There's strong potential for Minneapolis to seat three immigrants on its City Council for the first time since 1947.
That's with Abdi Warsame the victor in Ward 6, Blong Yang leading in Ward 5, and Alondra Cano ahead in the much tighter Ward 9. And only if you count Cano an immigrant. She was born in the United States, but her parents moved back to Mexico for years before coming back to the states.
According to Tony Hill, the historian of all things political in Minneapolis, the council had three immigrants from 1942 to 1947. They were Eric Hoyer (Sweden), Norman Irgens (Norway) and Oscar Cleve (Norway). The latter two were defeated in 1947, and Hoyer went on to become mayor in 1949.
Subsequent immigrants on the council include Joe Greenstein (Poland), Keith Ford (Great Britain) and Don Samuels (Jamaica).
