An all-female, majority-minority city council was sworn into office in St. Paul on Tuesday. Elected on Nov. 7, 2023, the group of city councilors were celebrated at a ceremony which took place in St. Paul’s Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.
Speaking at the event, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said, “To have an all women city council, all under the age of 40, and the majority of whom are women of color leaves me … nearly speechless. And while this is historic, it should also simply be the way it is; the norm, the reality.”
MN Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan says St. Paul's new all-female City Council should be "the norm." pic.twitter.com/6ejQCyzFJ7
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) January 10, 2024
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, St. Paul has a white population of 51%. However, six of the seven city councilors are non-white; all seven city councilors are Democrats.
With St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter serving as the master of ceremonies for the event, several of the city councilors took the stage wearing traditional garbs from their heritage countries. After speeches which included Native American “land acknowledgments” and spoken-word slam poetry from a first-generation Somali immigrant, the city councilors were officially sworn in.
The seven city councilors are Anika Bowie, Rebecca Noecker, Saura Jost, Mitra Jalali, HwaJeong Kim, Nelsie Yang, and Cheniqua Johnson.
To applause from the audience, Mayor Carter described how the St. Paul City Council has transformed in recent years from a majority white and majority male legislative body to the all-female, majority-minority group that was sworn in on Tuesday.
Furthermore, St. Paul City Council President Mitra Jalali gave a speech in which she thanked St. Paul’s congresswoman, Rep. Betty McCollum, for signing a letter that called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Jalali, the daughter of Iranian and South Korean immigrants, said Congresswoman McCollum was carrying “our city’s voices, values of peace and human rights to Washington.”
New St. Paul City Council President Mitra Jalali uses an inauguration ceremony to advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza. Everyone on stage, including the mayor, claps, except for Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who is Jewish. pic.twitter.com/jR89b6M4Pi
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) January 10, 2024
In response to Jalali’s echoed call for a ceasefire, every other member of St. Paul’s city council applauded except one, Rebecca Noecker. The only Jewish member of the city council, Noecker spoke near the end of the ceremony, saying, “We are so lucky to live in this time and place.”
A journalist with the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Frederick Melo, praised the new St. Paul City Council on Tuesday, saying, “Youngest, most diverse, all female St. Paul City Council is sworn in today. Tonight we celebrate.”
With added emphasis in her voice, Lt. Gov. Flanagan closed her speech by telling the city council to “Get it.”
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
