The journey that brought Kaohly Her to St. Paul’s mayor’s office started in a bamboo hut some 8,000 miles from Minnesota's capital city.
Her, 52, was born in the mountains of Laos. When she was still young, her family fled war, ending up in the United States as refugees, first in Illinois and Wisconsin and later Minnesota.
On Friday afternoon at St. Catherine University, Her was sworn in as the 56th mayor of St. Paul, becoming the first woman and first person of Hmong ancestry to hold the title.
With her hand on the family Bible and her husband, father and children by her side, she took the oath of office in a ceremony led by the Rev. Daniel Johnson of Park Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, a family friend.
After she was sworn in, she was greeted by other community leaders and six other “firsts,” including Debbie Montgomery, the first woman to become a St Paul police offer and the first Black woman elected to St. Paul City Council and Choua Lee, the first person of Hmong ancestry elected to a school board seat in the United States.
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