Oakland’s Next Mayor Highlights Political Rise of Hmong Americans

new york times – Sheng Thao, the daughter of refugees, will become the most prominent Hmong American politician when she leads the California city of 440,000 residents.

Sheng Thao at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland last month. Carolyn Fong for The New York Times

By Amy Qin – Dec. 28, 2022

Over platters of fried rice, egg rolls and crab rangoon, Sheng Thao took the microphone and asked for support in June from several dozen people gathered at a Hmong restaurant in Wisconsin.

Ms. Thao, 37, was running to become the mayor of Oakland, Calif., but she took a detour to the Upper Midwest because it has some of the nation’s largest communities of Hmong Americans.

When Ms. Thao spoke, Zongcheng Moua, 60, found himself nodding along, never mind that he lived 2,000 miles away from California. Like Ms. Thao’s parents, Mr. Moua landed in a refugee camp in Thailand after fleeing the war in Laos nearly 50 years ago. His siblings, like Ms. Thao’s parents, struggled to adapt to life in the United States after arriving with no money, formal education or language skills.

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