A Kenyan American and Liberian American candidate are facing off in the DFL primary for one of the Twin Cities’ most diverse House districts on Tuesday.
By the day of the primary, on August 13, data security manager Huldah Hiltsley hopes to knock on thousands of doors of potential voters in Brooklyn Park and Osseo. And so does the team of nonprofit executive Wynfred Russell, her opponent in the DFL race for House District 38A.
Their primary battle comes after Representative Michael Nelson announced his retirement last January, opening a path for new candidates in the north metro district that has been home to a growing number of African immigrants in the last two decades.
At the DFL endorsing convention in April, both Hiltsley and Russell won a round but neither was able to secure the 60% threshold for an endorsement, leading to the primary challenge.
District 38A, which was redistricted in 2020, is home to diverse immigrant communities. It is estimated that only 38% of the population is white, while 33% of the inhabitants are black, 18% are Asian, and 9% are Hispanic, according to 2022 U.S. Census Bureau numbers.
When Russell, 52, was elected at the Brooklyn Park City Council in 2019, he was the first African immigrant on the Council.
“We have knocked the glass ceiling,” said Russell, who is Liberian American. “I am glad and I am proud of the work we have done over the years.”
“Now we are a minority-majority city,” Russell added. “So we need someone to represent us, who understands these different cultural dynamics.”
Hiltsley, 39, witnessed the demographic change in the area with arrival of new immigrant communities and said she is honored to be part of this legacy.
“But at the same time, we have a long way to go,” she said, pointing out she would be the only legislator of Kenyan heritage, if elected.
Two Republicans, Yelena Kurdyumova and Brad Olson, will also face off in Tuesday’s primary. Neither responded to a request for comment ahead of the primary.
The candidate who wins the DFL primary will most likely represent the district, which has been a Democratic stronghold for more than 20 years.
Key issues both DFL candidates want to address include public safety, health, education, housing and economic growth.
Huldah Hiltsley
On a weekend door-knocking session, Hiltsley paid a visit to Peggy Darrett-Brewer, 62, a Brooklyn Park resident who has had issues related to trash collection with the company managing her block. Hilstley came with updates after their first conversation: one City Council member wanted to talk with Darrett-Brewer about it.
This is a city issue, but Hiltsley said it is also something she could take up as a state legislator. Property management companies could be held accountable and solutions could be found in community engagement programs.
“It kind of clicked for me,” Hiltsley told Darrett-Brewer, of her conversations on the issue. “There are neighborhoods where I have door-knocked where a simple thing as initiating a youth program, where they get a little stipend, they come in here and clean up the neighborhood.”
Community safety is also an issue that has come up during her door-knocking.
The community has to be at the center of that conversation, Hiltsley said. The local police chief wants to work with “violence interrupters” in the community during interventions. But he needs resources to help fund the program — which the Legislature could provide.
One of Hiltsley’s priorities is to provide more arts, sports and educational opportunities for young people. State funds could help renovate community centers and boost programming. That’s another way to keep young people engaged and less likely to seek out high-risk activities, she said.
Hiltsley said she would bring her experience as a privacy and data security manager and her background launching a nonprofit, SaniNAps, which addresses the lack of sanitary towels and school supplies in Kenya, to her work in the Legislature.
She says her experience is rooted in community and she wants to create an environment where all district residents can thrive. This motto guided her campaign for Senate in 2022. Although she did not win that race, Hiltsley says she gained experience that helped in this year’s campaign.
“We have built a great network, we built a great support system,” she said. The volunteers who worked with her on the race for Senate joined her to form a new team.
This year Hiltsley is targeting a larger group of primary voters, especially strong and leaning Democrats who have voted in previous primaries, instead of putting resources exclusively on voter education and outreach to underrepresented communities.
So far her campaign has raised more than $31,200 and she has spent around $21,100, according to the last report she provided the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
After the 2022 Senate race, Hiltsley and her team helped support other candidates across Minnesota, building new relationships. She has been endorsed by the Minnesota DFL Progressive Caucus, Brooklyn Park Mayor Hollies Winston and several current DFL legislators.
She said those endorsements “show that I’m ready to go to the Capitol and actually be able to be productive on Day One.”
Since her last campaign, what keeps Hiltsley going has not changed either. Her family legacy and history have been a source of motivation for her to run.
“We fought the immigration system for 11 long years, my dad and my mom did,” she said. Hiltsley and her family came to the United States from Kenya in 1995, and risked deportation before Senator Paul Wellstone pleaded for their case.
“It finally clicked that politics, and when good people run, lives are changed for the better.”
Wynfred Russell
On the last day of the weekend long celebration for Liberian independence, Russell and his team visited the Liberian community at a family gathering. Alvin Cummings, 49, lives in the district and came to the event with his wife and his kids. He plans to put one of Russell’s flyers on display at his barber shop.
“Last time at the City Council, I saw what he stands for,” said Cummings.
Before running for the Minnesota House, Russell served one term on the Brooklyn Park’s City Council from 2019 to 2022 before running against Winston, the current mayor.
“I come to this position as a legislator,” said Russell. “I come to this position with a lot of experience working on the Brooklyn Park City Council, hiring the police chief, for example.”
To tackle issues of public safety, Russell hopes to put resources in hiring mental health specialists who would be part of police response teams in the area. He also wants to ensure that the police work closely with the community.
Russell relies on the experience he gained not only at the City Council, where he worked on the city’s COVID-19 response and served on the city’s Human Rights Commission, but also on his work as an advocate. He is the founder of African Career Education and Resources (ACER) and has a background in public health.
“I’ve learned that, once you get there, how do you put forth legislation? You have to build relationships,” said Russell. “No matter how passionate you may be about a certain issue, you will not be able to get it through if you don’t have the support, the sort of bipartisan support working with different groups and bringing them on board.”
For Russell, this campaign is different from the ones he has run previously. It is a partisan campaign and the issues he is targeting are larger. In the Legislature, he hopes to be able to tackle issues such as increasing funding for K-12 and higher education.
Running for the House is also a matter of representation.
“If you look at the Minnesota House, there are a lot of folks who are from East Africa, a lot of Asian, Hmong, African Americans, but very few West Africans,” Russell said. “We need our voice at the table.”
So far, Russell’s campaign has raised more that $15,900 and he has spent around $14,800, according to the last report he provided the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
For his campaign, Russell has a team of volunteers helping him door-knock and reach out to voters.
The team also involves high schoolers from the community. Before the door-knocking sessions, campaign manager Frances Tyler gives them the elevator speech: Wynfred Russell is running for the House and they want the person’s vote for the primary.
“It’s very important to me because that’s how I started, I see myself in these young people,” said Russell, who got involved in politics at his school, when he was elected to the student government.
Russell comes from a politically active family: his mother was a teacher and his father a community organizer. At 9 years old, Russell came to the United States as a refugee. He was brought from a camp in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to Michigan by a humanitarian worker.
“I’ve never forgotten the kind gesture and support that they showed me,” he said. “And I’ve always thought that the way to give back, [was] to embark in a career of public service.”
