 31%. Diana Longrie, a former mayor, was knocked out of the race, with 25%.
Abrams, elected in 2019, had raised $1,300 for her campaign before the primary. She declined an interview for this story. Lee has raised $29,000, according to his pre-primary campaign financial report. The general election is Nov. 3.
“The joke around town was, if you make it in Maplewood someday, you’ve made it,” Lee said. “That’s kind of where I’m at now, where I’m like, oh, I think I made it.”
Lee’s interest in local government grew after he joined the Maplewood Advisory Committee during the pandemic. He enjoyed meeting neighbors and talking with them about how to make a better community for all. As senior manager of grant making for the nonprofit Coalition of Asian American Leaders, Lee helps distribute state loans and grants to small businesses.
He joined the City Council in 2023.
Run for mayor
Lee said he is running for mayor because he believes Maplewood is ready for someone who is thinking about and planning for the next 10 to 20 years. City officials must cater to Maplewood’s changing dynamics, as young families move into the city and retirees transition to other housing.
“I think what we really need to do is, as a city, we have to cater to the changing dynamics of our community,” Lee said. “And I think that’s one piece that we’re missing here is creating a family-friendly city, a city that caters to young families calling Maplewood home today.”
Lee said he thinks Maplewood is missing services and recreation for youth and seniors and wants to fill that gap. As a father of four Lee said he drives his kids to nearby towns for activities and programs.
“We don’t have any of those services here in the city of Maplewood. We have to bring that home here, so we can keep youth and seniors here in our city and parents here in our city, so they can spend money here,” Lee said.
DFL state Sen. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger, who represents part of Maplewood, campaigned alongside Lee in 2022. She said his passion and care for the community show through in how he talks to community members.
“I think his ideas are really forward-looking into where Maplewood needs to go for next steps,” Hemmingsen-Jaeger said. “He wants to make sure that it can be a place where families can grow and be supported in every stage of their life.”
Lee wants to set a tone where “our city government is engaged with our residents, and that residents are at the table with us before decisions are made, and not after,” Lee said. “Residents should be engaged and not just informed.”
Lee was driven to run for mayor after an experience on the council in 2024. He said the city staff and mayor found a candidate for city manager but did not open the hiring process to other candidates.
“It wasn’t an open and fair hiring process,” Lee said. “They found a candidate, they interviewed one candidate, and then they hired the candidate. Pretty much appointed the candidate without a fair open hiring process. And we talk often about how we want to be fair and transparent. … That was my defining moment because as a leader, we have to make sure we’re doing the right thing. We have to set good examples for our businesses and for other folks in our city that we are being fair, open and transparent about our hiring process.”
As mayor, Lee would target the cost of living and property taxes, and work with the city staff about what the city needs versus what it wants.
“I think that one of the big pieces is making sure that our expenditures are sustainable, or [how] we’re taxing is sustainable for the long term,” Lee said. “My expectation of myself is to make sure that we’re watching every dollar.”
Lee said recent property tax increases have gone toward the public safety department and staff in order to keep them on the job.
“If we don’t pay our staff fair, livable, equitable wages, they’re going to go to the next city,” Lee said. “I think taking the time to explain some of these items to people, you know, they understand it. … A lot of people have that same sentiment because we really do have good fire and police here.”
State Rep. Peter Fischer, a DFLer, said Lee is willing to sit down with anyone and have a difficult conversation, while making sure people feel heard and respected.
“What his campaign means to me is the birth of a new generation of young people getting involved in our local community, who’ve been here for years,” Fischer said. “It’s like in some ways the passing of the torch from the older generation to the younger generation.
“He’s got a very young family. He’s very committed to the area, and those are very important to me.”
Maplewood’s first Hmong mayor?
David Schultz is professor of political science at Hamline University. He said that in the last 40 years, Minnesota’s immigrant population has more than doubled, and second and third generation immigrants coming to this country are moving to the suburbs, too.
“What’s starting to happen now is, a couple generations into this, individuals not only have moved but are starting to get into leadership positions,” Schultz said. “We’re now seeing that diversity kick in, in terms of the suburbs and politics.”
Schultz said that Kaohly Her’s election as St. Paul mayor this year reflects the fact that since the 1970s post-Vietnam War Minnesota has had an influx of Asian Americans, eventually leading to leadership positions in business and community.
“White Caucasians are more likely to want to live in neighborhoods that have a heavier concentration of whites, versus persons of color [who] generally survey their ideal neighborhood as a much more racially diverse neighborhood,” Schultz said. “I say that because candidates of color oftentimes are representing broader coalitions of people from across racial and ethnic backgrounds, and therefore might do a better job.
Lee did not become a citizen until he was much older, but said he understood the power of voting and even started driving people to the polls.
“One of my mentors said to me, ‘if you don’t have a chair at the table, you have to bring your own chair,’” he said.
Lee has learned through the years that listening is the best skill that a leader and public servant can have, he said.
“When we listen, we really truly hear people’s concerns, and when we listen, we make better business decisions,” Lee said. “Because they may not always agree with us, but they make us think about things we don’t think about.”
