Former Minnesota Rep. Kaohly Her (DFL) made history this November when she became the first Hmong person and the first woman mayor in St. Paul. 

The milestone was part of a broader wave of Democratic women candidate wins nationwide this election season, as the federal government remains Republican-dominated. Virginia elected its first female governor, New Jersey elected its second and Detroit chose its first woman mayor.

Women winning elections is not an anomaly, Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, said. 

“Research shows women win at the same rates men do in comparable races,” Sinzdak said. “Electability isn’t the challenge, the challenge is making sure that there’s enough women running.”

When Her was growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, she said girls were not often encouraged to go to college. Many of her peers got married in their teens. It was her grandmother who encouraged her to pursue a degree. 

Her said she enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was one of twelve Hmong women at the college. When Her’s grandmother came to visit, they walked through the campus as students moved through its grounds. 

“She was lamenting in such a sorrowful but longing way that she had been born in the wrong generation,” Her said. “She was watching all of these students, and she thought that’s what she would have wanted for herself.”

When Her launched her bid for mayor, she carried the dreams of her grandmother with her.

Women and policy

Her’s victory came a year after St. Paul swore in its most diverse and first all-women City Council, according to the Associated Press. St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker (Ward 2) said she was amazed at the outpour of support from people around the world last year.

“We were getting emails from people who said, ‘I’m so proud to be able to tell my daughter about this.’” Noecker said.

The more diverse identities that are represented, the more likely people of all communities will feel comfortable trusting and reaching out to government officials, Noecker added.

Research shows women elected officials are more likely to bring marginalized voices into the process, Sinzdak said. She added they are more likely to champion social safety net issues, like economic security for families or education.

In the ‘70s, Rep. Bella Abzug (D-New York) could not get a credit card in her own name. She, along with other members of Congress, including women’s rights advocate Margaret Heckler, helped to pass the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which allowed anyone, regardless of race, sex or marital status, to get credit in their own name. 

“Women no longer needed their father or a husband or a brother or another male family member to sign off,” Sinzdak said. “It’s a huge deal to be able to control their own financial lives. That only happened because these women were serving in Congress and they brought their life experience to the table.”

Her was elected as a Minnesota Rep. in 2018. She said she entered politics because she wanted to bring systemic change. 

She passed a bill that prohibits employers from asking about past salary. She intended to prevent women and people of color from being stuck in a cycle of being paid less. 

Her said it was one of her proudest bills. 

“If we don’t change systems, we can’t change outcomes,” Her said. “Structural changes change things for all the future generations to come.”

Her said she leads through listening, and always aims to build consistent, genuine relationships with people.

“The uniqueness of being somebody who has a complex identity is that we take all of those identities with us into this work,” Her said. “I think that when people have more complex identities, they bring more complex solutions. To me, it’s an asset and we should always be celebrating that.”

Fourteen women will simultaneously serve as governors in 2026, matching a record set earlier this year. This is the highest record of female gubernatorial representation, according to the CAWP. 

The record for the number of women serving in Congress was set this year, representing around 30% of total seats. 

Challenges persist

Change often begets change, and more women are deciding to run, Sinzdak said. But she said structural and cultural challenges still persist that make it more difficult for women to decide to run. 

“Women are less likely to be asked to run by party leaders,” Sinzdak said. “If women have children, there is still a cultural expectation to bear the majority of the load of caregiving.”

Her said she felt underestimated when she first began in the legislature. She added that people often came unprepared for conversations with her.

“They expect that they’re going to come in and I’m going to be not assertive or that I’m going to be weak or whatever their perceptions of what they think Asian women are,” Her said. “Or they think that I’m staff and they’re asking me to go get things, I’m like, ‘No. I’m the elected.’”

Her said she feels sometimes people think she is an abnormality compared to other Asian women.

“I’m like no, you just decided I was different because you didn’t think an Asian woman could be tough and really smart,” Her said.

Sinzdak said women candidates often face systematic bias and a higher burden of proof that they are capable and likable when campaigning.

“Research shows that women candidates have to really show and prove their qualifications more than male candidates do,” Sinzdak said.

For example, during New Jersey Governor-elect Mickie Sherrill’s race, there was a constant question of likability and comparison to her male challenger, Sinzdak said. She added that pre-election coverage made the race seem much closer than it was. 

“She won the election by a huge margin,” Sinzdak said. “But the pre-election narrative that was out there, this sort of broader public narrative, there was a real disconnect in what was being reported.” 

During Her’s campaign, she said she saw a smear campaign alleging she would only be for people who look like her.

“We’re having to constantly fight these narratives to say that we’re not an equity or a diversity, equity and inclusion candidate or we’re not as qualified just because of the way we look,” Her said. 

When Her won, she said she did not think about the fact that she was the first Asian person or woman to be elected — she only thought about how hard she and her team worked. 

“The fact that I couldn’t see myself as somebody who was doing something groundbreaking,” Her said. “Maybe whether it’s conscious or not, you don’t want people to think you’re playing identity politics.”

Her has begun to see it differently, and celebrates this historic moment. 

“It is okay to celebrate that I am the first woman in the history of St. Paul to run this city and that my city decided that a woman should do this, and can do this, because that’s a big deal,” Her said. “I have to remember to hold all of that and be proud of that and also know that that’s not what defines me, because I came to this job extremely qualified to do it.”