City Council Member Pat Carlson and legislative staffer Thuba Nguyen are vying to become the next mayor of Coon Rapids, an increasingly diverse north metro suburb.
If Nguyen wins, she will be the second woman and first person of color to run the city.
Carlson is a retired Coon Rapids police officer who also serves as the city’s mayor pro tem. On his website, he says his priorities include public safety, fiscal responsibility, business growth and community outreach.
Nguyen is a communications specialist at the Minnesota House of Representatives, where she works on behalf of the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus, the Minnesota Queer Legislators Caucus, and the United Black Legislators Caucus, and for nine members of the DFL House Caucus.
She wants to address the lack of affordable housing and new housing for Coon Rapids residents on fixed incomes, and she sees a need for an equitable approach to hiring police officers who more closely match the city’s demographics.
She also wants to foster policies that allow residents to participate in building the local economy. She said there are more “for lease” signs than “open” signs in the city’s busiest corridor.
“You see the economic development resiliency from the cities around us, but yet we don’t see the same here in Coon Rapids. If you don’t have what you need in your community, you leave it and you go spend your money elsewhere,” she said.
The two candidates advanced in an August primary, where Carlson received 60% of the vote to Nguyen’s 24%.
In the most recent campaign finance reports posted by the city, Carlson had raised $9,940 as of July 31. Nguyen told Sahan Journal in September that she had raised $3,565 since filing for office in June.
Polling places close at 8 p.m. Election results will be updated here approximately every 10 minutes throughout the evening.
The post Live: Thuba Nguyen faces Pat Carlson for Coon Rapids mayor appeared first on Sahan Journal.
